Pin It

Straightening warped deck boards

If you build decks, sooner or later you'll have to develop a method for straightening stubborn deck boards. After struggling with a number of techniques with varying degrees of success, I discovered one afternoon that I could combine two tools that I always have on site to coax any board into place. As shown in the drawing, I placed the short end of a pry bar in the gap between two boards that had already been installed. The long end of the pry bar points toward the board you're installing. Then I placed the tail stop of the pipe clamp over the pry bar and the clamp's head on the workpiece. With a couple of turns of the crank, the deck board is ready to nail off. Too easy.