GreensNalaska: Deck Repair

A few years after our house was purchased we had the small deck in the back taken down and replaced with a much more roomy and enjoyable one. No, I did not build the deck though I'm SURE I could have if I thought I could've then. That isn't the point here... (No, I'm not developing a complex. That was fully realized early in my youth!)

Anywho, the contractor installed the posts sitting on heavy duty blocks of wood. He said they would last for a very long time. Later I wondered why he didn't use concrete blocks. Over the many years since its installation the deck has slowly begun to slope. I convinced myself over and over that it had to be an illusion. After all the deck felt okay when standing on it. =)

Before. The photo makes it look more at a slant than it was, though the posts were at a slant.

I don't know but this summer I decided to put a level on it. The deck had sunk about an inch and a half at one corner. the other corner was in good shape. So I had really been thinking for a long time now about how I could repair it. The level proved the point and I decided to fix the thing or confirm my complexes by failing miserably. Now, I don't enjoy working under the deck. It isn't very high, I have to bend over and there was to be shoveling involved... while bent over or kneeling. Nevertheless I decided to investigate why the post had sunk into the ground and see about repairing it.

I found the the offending post resting upon a large, thick piece of wood- apparently cracked through. I didn't know if that was how it was installed so I went to the other posts and uncovered their bases. Each of their foundations, while at a slant, were not cracked or broken. I knew what had to be done, I just wasn't sure how to do it. I had puzzled about how to raise the deck in order to repair the post.

The thought came the night or two before to use the car lift with a length of 4x4 post. Turns out it worked excellently. I purchased concrete blocks with adjustable brackets.

Post before (above) and after (below) it was cut. The post base was 4" thick. The photo below shows one of the broken sections pulled out of the hole a bit.

Though I measured, twice, I cut the existing post way to short and had to return to Home Depot to buy another 4x4 post.

I finished at dark, around 9pm, and since the deck was again level and looked great I concluded that the other three posts didn't need to be replaced for the time being.

As a result, the railing at the top and bottom tightened up and the one "spindle" that had fallen out of the railing was once again sitting snugly in its place.