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How to repair a weathered wood deck
Any wood deck will inevitably show signs of wear after years of exposure to the elements. In some cases this may just be the normal fading and greying effect of sunlight, but in more extreme cases, you may experience cracking, twisting, warping or splintering of the deck boards. And in the worst cases, it's possible that holes due to decay may develop giving rise to potential structural problems.
Assuming that the deck has not deteriorated such that it is structurally unsound, in which case a complete rebuild would probably be necessary, then it's generally possible to remodel or recondition an existing wood deck to bring it back to a sound state of repair. Let's look at some of the options that are available.
Firstly, and probably the most obvious, you can rip up the existing boards and replace them with new ones. Probably you would choose a more durable wood species as a replacement, unless you wish to match some existing wood structures or flooring surrounding the deck. Whilst this task can be accomplished by a relatively skilled handyman without too much trouble, it's probably a task that is normally left to a specialist deck builder or deck repair company.
The second alternative is to take up the existing boards and replace them with other decking materials such as aluminum deck panels (e.g. AridDek or LockDry), composite wood decking (e.g Trex or Weatherbest) , vinyl decking (e.g. Gorilla Deck), or HDPE/Fiberglass decking (e.g.TriMax). Fairly naturally, the manufacturer of each of these products maintains that their particular product is the best. So you need to think about what product is best in your particular set of circumstances such as whether you want the deck to be completely waterproof underneath.
A third alternative is to remove the existing boards and lay marine ply over the top of the deck joists to create a smooth surface. Then you have a number of alternatives for covering the surface. You can use roll on products which create a membrane or sheet over the plywood surface such as vinyl products like Duradek orDecTec, polyester fabric-based membranes such as Deckrite or PVC roll on deck covering materials such as Weatherdek.
There are also spray on coating type products or products you apply with a roller. These include VersaDeck which is a fibreglass coating system and Metacrylics elastomeric acrylic encapsulated polyester fabric and others.
You could also consider using a recycled rubber pavers or plastic pavers which can be either interlocking types or require fixing to the plywood surface with an adhesive. When using such products it's important that the plywood is suitably protected from damage by moisture, possibly by either using a spray on rubber type product or an EPDM membrane.
Yet another alternative is to use interlocking deck tiles. With these tiles, providing the existing wood surface is in sound condition and is not excessively bumpy, you don't even need to remove the existing deck boards but you can simply lay the tiles directly over the top of the existing deck. Interlocking deck tiles are typically 12" x 12" tile modules which have a plastic mesh base underneath and tabs around the outside edges for simply snap in place installation. The top surface may either be wood, stone, wood composite or porcelain/ceramic. The particular design of these tiles means that water flows away freely from underneath the tiles via the mesh base and so helps to keep the surface as dry as possible.
Whilst interlocking tiles are themselves not waterproof, if you want to create a dry area underneath the deck, you can achieve this by firstly laying down an EPDM sheet and then just snapping the tiles into place over the top of this sheet. Ideally you want to ensure that the EPDM sheet does not have any seams which could cause some leakage or seepage to the dry area below.
Another advantage of deck tiles is that they can be laid without the need to employ contractors or outside labour. And you can also create different designs with deck tiles by changing the orientation of the tiles or even combining tiles of certain materials such as slate with tiles manufactured of wood.
Irrespective of whatever materials you decide to use to repair the existing deck surface, make sure that the materials you use will stand up to the particular conditions in your region, and in particular the sunlight and rainfall, so your new deck will give you many, many years of enjoyment.
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