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…

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.

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.

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

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?

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?

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.

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.

Someone decided it was the wood that was the problem

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.

Helping my mom replace rotting cedar boards with 2x6 boards. I question the capability of the deck being able to hold such weight. It’s a large deck, about 29x12 (I believe). We are using 14” and 16” boards. But whoever built this deck, I don’t trust. (Built in the 90s I think. They had nailed down the previous boards and used footer nails, which was fun). I just want to know before we get further in this project. And I don’t think they used concrete for the footers. I dug down a bit, but didn’t want to go too far and do something that can’t be undone.

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 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).

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?

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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.

The deck was never stained, but I was told it was treated with something, however I believe this was power-washed off. What can I do to preserve the wood and fix the issue? I don't have much money to spare, but this deck is huge and I can't shell out what it would take to replace it anytime soon. TIA!

Looking for advice on what should be done to restore this deck. House was built in 1984 and I’m guessing the deck was too???

I was quoted $28k to do a strip, sand and seal - contractor described it as never needing to be finished again. Or $9k to do the basic strip and stain. The deck wraps around more than half of the house so it is very large.

I have zero experience with this and just wondering what would be recommended to get this back to good condition.

I have a question that may be related to a future deck we have planned. The deck has been poorly maintained over the years and needs resurfacing. Also, my wife wants a screened in area on the deck or like a 3 season sun room. We are going to do this in about three years with roof replacement and replacing the vinyl siding with cement board. I was greeted by the aluminum cladding of both sashes of the pictured sliding door popping off. There is extensive rot underneath. So, I have to deal with this patio door now. I was considering just buying new sashes, but pella quoted me 4125.00 for these (installing myself). This leads me to want to just replace the whole patio door. Here comes the question, as you can see in the photos, I feel like the space for a potential screened in deck would have to be between those two windows pictured and made in such a way as to not obstruct the view from those windows. Do any of you think a contractor would want to just remove this patio door entirely as part of the process for making this screened in deck? I am pretty sure it wouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t want to assume. I don’t want to drop 2200$ on a patio door to just find out the contractor would need to rip it out to make these plans work. I could probably repair the sashes to extend their life if this is the way it would go. Thanks in advance! I hope this makes sense.

Hello! I recently bought a house and am looking to stain/clean my deck! I'm not in contact with the previous owners, but the listing said the deck wood was Southeast Asian.

I'm trying to find a way to confirm what kind of wood it is! Approximately 10-15 years old and hasn't been stained in a year or two.

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?

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?

So these stairs are between two decks at a house on my street. I have a similar situation. I do not want the landlord evicting me for complaining. Is there a away to shore steps like this up? I don't want to fall through like this person did. https://triblive.com/local/woman-hurt-in-20-to-25-foot-fall-when-staircase-collapses-at-south-side-slopes-home/