HO asked me how I would remove some really nice redwood decking he has on front steps. Steps are sloped back (toward risers) and are not spaced, so water sits on them. He doesn’t want to damage the redwood as it is not available around here anymore. He wants the planks removed and spaced so water falls through.
I suggested doing one of two things and he didn’t seem too keen on either idea, so I thought I’d see if someone else could come up with better ideas. One, I would just take a circular saw and cut a kerf in the joint between each board (which looks like it is caulked now). Problem would arise near the ends where they butt the house and there I proposed using a saber saw (and either handsaw or Rotozip up close). I guess I could use a plunge router to do most of it too, instead of the saw (would make wider joint). Advantage of this method is no need to remove boards, possibly splitting them and then having to renail. With router I could ease the edges and make it look better.
Second method would be to remove a wider band of caulk between last board and riser that “encloses” its edge and pry at each joist with a flat bar, loosening a little at a time and taking them up, board by board, then planing the edges to get spaces, then renailing.
His method involved cutting perpendicular near an end and prying up, then somehow getting a loop of rope in there and pulling the boards up with the rope. I think he’s dreaming–that pulling on a rope won’t give nearly the leverage of a flat bar and that if you could pull hard enough, you might break the boards across. Then when you’re done, you have the saw kerf running perpendicular to three or four formerly full length boards.
With my method, if a flat bar doesn’t work, I might even be able to get a jack in there and jack each board off the joists.
Anyway, the impression I got was that he didn’t think much of my ideas (in which case I should probably just tell him to hire someone he has more confidence in). I’m afraid he’ll hire some bozo who will just go in and destroy the existing redwood and replace it with PT or Trex. I guess it’s no skin off my nose if he does.
Any ideas?
Replies
Sounds like a good project to pass up.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
You are probably right. The HO does have a couple replacement boards if one gets ruined, but.... What he'll probably do is hire the guy I do a lot of work with and then I'll end up helping him do something I normally wouldn't. If he hire's the other guy though, the grief is his!
Is that "SLOPED BACK" in tolerance of code?
Might be your saving grace if not, tear it all out and rebuild it properly.
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It's an old house and the steps aren't sloped the wrong way bad enough to be dangerous, just that being watertight the water sits and that's not good. I was sort of surprised the steps weren't in worse shape than they are--in fact they are sound, no rot that I could see. HO already got under the deck itself and re-set those boards so there is space for water to run out between them even though the deck seems (to my eye--didn't put a level on it) to still slope toward the front door very slightly. If he had asked me before he did that, I would have recommended tearing them out and starting over, but now that he's gone through a lot of effort, I was inclined to stay with the program he started. Wish he would have consulted me sooner, but like I say, he has his own way of doing things.
My first reaction is to detatch the entire staircase...stringers and all,and reset them with a pitch that would allow water to drain.
My second reaction is quite simple......bolt.
You`re the carpenter. If he believes he knows better than you, allow him to do it and suffer the consequences.
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How are the boards attached to the stringers? Trying to pry redwood loose can often result in some fairly large holes unless you get lucky and the nails pull free of the stringers.
Could you remove the entire stair assembly and re-hang it to get your drainage? It's a lot of work but it may solve the problem.
For what it's worth, I always space deckboards ~1/8" (16d nail) to allow drainage and some air circulation.
To Dave and ALL:
Dave: I think I messed up my response to you, so if this is a repeat, sorry. Kind of the way my day is going! Hit post when I meant to copy part of your response.
Anyway, yeah, if I had built the thing, I would also have spaced the boards with a nail, but this was built when the house was built (in the 60's, I'd guess). It's not that big a deal--really just a little entry step. Two narrow (12" or so) "L-shaped" steps around a platform that is only about 6' by 4' and 16" high. HO got under the platform somehow and re-spaced those boards, but says he can't get under the steps.
He just asked me because I was out there staining the house. Even if I were to do it, I wouldn't make much money. He knows I work with another guy who is more of the real builder, so that's why he was thinking about hiring him. (That guy, however, builds decks without spacing and does several other things I wouldn't do.) Don't know if anyone else would bother to go out there for such a small job. I could have had it done in the amount of time I've spent thinking about it!
"HO asked me how I would..."
This should be a red flag. This guy is trying to extract information from you, and all your years of knowledge and wisdom for free. So he can then take that and find the lowest bidder.
It's sort of an ego trap, and I've been caught in it myself. Best thing is to just tell him you can do it for X dollars, or tell him sorry, can't do it.
Can you get underneath?
Gently bump them from below with a large hammer. Use a block to protect the planks from the hammer blows, and distribute the force. Once you get enough gap, tuck a recip saw in there to cut the nails.
If you cannot get a recip saw in there, sometimes a Dremel will do it.
Or, take the whole thing apart to make it easy. Nothing special about the framing structure, right?