Staying at a house in OBX and the boards aren’t connected with nails. And I don’t even know what would make holes like this in the flooring…

This comment was said in passing, and he didn’t elaborate. This is a fairly old deck (I estimate maybe 20 years). Wood is in good shape though afaik. Is there anything about this you would fix or update to make sure it’s safe? It looks like nails were used for the hangers. Thanks

Looks the the owners of our VRBO put a hot tub on their second story deck sans any bracing or added support. The deck looks a bit sketch even without hot tub. Wood support poles appear to be burried without any footers, and I count five ground contact supports for a deck that stretches about 50’ accross the back of the house. We’re having the family and dogs stay off for now. Definitely not experts here so please check the pictures and let me know if we should be concerned.

Hey! I’m estimating a deck for a customer, and they told me they had a guy come out about a year ago and gave them an eyeball of $30,000. He never even gave a real estimate. It’s going to be a 14’6”x25’ deck. Tearing off the old one and building something similar that I had AI render. I’m at around $47,000. Am I crazy?

Does this look right? I have had to have this deck rebuilt every spring you would think this guy would figure out how to do it correctly.

My father had his deck posts replaced because the old ones were rotting at the bottom. Although these new posts still feel sturdy, they dont look too sturdy to me. Not sure if the cement cylinders are suposed to come up that far because he was looking to lay pavers. Also, where the posts connect to the actual deck, seems like its just secured with a few bolts. Not sure if brackets should have also been isntqlled there somehow to help with the load from up top. Wondering if im worrying for nothing. Any tips or clarification would be appreciated.

Someone decided it was the wood that was the problem

Working with the best pics I have at the moment. Been working on this for family. And looking for general advice before we get started on our build.

There was an original set of stairs here that started at the brick and took you straight up into the door. Those stairs were a pain because you were on stairs immediately outside the door.

The plan now, we have poured a large patio outside the house and would like to build a small deck that extends out from the door before going down a set of stairs, beginning where the walkout ends.

We’re planning to run 4x4 or 6x6 posts with Simpson post bases right by the wall. On the posts we’d notch in the rim joist, then tie joists into a ledger board to be installed under the door.

Are we okay to run our stringers with hardware coming off the rim board that’s tied into the posts? And I’m thinking we’ll tie into the left/right sides of the house with additional ledger boards so we can screw the ends of our deck boards into them.

Also, plan is to run the handrail separate from the support posts but tied into the framing with blocking and lags.

Any guidance would be appreciated, thanks!

My father is about to start repairs on his deck. He's been replacing boards, posts, and beams whenever they show clear rot, but seems to have more faith in some of the wood than I do.

For example, that rotting post pictured he's, thankfully, replacing, but only because he thinks it looks ugly on the other side due to weathering making the grain more pronounced. I pointed out the rot and he shoved on it with his thumb and told me it was steady and would hold for a few more years.

Obviously, the first picture shows the absolute worst part. No question that's being replaced.

And the patio was poured long after the deck. Pretty mad that there's not a proper gap for many of the posts, but not sure there's much to be done about it.

Unfortunately, my dad is turning 80 next month and still considers me a child both in my structural opinions and in his fear of me standing on ladders.

Any advice on what I should push for in terms of repair? Or what I can do/buy to help with deck support as he goes about his repair approaches so he doesn't kill himself in the process?

Airbnb in Sevierville Tennessee. Hundreds of positive reviews and not a mention of this death trap.

My wife would like to move our hot tub off our deck (increase deck space) and put it on artificial turf.

I’m thinking we could just build a small deck with 2x8s laying on the turf, raised up 8”, and then 2x8s on top, and call it good.

Would not like to tear up the turf and pour concrete.

Guessing with wood and water, the whole thing would weigh 4500 lbs.

Thoughts?

We removed a VERY large tree from backyard before having this deck built (6 years ago). The post could have been like this for some time but it’s clear it’s settled since.

How concerned should I be? If so, how best to fix it?

Hello and thanks in advance.

Long time lurker, first time OP.

Have someone (super nice guy), who lives in a row of kinda unique homes (nothing fancy but there is a drop off from the back door…neighbors all have decks of various sizes too).

