Deck Repair and Detecting Early Decay
By reading the various discussions, I see that some folks are involved in deck evaluation and repair. One issue we faced as we began to study deck inspection methodology is–how do you tell when a peice of lumber is in stages of “early decay”? The key word is early as the client probably wants the deck restored to a “good as new” condition. This issue brought us to the “pick test” which has a scientific basis. The paper is attached for your consideration. It was published in the ICBO magazine Building Standards:
Anderson, C. A., J. R. Loferski, and F. E. Woeste. 2002. Wood Bits: Detecting early wood decay. Building Standards 71(4): 6-7.
Frank Woeste
Replies
Frank, your link sends me to your vast list of credentials and writings. You have been a busy guy Frank. But no paper to read from that link. Could I be doing something wrong? Thanks
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Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Calvin:
My attempt to attach it as one document didn't work, so I will try again loading the paper text and four figures separately.
Thanks for your interest, Frank Woeste
Can you re-post the text as .TXT instead of .RTF? The RTF comes up unreadably small on my screen, and it won't print out or copy and paste.
Thanks --
-- J.S.
My browser wouldn't even read it.Excellence is its own reward!
J. S.
Here it is as a Word doc. I tried text and it didn't read well.
Thanks, Frank Woeste
Frank,
We have been doing this but call the tool a "money sniffer". You can also hit the wood with a hammer and tell by the tone if it's less than sound. If you can grab handfulls is a good clue to rot. (g)
KK
Four stages in the life of a wood deck:
Sound as the day she was milled, Maam!
Probably time for another coat of sealer.
Gettin' a little punky around the edges, better put somethin' in your budget for next year. I'll leave you a place in my schedule.
I wouldn't let a dog walk on that deck!Excellence is its own reward!
Good detail but 600k is a bit large. Can you shrink them a little?Jon Blakemore
Your link is not an active one and I didn't find the ref. with my search.
I presume you mean taking an ice pick, awl, or pocket knife to probe the interior of the exposed framing member. Often, the surface will appear and feel sound, but flake away easily when probed. A damaged framing member will allow a pick probe to penetreate deeply because of weakend structure.
It can be especially usful where paint has been used to hide flaws - for the independent inspector to remember.
This really is determined by your definition of "early decay".
A decks best day, is the day when construction is finished. From then on it's downhill
FWIW I believe any piece of lumber once exposed to the elements is in an early state of decay. It's all a matter of time.