What does a deck repair cover?
Is your deck starting to feel a little less solid than it used to? A repair fixes the parts that have worn out on a deck that’s staying. Deck repair in Fort Collins usually means one of five things:
- Loose or split boards
- A wobbly railing
- Tired stairs
- A post
- The ledger, the board that fastens the deck to the house
Each of those parts does a different job. Boards are what you walk on. The railing keeps people on the deck, and stairs get you down to the yard.
Posts carry the beams, the beams carry the joists, and the joists carry the boards. The ledger holds that side of the deck up.
When one part wears out, the parts around it are worth a look too. A loose railing post can point to a soft spot in the frame. A sagging stair can point to a worn stringer. We look at the part that’s giving you trouble and the deck around it.
Common problems we fix
Checked and split boards
Boards on a wood deck check and split as the years go by. A few bad boards can come out and new ones go in.
If most of the boards are gone but the frame is solid, new boards on the old frame can be an option. We price that at the estimate.
A wobbly railing
A railing that moves when you lean on it usually has a loose post. We fasten the post back into the frame or replace it, and we replace railing sections that are past saving.
Tired stairs
Stair treads crack and stringers wear. We replace treads, stringers or the whole set of stairs.
Posts, joists and the ledger
Rot in the frame, a post that has settled, or a ledger that’s pulling away from the house are bigger repairs. They are still repairs, as long as the rest of the deck is worth keeping.
The ledger deserves extra attention. Virginia Tech professor Frank Woeste has found that roughly 90% of deck collapses trace back to the ledger connection, and most of those involve ledgers held on with nails alone. If yours is pulling away, don’t wait on it.
Repair or replace?
Most decks can be repaired. When the frame and the boards are both worn out, though, the money goes further on a new deck. We’ll tell you which one your deck needs, and if a repair will do, we’ll tell you that. If it’s past repair, see deck replacement.
In Fort Collins, replacing posts, beams, joists, stairs or railing takes a permit from Fort Collins Building Services. We plan repairs to those parts with that in mind, so you aren’t surprised partway through the job.