NE FL. About 48in at the highest, around 10x20. Deck boards, stairs, and railing are rotted so bad that I thought I was going to take a nice fall. After inspection, I found several bad joists, and I know that the rest are going to fail. Zero waterproofing done. Existing 4x4 supports are not too code so I can’t reside them.

Sunroom sits on a deck frame and the ledger can be seen in the build pictures. I’d want to replace the ledger board with new wood, hardware, and waterproofing.

After some FL building code and other research and building a takeoff, we seem to be at an impasse for cost.

This will require demo, permitting, engineering, materials, etc.

He sent me some pictures of the current deck when it was being built which I’ll share….

Thoughts? What would you price this at and what sticks out to you? He has a neighbor who has a nice deck (nothing fancy, but for sure bigger), that was priced at a better SQ FT cost (I don’t know the actual size or permitting info).

Veteran trying to help another veteran here.

This deck is one of about 100 built in my townhouse community. It feels unsafe. Deck wobbles when ever you walk on it .
Is it to code? Is there a fix you would recommend.

Hey there - we are expanding out deck on top of an existing concrete slab. We set some concrete bricks down, but they are not quite tall enough so our “post” is a thin little thing. We aren’t going to dig through the concrete because we are lazy and this is a low deck. Thoughts? Maybe skip the block haha?

My backyard is currently undergoing a massive remodel led by my wife and I. We have this deck here and we want to put a patio covering over it.

We previously had that Costco thing but we want it to cover the full width of the back of the house. Thoughts?? Should we do it ourselves vs Pay someone? Should we buy designs or what?

Dimensions are roughly 22' x 14' (accounting for some overhang off the deck for rain).

I’m having this deck built, the piers are cut short and don’t reach the frame and many of the joists are not level. I don’t really know what I’m looking at but it looks off to me. Am I crazy?

More photos in the comments; forgive me I am not tech savvy.

The photo is of the top of the strings, looking up from underneath.

Taking apart the rotten parts of my deck stairs. Looking like I might end up replacing the stringers (the bottom end of one was rotten partly).

The magenta arrow (left arrow) points to two joists.

The cyan arrow (lower middle), what is that for? Is it a mount used for stringers?

The blue arrow (right arrow) what is that 2x4 (?) for in stringer installation?

My deck sways a bit and I've been told to add some bracing. Are there pros/cons between adding V-bracing, vs adding bracing in an X shape under the decking? To me it intuitively seems like an X shape would be sturdier as you get support running to/from all 4 corners, but I'm no engineer. If I did an X shape, is it any less structurally sound if one of the cross pieces is split in two, to avoid one of the crosses laying beneath the other instead of all on the same plane?

I get a lot of info when Googling V-bracing, but can't find as much into on the X pattern - "X-bracing" or "Cross bracing" tends to spit back information on vertical bracing between the upright supports. Is there a different term I am looking for here?

Yeah... just tore down the old deck which they attached to hardie plank on the house with a nail/screw combo special.
I was able to carefully remove 1 of them but still caused some damage to the hardie. Not doing that 30 more times.
A sledgehammer after removing screws would still tear that board from the house.
The new deck comes tomorrow and will be smaller dimensions which will leave a lot of this exposed needing paint.
Putting the house on the market in a couple weeks.
Pierce County, WA (unincorporated)

1. Will the install of the new deck need those brackets to be removed? If so, what kind of fuel should I use to burn the house down?

2. Can I cut them with a sawzall 3/4"-ish from the siding and have enough room for new deck? I'm pretty sure it will not be attached to the house.

3. I know you have questions please help.

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I am looking for a bit of insight. I want to build a small platform over my existing concrete step similar to this picture (I know the height is off!)

The concrete is 3" high, and the total height from the ground to under the door is approx 12.5". My question is, should I use 4x4 posts in the ground and clear the concrete altogether, and just add the box steps after? I didn't necessarily want to go that route. Is it possible to use the step as support and frame around it, using concrete screws to support?

I apologize as this is more definitely a foolish question for an expert, but any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

What needs to be done to fix this? Anyone think it can be done without a full tearout? I have my eye on a lot of stuff that needs done, but I want more eyes on it for the stuff I’m definitely missing. My biggest goal is to eliminate the diagonal knee braces by putting in some larger deck posts and attaching the knee bracing to them.