Talk to me about decks

puppydoggie

What do I need to know when it comes to maintenance? We bought a foreclosure and this huge deck (about 500 sq ft) is somewhere between 4-7 years old. It appears it only has had one stain treatment. It is bowed some (only obvious from when you're looking at it from the sides) and it does have some cracking happening. it IS safe as far as we know.

When do you know if you have to rip one out? When do you just retreat it with oil stain? 

-auntie-

If there's no rot, you can treat with a deck brightener, restain and seal. If the decking boards are bowed, they can be flipped and screwed down on the other side to flatten.

Bluesmoothy

Ours was pretty worn when we bought our house. There were a few warped boards. DH replaced a few of the boards and sanded down some other boards. We had the deck powerwashed. Then he stained the deck w/ a semi-transparent stain to give it a little color and seal it. We figure this will last several more years until we have to replace it.

Mrs.G123

Bluesmoothy:

Ours was pretty worn when we bought our house. There were a few warped boards. DH replaced a few of the boards and sanded down some other boards. We had the deck powerwashed. Then he stained the deck w/ a semi-transparent stain to give it a little color and seal it. We figure this will last several more years until we have to replace it.

This is great advice. We tore ours down as it was 6 inches higher on the west side than the east and thus water sloped toward our house.