Time to replace my rear deck. 24 years of winters have taken their toll.

grsthegreat · May 17, 2020

Took all day to demo the stupid thing. Tried unscrewing it.....no way.

out came the chainsaw

4570Man · May 17, 2020

I’ve demoed several decks and cutting them apart is by far the fastest way. Here’s what’s left of the last one I did. I only cut it into 1/3s and loaded it with the tractor.

EddieWalker · May 18, 2020

I build quite a few decks for a living and some of the biggest mistakes people make is not using beams to support the joists, attaching beams and joists to the sides of posts with nails and expecting the nails to support a load. Code in some areas now requires beams to be on top of the posts, not notched. I still notch my posts to support my beams. And lack of diagonal bracing is also very common. I haven't used 5/4 deck bords for at least a dozen years. They shrink too much. Even 2x6's will shrink on you and there is no predicting how much.

grsthegreat · May 21, 2020

Got framing lumber delivered and painted yesterday.

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grsthegreat · May 21, 2020

EddieWalker said:
I build quite a few decks for a living and some of the biggest mistakes people make is not using beams to support the joists, attaching beams and joists to the sides of posts with nails and expecting the nails to support a load. Code in some areas now requires beams to be on top of the posts, not notched. I still notch my posts to support my beams. And lack of diagonal bracing is also very common. I haven't used 5/4 deck bords for at least a dozen years. They shrink too much. Even 2x6's will shrink on you and there is no predicting how much.

my beams are always placed on top of post . Last deck lasted some 24 years, and was a PITA to demo. Man, i dont remember using that many nails and tico clips.

k0ua · May 21, 2020

Anyone have any experience with TimberTech or similiar "plastic" deck lumber surface?

Diggin It · May 21, 2020

Funny time for this thread. I was looking at mine this morning thinking of tearing it out and going to pavers. It's been an ongoing battle to keep then tunneling critters (and I don't mean moles) out from under. Couple of days ago, I noticed new evidence.

Guidshir · May 21, 2020

I just finished mine up in the fall. First deck I've built, and the old one was 28+ years old. The new one is quite a bit stronger in design. I went with code all around. No notching, side mounted rail posts with strongties and bolts. The old one was 16' joists 24" on center. I added a center beam with 2 concrete based posts to support the middle of the 16'. changed it to 16" OC and kept the 2x6 instead of going with deck boards