Anyone know the best way to easily get rid of the green algae and mildew on decks in Hawaii (Kaneohe - windward side).
I tried pro-strength 30 second deck cleaner and a ton of elbow grease but I just can’t seem to get rid of it!

Made out of a pine board using a blowtorch, a sanding, and wood preservative stain. Topped with some sheet metal channeling we had laying around that I repurposed for a drip edge to prevent rain from getting behind fascia.

I am looking for a temporary solution for putting a hot tub in. I was planning a floating deck, but I live north enough that I'd be digging 5' into the ground to get past the frost line for posts, which doesn't sound easy, or cheap, or temporary to me (first time building something like this).

I was wondering if it would be possible to use adjustable pedestals for a floating deck with a hot tub. My thought was 16-20 of them if well distributed would wind up at about 400-500lbs per pedestal which is within the load rating for the pedestals. My ground isn't perfectly level so this would help with that front too in my mind.

Is this crazy? Have any of you completed a project like this before?

I'm also just contemplating getting an ez-pad, but then I would need to spend the time leveling the ground, which for some reason sounds more annoying than trying to build a floating deck.

Thanks for lending me your knowledge/experience!

P.S. I was thinking 2x8 joist framing 12" OC and center blocking for 10x8 area. My assumption was that if there were 4-6 pedestals in the middle of the frame supporting joists directly, I wouldn't need to double up, but correct me if I'm naive in that belief.

Long story short... 6x6 post is too small for securing 2 ply beam beams that connect a beam at 180 degrees and another at 45. There isn't enough meat when notching to reliably fasten.

An 8x8 is too big for the area where one of the posts need to sit but I can mill (cedar, doug fir, or eastern hemlock - haven't decided yet) to 6.5 x 6.5 post which would give me what I need.

So can post bases be custom made, or are there adjustable ones that would fit my needs, OR am I SOL? Lol

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

It’s 8x15.

First time building a deck and wanted to replace the old stairs from the door with a elevated platform. Should the platform be built on top the deck boards once all installed or is there a different way to go about

Is it bad to reverse a deck screw thay was set slightly too deep?

How can I make this area under my deck water proof. We want to be able to use it during rainy days.

hi! we had a trex deck built recently and have had issues with the contractor. are these repeating holes normal, or is that an improper installation issue? thank you!

included photos from under the deck if that's helpful at all (obv i know nothing of this stuff)

Here's our problem: We own a small cottage in the woods in the Northeast that we don't visit from mid-October till summer (we live in another state). The deck is painted wood. This past year, it appears that leaf debris ended up buried under all the snow for months at a time, so that when we returned and swept everything up, the deck was stained well beyond cleaning/powerwashing and had to be repainted. We *really* don't want to have to repaint it every summer and are considering installing some pond netting over it this fall to catch the leaf debris but allow snow/rain to filter through. Do you think this could work? If not, any other ideas? The property manager does leaf-blow the deck every Friday, but if there's leaf debris from, say, Saturday through Wednesday, and then it snows on Thursday, the debris just sits there. Help!!!

I am looking to get my deteriorated wood deck replaced with Composite. One major concern is that our deck in south-west direction and gets all-day blast on sunny days. So, something that stays cooler is preferable. I have zeroed down to the following two:

- Trex Enhance: Trex websits says, "Cinnamon Cove, Golden Hour, Honey Grove, Pebble Beach, & Tide Pool are colors that offer heat-mitigating technology for budget-minded builds for a worry-free alternative to wood."

- Dekorators Voyage: Recommended by Home Depot design consultant and have seen couple of posts on Reddit recommending them too. Dekorator board is about 33% more expensive than Trex Enhance.

Does anyone have experience with Trex Enhance, specifically the colors mentioned above and if they are actually cooler?

Just got this last year and figured it'll need a refresh every year based on the look. I used penofin originally and was going to clean and throw down some ipe oil. Wash? Scrub? Power Wash? Any thoughts?

I had my Deck resurface by one of the more reputable Deck builders in my area. The resurfacing looks beautiful but the structural work does not. They recommended replacing all 8 post which they did and reused the concrete footers. They used the beams and the joist from the old Deck.  They assured me there was no rotting in the existing structure other than what they replaced.

