When I was a college kid I had a t-shirt that read “Fight Gravity.” I was a climber and it made for a good joke. Now as a middle-aged homeowner I should get one that says “Fight Entropy.”
My son Christopher’s summer project was going to be painting our deck. His reward was to be a laptop for use at college. The first step in the job was sanding and scraping. That took quite a bit of time, especially as the weather here stayed rainy until early July. A couple of weeks ago, when I started inspecting his job as it neared completion of this step, to my horror he had uncovered a LOT of rotten wood. Major portions of our deck have been held together by a layer of paint!
Above: This is the worst of it. We replaced those big main beams two winters ago when they broke under the weight of a big snowfall. Long-time readers of this website will recall that bad winter. After Chris sanded, I tapped the exposed wood with a claw hammer and it basically vanished. Lots of rot in both the intermediate beams, the deck top, and the facia under the railings. I suspect I’ll be completely dismantling this part of the deck soon.
What started as a paint job has transformed into a complete rebuild. Ugh.
Above: Chris painting the trim around the windows.
Above: The same spot, viewed from below. You will note the deck railing is off, and there is a pile of lumber in the driveway. Most of what Chris is standing on has to be replaced. He has a plank-painting factory going on in the garage. I prefer to pre-paint all the beams and planks.
Above: The deck on the south side of the house has two parts, the main part near the kitchen, and the other part near the back bedrooms. A thin walkway connects them. It is still in good shape, with only one support beam that requires replacement. This is a view of that part. Chris has already painted most of it. You can see some rotten planks out in the yard that I removed from the main part near the kitchen. The tarp is up because rain is in the forecast tonight and tomorrow.
Above: This is the main part of the deck. This is where we cook out, sit in the evenings, watch the stars, etc. You can see I’ve replaced three planks here, and done a lot of patching here and there. I bought some uber high-tech deck coating for this section, which requires 4 days to put on, and 7 days of curing. Hence the tarp to make sure it stays dry and out of direct sunlight. Hopefully it will last longer than the 2-3 years we’ve been getting from the paint.
Oh yeah… it has been REAL hot this weekend too. In the 90s, which is very rare here. 😛
My logic is that every time I remove anything (paint, cover, wood) outside, there’s going to be rot underneath. Any time I open a wall in the house, there’s going to be a 100,000 volt ungrounded circuit surrounded by magnesium soaked rags plus water damage.
The nice part of my pessimism is that I have been pleasantly surprised most of the time.
It’s always good to expect that any project can turn into an “onion” as my father says. Suddenly you’re peeling layer after layer after layer…
Trex, Chuck…I’ll NEVER use wood in a deck, ever again!
I might suggest same…..
Given that I am just patching, and not rebuilding the entire thing, I’m sticking with wood. This wood is much better than what I am replacing as well. It is pressure treated, and I’m also coating it with spar varnish… our weather in inverse from yours. We’re as wet as you are dry. I’m using a product called “Deckote” and so far I’m very impressed. I’ll have to post an update so you can see it.
That said, if I were building a deck for the first time I’d seriously consider using something other than wood.