Our deck has not weathered well. Many of the boards are warped and cracked (which might apply to me, too). Since I’m in the middle of some much-needed exterior maintenance, I decided it was time to replace some of the decking.
There are three problems. The first is that the current boards are tongue-and-groove, the result of a not-so-great idea by my framer. That means I have to run a circular saw down the joint between the boards to free them up to remove them.
The second problem is that the boards are nailed rather than screwed, which is also the result of my framer’s practices (plus the fact that he apparently didn’t have a good drill to use for deck screws). Deck nails tend to rust in place, which makes them hard to extract. Each nail is a little mini-project in itself.
The third problem is that tongue-and-groove two-by-sixes use some of their width for the tongue and groove, leaving the exposed face between a quarter and a half inch narrower than a standard two-by-six. That means that every new deck board has to have a thin strip ripped off the edge. Twenty boards by 12 feet means I have to rip about 240 feet of pressure-treated lumber. My father’s old table saw bogs down severely on every inch I rip. Ripping each board is a somewhat bigger mini-project in itself.
In the two hours (selected carefully so that they would be in the hottest part of the day) I worked Sunday afternoon, I got three boards down. I takes somewhat longer to get all the nails out than it does to rip the board, and I have to do it all on my hands and knees.
Here are the five new boards I installed over the last two days, along with some of the shards of tongues and grooves plus other assorted chunks of wood removed during the nail extraction process. The missing stiles will be replaced and stained some day.
Our spindly tomato plant makes a cameo here, too.
The deck faces due south, a real advantage for solar gain in the winter. Unfortunately, solar gain also works well in the summer, too. Since having a heart problem diagnosed last fall, I have been exercising enough that my weight went down from the upper 160s to the upper 150s. I have been weighing around 157 to 159 each night. This afternoon when I stopped working on the deck, I weighed 150. That means I lost nearly a gallon of fluid in two hours Sunday afternoon. It was 82 F up on the mountain. I don’t know what would have happened if it had been 92 as it has been for the last few days.
I had three glasses of iced tea with supper. I am now planning on one Shock Top Belgian White as a finishing touch. I’ll probably be completely rehydrated by tomorrow around noon, just in time to start working on the deck again.
I remember repairing my deck one board at a time for years. As soon as a new one was in place and stained, the one beside it, which had seemed perfectly fine, suddenly looked terrible and needed replacing. We finally had the whole thing torn down and replaced with a smaller porch made of plastic. Not sure that’s any better, really.
Well, thanks for the tutorial – I’m going to have to start replacing my 23-year-old lower front deck, which has rotted through in one spot. It was affixed with nails too. I like that you are replacing it a few boards at a time. If the underlying supports are not rotted, I’ll be able to do that too.
Pablo — I have been thinking plastic if we build a new house, but I’m also thinking the new deck will be covered, which really extends the useful life of decking. Redwood is almost ideal. My parents’ house has a deck made with redwood. Now, nearly 50 years after it was built, the decking is nearly as good as the day it was made.
Wayne — I thought about replacing all the boards, but decided to just replace them one at a time. I’m afraid I’m going to have Pablo’s results, where all the old boards look bad compared to the new ones.
Mark: When I undertake a strenuous project in the summer like this, I end up drinking a half-gallon of iced tea or lemonade afterward, and I’m still thirsty, so I know where of you speak. I’ll bet the Shock Top was a nice chaser.
If you cover your new porch/deck, then eventually you’ll have to replace the roof on the cover. Is there no end…?
Scott — I find the Belgian white refreshing, but when I’m that hot and thirsty I tend to drink it pretty fast. I’m hoping if we build, we’ll get a roof that lasts long enough that we won’t have to worry about it.