[[email protected]]

I moved in to a house with a badly built deck. They used 5/4" treated
wood, but it's warping and bowing all over the place. There's 3/4" gap
in some places.

Is it a good idea to pull the top boards up, run them through a surface
planer, put sealer on them and then use them again, or are they
garbage?

Also, I don't know why they started to warp as they are treated wood
and they have three screws per joist placed around 16" apart. The
wood was never sealed though, maybe that's it? It's only two-three
years old according to the neighbors and has been in this bad of shape
since I moved in about 18 months ago.

[avid_hiker]

Here is a link that may answer some questions/concerns.........

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/infpre.shtm

Sounds like the boards warped from drying out. And the gap would be
from installing the treated board with a gap....they should be snug
when installing (new board) too allow for drying. Go to the above link
:-)

[[email protected]]

Great link, Thanks!
Would anyone recommend using screws versus nails? I've seen some
great decks built using nails, and it seems like an easier (and
cheaper) way to do this.

[avid_hiker]

At the above link you will see that it tells you to predrill all holes
so board does not crack/split. I see no reason why using a galvanized
screw ,with a predrill type head wont do the trick. But if deciding to
use nails............use galvanized...and predrill.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

wrote in message
oups.com...
Great link, Thanks!
Would anyone recommend using screws versus nails? I've seen some
great decks built using nails, and it seems like an easier (and
cheaper) way to do this.

Proper screws are best, IMO. Nails are more prone to popping. There is a
lot of deck information and fasteners at www.mcfeeleys.com

[Edwin Pawlowski]

"avid_hiker" wrote in message
ups.com...
But if deciding to
use nails............use galvanized...and predrill.

Regular galvanized is no longer the right material with the new pressure
treated wood. Best to check to be sure what is used today.

[mm]

On 5 Dec 2006 07:40:44 -0800, "
wrote:

I moved in to a house with a badly built deck. They used 5/4" treated
wood, but it's warping and bowing all over the place. There's 3/4" gap
in some places.

Most decks are boring, and are only made interesting, if at all, by
the furniture and the people.

Your deck is already interesting. Now if you had gaps of 6 or 8
inches, it would be downright exciting**.

If you want to use nails, use spiral nails. They twist as you nail
them in, but the whole deck and house has to twist for them to pop
out.

I'm pretty sure my railings and posts and even the joists weren't
treated, but the horizontal deck boards must have been. They were fine
for 10 or 15 years, when I tried to seal them, but at 25 years they
started to bend and pull their nails out of the joists, maybe because
the joists were rotting. (I was going to use gutter screws to
reattach the deck boards, but there was nothing left to screw them
into.)

In my defense I intended to redo the whole deck this past spring, but
I was fat, out of shape, and depressed.

I have big plans for next spring and plan to seek advice here soon.

**Remove every third or fourth deck board and you can make your
current deck as exciting as the railroad train bridge I was walking on
this summer. Every once in a while a tie was missing, and it really
got my adrenalin going.

Is it a good idea to pull the top boards up, run them through a surface
planer, put sealer on them and then use them again, or are they
garbage?

Also, I don't know why they started to warp as they are treated wood
and they have three screws per joist placed around 16" apart. The
wood was never sealed though, maybe that's it? It's only two-three
years old according to the neighbors and has been in this bad of shape
since I moved in about 18 months ago.

[Toller]

"avid_hiker" wrote in message
ups.com...
Here is a link that may answer some questions/concerns.........

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/infpre.shtm

Sounds like the boards warped from drying out. And the gap would be
from installing the treated board with a gap....they should be snug
when installing (new board) too allow for drying. Go to the above link
:-)

I don't know about the snug thing. I stained a 2 year old deck and it was a
real bear because there were no gaps (and the slope was wrong) so there was
no way to drain the deck when cleaning it. These boards sure didn't shrink.

[J.A. Michel]

Use fasteners that are marked "ACQ APPROVED". They'll hold up good unless
you try to remove them. I built a deck this past July. Two weeks ago, I
had to make a few small adjustments to the skirting underneath - which
caused me to remove some of the screws. I was really surprised at how
corroded the screws were from the pressure-treat chemicals. More that a few
of the screws just snapped off.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Great link, Thanks!
Would anyone recommend using screws versus nails? I've seen some
great decks built using nails, and it seems like an easier (and
cheaper) way to do this.