A Weather-Proof Deck

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Check all fasteners on an older deck. Give any bolts a crank to assure they are tight. If any bolt holes have rotted out or any nails are working out, extract and replace the fasteners. Drill out rotted bolt holes to sound wood and install a larger fastener. Replace nails with deck screws that are fatter and longer than the nail. Infuse newly exposed fastener holes with fungicide and preservative. Poke splints into oversized holes to give the new fastener a good purchase. I whittle toothpicksized splints from high-grade PT lumber.

New and Old Ideas

Especially when adding service life to decks made from cedar and other untreated woods, carpenters are using an old material—tar paper, or more properly, heavy building paper or builders felt. This is a loosely woven, absorbent paper-cloth infused with asphalt that is commonly tacked over wooden roof sheathing to provide a waterproof underlayment for roof shingles.

Cut into strips that are wider by an inch than deck framing, it is stapled to the top surfaces of joists so it overhangs each side by a half-inch. Decking is fastened over the paper. Especially if planks are fastened tight with deck screws, sunheated asphalt will soften and form a watertight gasket between bottom plank and top of joists, and seal around fasteners. Rain water flowing through cracks between planks can't soak into bottom of plank or top of beam, but drips off the edges of the paper.

You can cut tar paper strips from standard rolls, or buy precut strips at most lumberyards. The black paper will make a sharp color-contrast with decking at first, but after stain, sealers, and preservatives are applied, wood and asphalt will gradually fade to a uniform shade.

Water does its worst damage at frame joints—where several rim joists meet at corner posts.

To minimize water intrusion, sandwich sheet tar paper between butting surfaces of posts and beams and fasten tight with lags. Then use a modern clear, flexible silicone sealer to caulk all the top-side and vertical seams.

Cut a gasket to fit over the top of the entire joint—covering top of post and meeting joists and overlapping all edges by at least a half-inch. Spread a bead of caulk around the edges of paper, and apply it before fasting planks.

If some water does get into tarpapered joints, creosotes in the tar will give your wood the same protection that keeps creosote-soaked railroad ties and telephone poles standing for 50 years—but in your deck it can't wash off.

A modern-caulk-and-old-fashioned-tarpaper-protected deck should last as near to forever as a wood structure can hope to.

Special Tools for Decks

CUTTING

Though they are hard work and can be something of a nuisance, you're going to need a hand saw to finish off many power cuts, and you can build a whole deck with one if you have the time and muscle. But an electrical saw makes the work go a whole lot faster. A benchmount cutoff/sliding miter saw is ideal for this work; it makes perfectly straight and square cuts with a simple pull of the handle. But a good one costs over $300 and requires a long, level support for the boards. Plus, each board must be carried from the stack to the job and measured; then, it must be carried and hefted up to the saw, cut, and then hauled back to the job. Cutoff saws are a great time-saver for a two- or three-person crew: one of you measures and hollers out the dimensions; the other does the cutting and carrying. Hand-held circular saws are best for a solo operation. They make less-precise cuts, but you carry them right to the job. And they cost a fraction as much.

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