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Debate: Do you really need to replace a whole deck board or is patching it fine?
I was reading a forum post about deck repairs and found out that a single pressure treated 2x6 costs about $8 at Home Depot, but some folks swear you gotta replace the whole board if there's rot, while others just cut out the bad spot and patch it with a piece and some joist tape. I'm leaning towards patching because it saves time and wood, but my neighbor in Ohio says it'll fail in 2 years. Which side do you fall on for a DIY deck fix?
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brian32828d ago
Patching works fine if you do it right, but most people skip the part that actually matters. You gotta cut the patch so it sits on top of the joist, not between them, and then screw it down with deck screws plus some construction adhesive. The real trick nobody talks about is you gotta treat the cut ends with wood preservative before you install it, otherwise moisture wicks right into that fresh cut and you're patching again in a year. Your neighbor in Ohio probably just slapped a piece in there with no prep and blamed the method instead of his shortcuts lol.
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jamiew5327d ago
My uncle tried that same shortcut on his deck back in 2017 and within 9 months the patch was spongy as hell. He used regular untreated pine from the local lumber yard too, didn't even bother with pressure treated. The funny thing is he spent more time re-doing it than if he'd just done the preservative step from the start. I remember watching him cuss at that patch for two weekends straight because he refused to admit he messed up. Now every time I see him he brings up how he "fixed" it with a different method that's basically the same thing people already told him to do. Some guys just gotta learn the hard way.
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king.aaron20d ago
My buddy from work tried the exact same thing on his front steps back in 2018. He used some old fence boards he had sitting in his garage for like two years and just nailed them straight over the rotten spot without any adhesive or cutting to the joists. I remember standing there watching him work and thinking "that's not gonna last the season." Sure enough, by late October the whole patch had shifted like a loose tooth and he was back at Home Depot buying pressure treated lumber and construction glue. He still won't admit the preservative thing was the real issue though, just blames it on the wood being "cheap.
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