Post #783461 by Prikli Pear on Sat, Jan 27, 2018 8:20 PM

I agree completely on nails-vs-screws. My son cut his foot open this past summer on a nail that'd worked its way up out of the wood. That was part of the impetus for this. That, and the fact some of the boards are completely rotted through at the far end. And there are random screws here and there from when the planks started to come loose, except the nails are still in place and the rusting screws are impossible to see until I've already split the plank apart with a crowbar trying to get it up. It's an unfun mess. Near as I can tell, the previous owners laid the cedar boards down and never did anything else to preserve or maintain them. The top sides have serious UV damage (the natural version of the Witco look) whereas the undersides have fungus eating away at 'em. I'm cutting away far more bad wood than I'd hoped to. Next weekend I'll have to make a run to the lumber yard to buy planks to fill in the gaps. Oh, and they built the deck out of 2"x6" red cedar boards, rather than 1"x6" decking planks. Which is all well and good, except for the fact that it's going to cost more $$ to replace.

On the bright side, once I'm finished with this, we'll be ready to start some killer landscaping. Variegated ginger, hardy hibiscus, dwarf palmettos, some more banana plants... this place is going to look crazy tropical.