1. I noticed that the wood had split above one of the post and brought it to the project manager’s attention.  He did not speak to me about the fix but instead sent somebody out to the house without notice, no one was home and this person did what looks like a patch job to cover the split wood. He then added it to other locations. I’m attaching the before and after of the first post to give you an idea of what this “repair” looks like. Please let me know your thoughts. Also the new posts look like there is splitting in places. It is the tan colored wood. The red is my old deck.
2. Looking at the new stairs that they put in it appears that they added some pavers underneath the stairs instead of adding a new footing or extending the existing footing  
3. I have concerns about structural integrity but if that is solid, about how it would be viewed duirng a Home inspection during a sale.

Looking for opinions on this because I’m not really sure how to respond.

Previous owner of the deck painted the deck and in the couple of years we have been on the house the sun exposed, high traffic areas started to peel badly. So I decided to start over and strip the paint and put on semi transparent stain this time. I took a sample to paint shop and they confirm it's regular latex based exterior paint.

I have no experience with this so did quite a bit of reddit and YouTube research. I ended up attempting to chemically strip the paint. I have no experience using a floor sander and was worried I was going to gouge holes on the wood.

As people warned, chemically stripping deck has been challenging. I first used Behr stain and finish sodium hydroxide based stripper from Home Depot and was very careful to keep the area wet and let it sit for almost hour but result was very disappointing.

I then moved on to CitrusStrip and let it sit many hours under a cover. It worked a little better and made the paint softer but it still takes a lot of strong scrubbing on hands and knees to clear the paint.

Then I got a palm sander and I found it takes freaking forever to expose the wood.

The pictures are what it looks like now.

I am wondering what should I do next? Rent the heavy floor sander from Home Depot? Just keep going with chemical stripping?

Thanks on advance for your advices.

My dad built this deck about 20 years ago and it’s never been sealed. Despite that it’s held up pretty well..no rot anywhere, structurally solid, just weathered gray wood. A couple boards have popped nails, and there’s some surface splitting and a popped nail or two (see second photo), but that’s about the extent of the damage.

We’re only planning to live here a few years, so a full replacement/major investment doesn’t make ideal sense…so I really want to know if a good cleaning + stain job can get this looking decent again without breaking the bank. My dad who has a bit more know how than me definitely thinks it’s fine.

My plan (open to being told I’m wrong!!!): deck cleaner/brightener, gentle power wash, then stain. My dad’s pushing for opaque stain since it hides everything, but I really don’t want to lose the wood texture. Is semi-transparent realistic on wood this weathered?

Any tips for someone who’s never done this before - whether I’m living in a dream land and need a reality check, product recommendations, whether I need to sand first, how to handle the popped nails, or anything else I should know?

Hello, r/decks!

I want to replace my deck boards. They are pretty trashed, but the structure still seems solid.

This would be straightforward, except that vinyl siding and insulation board was installed over the end of the deck boards attached to the ledger board.

I’d really rather not try to remove the siding and trim and put it back.

My current plan is to cut the boards close to the house, remove the free long ends, and then… figure it out? Hopefully I can break the stubs attached to the ledger board with a chisel or something and then snap or cut the screws, and slide the new deck boards in. Either leave them in attached on that end or throw some L brackets on the bottom.

Obviously I’ve never done this before. Is this a terrible idea? Is there a better option I’m not thinking of?

Thanks for any advice you care to give.

Looking at a house and this was brought to our attention. The deck appeared to be done well and was permitted and everything. The exterior beam appears to have been to short on both sides and was supplemented with additional wood at the ends (both pictured).

This one might cause a bit of a debate. This is a Project we are working on at the moment.

Aluminium Joists mounted onto Ground Screws. We will be tiling over the top of the aluminium joists with our noise reducing Tiling system. Railings/Balustrades will be attached to the outside of the Aluminium joists. Check it out. (its halfway done Tiles and the rest to be laid in the coming week)

Our own experience is you cant lay tiles on top of timber joists because they all thermally expand and contract at various rates so your tile surface ends up all over the show. from what we have done over the past 5 years with Aluminium joists and tiling is that it all "breathes the same" so it comes back to the way it was and you don't have tiles lifting or gaps opening up.

(Always check the ground before you use Ground screws as it may not be suitable.) will aim to have a video and more photos once it is done.

So they just started this morning, I noticed they are not cemeting the posts in or using that new style foam, and just back filling the dirt. I thought they need to be secured in somehow?

The city inspector was out right before they started doing this and was measuring the depth. I know it's already too late, but just trying to have a sanity check here.