I have a renter that has been in my house for just short of 2 yrs. A person had closed off the deck to use it as a kennel for a dog. It also looks like she had power washed the wood many times without telling me to reseal it. With that This deck has a sub floor and planks, I looked under the deck and the joists are soft. It's the braces I'm not sure of. I have gone and washed them using the internet's best ideas, and they are just filled with urine. Before i start ripping this all up do I plan on removing them also?? or is there something that I can use??
Thanks for a great question. This is a case where the urine has most likely caused the wood to become so saturated that it has cause the wood to rot. To make sure, you need to let the wood completely dry out. Once you are sure that it is dry, you will need to take a small screw driver or a wooden lead pencil and try gently pressing the tip into the areas of the wood that were damaged by the urine.
I usually use a pencil because you can't put as much force when pressing into the wood. If the pencil tip pushes well into the wood with ease, then the wood will need to be replaced. I have had cases where the pencil will push into the wood an inch or more depending on the thickness of the wood. The process is very precise in determining that the wood needs replaced.
Run this same test in all areas of the each piece of wood that needs to be replaced because it could be that only a section of the piece needs to be replaced. This would include the floor boards, joist and any beams and supports that may have been affected by the urine.
Replacing the floor boards is usually not to much of a problem, but when you get into the joists and other structural parts, it can become much more difficult. If you know what you are doing and have worked with building decks before, and that is what it sounds like to me from your question, then you should be able to do the work yourself. Otherwise you may need to get someone to help you that has more experience with decks.
As far as the support posts or braces go, usually only the top section of the post needs replaced because the damage from the urine would run down and at some point stop. That would be only the portion of the post or brace that has be rotted out by the urine. There is a way to cut away the bad section and then add a short piece that can be attached to the remaining section with either a wooden dowel rod or a large double threaded screw. You would also need to use some all weather construction grade adhesive when joining them together.
Look at the drawing below to see how this can be done.
You may need to put up some temporary braces to support the deck as you work on fixing one support at a time. With this method you will not have to tear the supports out of the ground or reset new footer pads etc., and if you can do this, the job will be a lot easier and just as secure.
I hope this helps. Rick
Rick Maselli is Founder and Editor of Showroom411.com and Ask Rick