I finally saw what a year of neglect did to a deck in Seattle

I went back to a house I worked on last summer to do a follow up, and I barely recognized the deck. The homeowners had put off sealing it for 12 months and the wood had turned this ugly gray with little moss patches in the corners. Rain and sun just ate right through the pine boards, and some of the joists felt spongy when I stepped on them. I spent two hours last Tuesday scraping and sanding just to get it back to a point where stain could stick. Has anyone else dealt with a deck that went bad fast because of weather?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul_burns2d ago

Oh man, that spongy joist thing gives me the shivers. I did a deck for my sister-in-law in Portland two years ago and she skipped the sealer for one rainy winter and the thing looked like a sponge by spring. I spent a whole weekend pulling up loose boards and replacing a corner that just crumbled to mush under the power washer. The gray with moss patches is exactly what I saw too, it's like the wood gives up and decides to become dirt again.

kai_stone992d ago

Spongy joist thing gives me the shivers" - yeah, @paul_burns, that's the part that scares me the most. When I found those soft spots I actually poked one with my boot and my foot went right through. The homeowners acted surprised like I was overreacting but the whole corner was basically compost at that point. Did you end up having to redo any of the framing underneath or just the decking boards? I had to tear out two joists and replace them with treated lumber because the rot had spread into the ledger board too. That kind of water damage sneaks up on you real fast in this climate.

robinmason2d ago

You beat me to it with the boot trick, I did the same thing on a job last summer and sunk right up to my ankle. Homeowner looked at me like I was trying to scam them until I pulled out a chunk of joist that was literally dripping black water. By the time we got the decking off the whole back half was a science experiment. Ended up sistering three joists and replacing the header board, the ledger was shot too and had to be cut out and replaced. Water finds a way into any little crack and just sets up camp.