Ripped out a 15 year old deck this weekend. Hit 237 screws before I lost count.

Bought this house 3 years ago and the deck always looked fine from far away. Got up close last month and saw rot near the house side. Started pulling it apart Saturday morning. By Sunday night I had pulled 237 screws out of that thing. Thought I could save some lumber but nope. Every single board was water damaged. Replacing it with composite now but man that was more work than I expected. Anyone else tear into a project thinking it'll be quick and end up with a full rebuild?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanes662d ago

Ha! Yeah decks always snowball. Found the same with my patio, never quick.

river_thompson2d ago

Read an article the other day about how people always underestimate the time stuff takes around the house by like 40%. Makes total sense with decks and patios, every little thing turns into its own project. You think youll just replace one board then suddenly you're pulling up half the deck and looking at the foundation. I swear home improvement follows some kinda law where the work expands to fill whatever time you have. Ive seen it happen with my own fence, turned a weekend job into a month long thing.

caseywalker1d ago

oh man that is brutal. Ive been there with a different project and it sucks when you realize you basically signed up for way more than you planned. 237 screws is insane, I bet your hands are still cramping up just thinking about it. The worst part is when you start hoping you can salvage some of the lumber and then every single piece is garbage. That gut feeling when you see the rot spread and know you're in for a full tear out is just the worst. At least with composite you won't have to deal with this again for a long time, but the labor right now is just painful. Hope the new deck goes up smoother than the old one came down.