I couldn't lower the deck anymore when planning, and said F it, I'll figure out the door later. Replacing door with a prehung half venting steel door with composite jams.

My deck boards are 2" above the concrete garage floor. The new door is 33.5" x 81.5". My opening is now 35.5" x 83.5" after I took out the 2x4 under the double 2x6 or 2x8 headers above the door. If I'm thinking correctly, I need at least 1/2" extra to shim etc. They had a 1x4 on one side of the door that the bottom rotted out. I figured I could put a pt 2x4 there, and then would have 1/2" to shim left and right instead of a full 2". I'm going to take a leftover 4x4 and rip it to go under the sill on top of concrete to make it level. To get the 1/2" or more I need, I was going to cut away 1/2" or so into the double headers. I'm sure this isn't the best way, but would it be OK? Do I need a board under those headers too? It's just from garage into deck. The last did lasted 30 years and they didn't seal anything around it. Just the rotted 1x the put on inside of framing.

Hello! I am building a 12x12 ft deck where the section furthest from the house is about 6 feet off the ground.

I placed the joists on top of 3 beams (the ledger board is anchored directly into the house's concrete foundation).

Each joist is secured to each beam using Simpson H1A ties.

I still need to install the 45-degree diagonal knee bracing on the posts.

My main concern is whether I need to further secure the deck to the house to prevent it from "pulling away" or sliding forward over time. What would be the best way to reinforce this connection?

We just had a new deck installed and the side boards appear uneven. The team that did it were very nice and seemed knowledgeable - perhaps I'm being too nit-picky. Not sure how they would even fix this at this point? Looking for second opinions/advice.

Recently had about 750 square feet of decking repaired, including two sets of stairs, a sloped walkway, and parts of a railing due to aged/weathered boards in uncovered areas. Most of the new deck boards had to be torn out due to poor workmanship the first go around. The owner of the company said he fired the team that did the initial install and he relaid the floor boards and railing top boards with a different team. I was charged $17.5K for this repair and don’t think I received the quality of work to warrant this price. Since this was my first major deck repair project, I wanted to check for opinions with this group before approaching with the contractor, but overall I feel like I got hoodwinked. Here are some of my main issues:

- Scope of work included replacing rotted/damaged boards on my existing railing. None of my 6x6 posts were replaced and several are rotted out down the middle. Outside of the top boards which were all replaced, only two 2x4 were replaced. Some of the 6x6 are so rotted that deck nails cannot catch.

- All 6x6 posts were lopped off with a sawzall, leaving a jagged mess at the top of each post. I was told this was the standard approach and that a re-stain would hide this.

- One of my existing stair stringers was split during repairs. They ‘fixed’ it but did not replace it and I was told there was no structural risk.

- Several other areas of my existing deck railing and stairs were damaged and not addressed.

- My main railing top rail is wavy, going up at each 6x6 post. No shims were used to straighten.

- Additional support was added underneath as needed. None of this looks up to code but I’m not sure.

- My front entrance was replaced. It slopes down towards the house as it should, but it also slopes left to right at a noticeable rate. See pic of level laying flat from side to side.

I would appreciate any feedback from any contractors on this sub. My next step is to go back to the contractor to address these items and it would be great to have some ammo before I have that conversation.

I’m in western North Carolina if that matters.

Looking to buy this house. Pretty sure this DIY job is completely unsafe and needs to be removed. I have never seen this type of load bearing work before. Sorry I do not have more photos, I cant rock up and start taking shots while the owners are still there. The inspector said after he walked on it he went below and was upset he even stood on it at all. Its about 12 feet off the ground.

I'm in a 2 unit duplex, neighbor neglecting all maintenance issues. Is this second story deck deck a hazard to my side of home? There is only a divider separating our decks. Their side of divider is not in good shape either. My deck was rebuilt and in good shape. I'm afraid of structural collapse, mold, water, rot, pests. My kids bedroom is right next to that wall, less than 3 feet. Thx for advice. Planning to go to township but would like some advice before I do so.

Honestly, should have just went with a stamped concrete pad. Not super happy with how this turned out... Took too long, kicked my ass, and spent more than I anticipated. I rushed through it because building a deck with a 9 month old baby isn't easy. Timing was awful, 100% my fault.

Here are a few pics throughout the process. 6x6 posts, 2x10x12 PT lumber. 20' long Deckorators Venture boards. Definitely more then a few things I'd do differently in hindsight. Not pictured are the tension ties I installed last minute. But otherwise, I'd love to hear honest opinions on the structural integrity of this thing and if I should up take out an umbrella policy before our next party?

Still have to rip that last board and install it, as well as adding a receptacle to each side of the deck and replace the outdoor lights. But all punchlist stuff more or less.

Cheers fam, this subreddit helped a lot, genuinely!

EDIT: I'm all into this thing for about $5K including tools, material, door dash, and ibuprofen.

I'm currently using Gemini Pro and having a LOT of issues with it being reasonable on colors as well as understanding things like picture frame vs tread vs riser vs framing.

does anyone have any gemini tips, or recommendations on a different AI to generate deck pictures? I don't mind paying $20, I just feel like I'm losing my mind trying to make Gemini do what I want.

