Dear Experts
Our outdoor deck wooden flooring slats can't be nailed to their supported joists,,,yes I guess because it is an old,,,I hadn't built myself it was there when I bought the house.
Is it fixable ?
Thx
Hello @zillah
Thank you for sharing your question about your deck. It appears that some of your decking panels are too deteriorated to be recovered. This is very evident on your fourth photo. Unfortunately, the former owner did not bother to rejuvenate the deck properly and doubled up on the fixings on the ends instead. It also appears that part of the frame underneath has deteriorated as well. It is difficult to tell what the current conditions are without removing the decking panels.
Looking at the deck, I can only conclude that the decking panels have been left bare too long without protection. It has compromised the strength of the panels and is too exposed to be sanded and re-sealed. In order to fix the deck, I can only suggest removing the decking panels and fixing the frame underneath. This is on the condition that the frame is still in good condition and can be repaired. Should it be compromised as well, I'm afraid a total rebuild will need to be carried out.
If the decking frame can be fixed. The decking panels will need to be replaced with new ones. My best advice is to provide proper spacing between the panels and that it be properly sealed for full protection.
Let me call on our experienced members @Nailbag , @Dave-1 and @Remarka6le for their recommendations.
If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.
Eric
Thx Eric for your input and help
Good Morning @zillah
I would be heading towards making safe for now and saving your money for a redo. The timber slats look dried to to point of spitting, no re-oiling will recover from that :/ With the support framework so close to the ground I would be checking that before any real repair efforts are made. Having airflow under the deck would be high on my replacemnt list.
Making safe, adding screws if possible, pulling up existing single boards and fliping them, maybe ripping them down by 5mm would help in being able to secure the inderviduals (would also show the state of the timber support)
Dave
Thx Dave for your help
