The boards you walk on are the last thing to fail. By the time a deck feels wrong underfoot, the structure below has usually been going for years. These are the things we check first.
1. The ledger board is nailed, not bolted
The ledger attaches the deck to your house and carries half its load. It should be fastened with structural bolts or approved screws into the rim joist. If you look underneath and see common nails, that connection is the single most likely point of failure.
2. There is no flashing above the ledger
Without flashing, every rainfall runs down the siding and sits in the joint between the ledger and your house. That rots both the ledger and the rim joist behind it, and the damage is hidden inside the wall.
3. Rust streaks on the hardware
Pressure-treated lumber is corrosive to the wrong metal. Older decks often have hangers and fasteners that were never rated for it. Orange streaking below a joist hanger means the connection is thinning out.
4. The posts move
Push hard on a corner post. Any movement means the footing has heaved, the post base has rotted, or there was never proper bracing. Frost heave is relentless here on footings that were not taken below the frost line.
5. Soft wood at the post bases
Posts sitting directly on soil or on a pad without a standoff base will wick water. Press a screwdriver into the bottom six inches. If it sinks in, the post is done.
6. The railing flexes
A railing should not move when you lean on it. Loose railings are usually attached to the rim board with screws that have nothing solid behind them, and they are the most common cause of deck injuries.
A deck that needs a new ledger, new footings and new posts is not a repair. It is a rebuild with old decking on top, and pricing it as a repair does you no favours.
We will walk a deck with you and tell you honestly which category yours falls into. Sometimes the answer is a few hundred dollars of hardware. Sometimes it is a rebuild. Either way you should know before summer, not during it.
Have a project like this?
We will come out, look at the actual conditions and give you a written estimate at no cost.
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