A Weather-Proof Deck

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Get a dozen double-ended, magnetized Phillips-head powerdriver bits. When fresh, the cross-tip screwdriver-type bits fit deep and snug into the screw heads and the magnet will hold them tight, freeing your off hand. But the bits are intentionally made to be slightly softer than the screws, so they become burred and lose holding power over time. Don't be hesitant to replace a bit when it starts slipping off the j screw heads. Like a dull saw blade, a burred bit is frustrating and can slip and damage the work. Staying with it when a 50¢ replacement is called for is false economy.

Check for Wobbly Joints

At corners and line-post locations, put a shoulder to the deck and see if the boards move relative to one another in the joint. If so, pull any nails that come out easily and replace with deck screws or lag screws long enough to reach almost through the joint. (Lags are big, fat screws with a hexagonal head so they can be turned in with an adjustable wrench.) If nails won't come out, sink lags or deck screws between them. As above, drill out rotted bolt holes and install larger fasteners. Don't spare the deck preservative!

If the deck's planking bounces when you walk on it, the joists are weak or were too small to start with. If a check under the deck shows that beams bow down obviously, install "sister beams":—new sections of wood that are screwed on beside the originals. Or install new beams and joist hangers between existing beams. A new support post or two—run from a new concrete footing up to a sandwich of two lengths of 2-by planking running between two or three joists—can help as well.

If (as was the case in my deck) you find that major joints have begun to separate, you must make repairs or the internal movement caused by normal use and temperature fluctuations will work the joint till it fails. To support the deck while you work, get one or more floor jacks. Not expensive house jacks, but floor jacks that consist of 1" vertical screws topping heavy steel posts. One of them can hold up the corner of any deck made, and they only cost about $15 apiece. Use them to jack up the platform to relieve pressure on sprung joints for repair, or to lift sagging beams so you can install new supports. Crank deliberately so the platform is raised gradually (a half inch a day) to let the structure adjust.

Often a few cranks of a jack will cinch a parted seam tight, and you only need to refasten or reinforce it by deck-screwing flat, hole-punched truss plates over both sides of the troublesome joint. If settling posts, sagging beams, or weak joints have separated major portions of the deck (as, for example, when all but the corners of my front deck pulled away from the house), or if a joint remains parted even after jacking, you can use rope or chain and a "come-along"—a hand-ratcheting block and tackle—to winch it back together.

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