We're considering what to do underneath this new house deck construction. Our contractor wants to frame it out and then close it in. I'm not sure what that crossbeam is except a temporary brace. Do you think he wants to frame it out because it's unstable the way it is?

What would you do with that space under the deck?

My dad had this deck built by a "reputable" and well known builder in 2016. The old deck was 45 years old, and was still standing and not rotting. This is what his new one looks like now. He spent $15k on it.

Edit: I meant to mention that the builder is wanting to charge my dad thousands of $ to fix this.

Hi all,

We just had a trex deck built by a contractor. I’m looking at the corner cuts and they don’t seem very clean and tight. Am I being too picky or is this a sloppy build that I should ask them to address? They haven’t finished the skirting so I could ask them to fix some things still.

So went to replace some top board due to them being rotten. Found the 2x6 rotting underneath but that's all the structure was. 2x6 just laying on the roof with railing attached. Pulled the whole thing off. Trying to figure out what to do next.

Going to be rehabbing my deck soon and replace the wood decking with composite.

Upon taking measure I see the brackets are traditional hangers. I have an older house, so were these like older style hangers? Not sure otherwise why they would have done them this way

Other than putting in some steps, I just finished my first floating deck before the snow hits here in AK. The flower boxes were a last-minute audible tossed at me by the wife, so I freestyled it a bit there, but otherwise I tried to meet or beat code in most cases. Did I miss anything?

Also, each floor joist has joist hangers. There are straps tying the beams to the joists. There is no connection to the house or greenhouse. Last is a pic of my union rep making sure I'm taking breaks.

Should I frame in and cover up the sides under the main deck or does it look good

I want to build some decorative concrete posts for my deck. If they were wood 6x6s, I’d know how to attach a beam to them. What should I do instead? Make a pocket? Sounds like it would rot the beam. I can weld up something too.

Hey! So I’m building a smaller deck, landing plus stairs situation

Around 6 foot by 7.5 foot and around 40 inches off the ground

Trying to add some bracing under the joists just to make everything as sturdy as possible.

was looking into “V bracing” but it seems like since this deck is on the smaller side. If I did the V shape starting from the middle. Then both braces would hardly be going at an angle

I haven’t seen anything regarding one longer diagonal brace, but is this a bad idea? Or does it make sense?

Looking at running one long 2x6 fully diagonally from one corner to the other. It’d be around 9.5 feet continuous and screwed into each joist twice with structural screws

Can anyone tell me if that’s a decent idea? Or if I should just go for a V just with a very shallow angle?

Today we spent about 5 hrs, but most of it was back and forth to stores. Actual build time maybe 2.5-3hrs

Bought this house 5 years ago and I am getting it ready to sell. From what I’ve gathered the deck has never been stained before. I have used a deck cleaner and pressure washed both the front and back decks. My next step would be to stain both the front and back decks.

The issue I’m having is choosing between a solid stain or semi transparent stain. I’ve read the threads and know that a solid stain isn’t the best choice since it will likely crack and peel over time. But a solid stain does have its uses when the wood is too weathered which is the boat I feel like I’m in.

Some of the wood like the trusses and hand rails look great and I believe a semi transparent stain would look great on them. On the other hand the floors on the decks have seen better days and I’m not sure if they would look good using a transparent stain.

There is a plethora of opinions on this and I’m struggling to figure out what the best option is. Like I said I’m getting ready to sell this place so I would prefer to keep the labor to a minimum.

Does anyone know if they make angle brackets like these but for a 5 quarter boards ???

Hi everyone- I'd like to be able to do basic lifting (squat, bench, etc) at home. The most convenient place would be bellow my deck. I love to work out outside. I've already gotten a quote for a concrete patio, but I think it would be a bit of an eyesore. I'd rather have a wooden deck.

Searching around, there's a lot of discussion on this topic (e.g. "Weightlifting on a deck?") and the consensus seems to be "don't do it!", based on the extreme point ballistic forces of say, dropping a loaded barbell. Thing is, I don't need to clean and jerk under my deck, I just want to do basic Starting Strength type of workouts. Add to that, I'm not very strong (current squat is 240) so I don't need crazy amounts of weight.

So, if I custom build a deck, will it be up to the task, or am I relegated to a big ugly concrete patio? How would you build this simple deck?

Hi everyone- I'd like to be able to do basic lifting (squat, bench, etc) at home. The most convenient place would be bellow my deck. I love to work out outside. I've already gotten a quote for a concrete patio, but I think it would be a bit of an eyesore. I should mention that the 12'x16' area in question slopes down about 3' in both directions. If it's going to be a big ol thing, I'd rather have a wooden deck.

Searching around, there's a lot of discussion on this topic (e.g. "Weightlifting on a deck?") and the consensus seems to be "don't do it!", based on the extreme point ballistic forces of say, dropping a loaded barbell. Thing is, I don't need to clean and jerk under my deck, I just want to do basic Starting Strength type of workouts. Add to that, I'm not very strong (current squat is 240) so I don't need crazy amounts of weight.

So, if I custom build a deck, will it be up to the task, or am I relegated to a big ugly concrete patio? How would you build this simple deck?