Repairing a Rotting Deck

By Robert Robillard on Decks And Porches

Wood Deck Repair

Repairing a Rotting Deck: at Henry David Thoreau’s Historic Home Day 2 involved addressing the rotted corner board and damaged clapboards. the corner boards were removed back to the nearest joint. Although sometimes necessary, I dislike installing small or short patches of trim and always opt for breaking boards back to the nearest joint if possible.

We attempted to slip strips of tar paper under the claps to provide better weather moisture protection.  these continuous strips or overlapping strips are integral to keeping moisture from getting into the building envelope.  water easily gets into long seams at corner-boards and this flashing method lets the water drain down and out of the building.

Rubber flashing, lead flashing and more rubber covered the aluminum drip edge along the deck ledger board.

Corner boards and claps installed.

1″ heavy duty cedar lattice was installed along the bottom perimeter of the deck. Galvanized staples were used to fasten the lattice.

Azek PVC 1×8 joist trim and 1×4 lower skirt trim were applied.   Corners were mitered and glued with Azek PVC glue. White stainless steel nails and stainless steel finish nails were used.  We like using the white nails because they blend nicely.

Tomorrow the decking will be applied and fastened.  We try to install all wood decking with a minimum of 1/4-inch spacing to allow drainage and also facilitate airflow and drying under the deck.

When doing any deck repair like this, take the time to inspect for safety issues  and make necessary deck maintenance corrections by retrofitting safety hardware to make your deck safer and bring it more in line with code compliance.

~ concord carpenter

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

About the author

Robert Robillard

Carpenter / Remodeler / Editor

Rob Robillard is “The Concord Carpenter” Rob is a builder, general contractor, carpenter, woodworker, and editor of Concord Carpenter and ToolBoxBuzz As a General Contractor and carpenter, Rob owns and operates Concord Carpenter LLC. A full-service remodeling and construction company. Rob is a recognized leader in home building best practices and a source for how-to information for building professionals. On this website, Rob covers all aspects of home construction, building science, home improvement, woodworking, remodeling, and some of the best product and tool reviews. Rob is in charge of our Tool and Product Review series - Concord Carpenter Videos where we post all of our tool reviews and video tutorials. Rob approaches remodeling and building construction with a pragmatic and problem-solving approach. He enjoys using his knowledge and experience to help and educate building professionals as well as DIYers on best practices in the construction and remodeling industry. He's a strong advocate for "raising the bar" in the construction trades and promoting the trades to youth. #BeAMentor #Green2Great Craftsmanship, quality, and pride guide his journey on this channel The Concord Carpenter's motto: "Well done is better than well said!" : Read more about Rob

All posts by Robert »

Not what you're looking for?

Search for more articles here. Enter keywords like roof leak, bookcase, deck, etc to find your topic.

© Copyright 2019 A Concord Carpenter · All Rights Reserved