Had a few deck boards that were completely rotten through. As in step in the wrong spot and the foot is going through the deck. And a few others that were just half rotten.

Previous owner, I swear bought the cheapest deck paint. Or not even deck paint and just bought outdoor paint and gave the deck a coat before selling it. Within a year it was completely worn off. Luckily due to hail damage insurance is paying for a sanding and painting of the deck (and other things too, but that's irrelivent)

I still have one more I need to do tomorrow.

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[–] 5 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

The joists are almost always 1.5" thick (often 2x8s). Most installers just angle the nail gun a bit so they're far enough away from the edge that the boards don't split. Last time I did this I predrilled holes 3/8" from the edge of the board to avoid splitting and fastened with deck screws.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 hours ago* (2 children)

    Im still not quite getting it. It looks like the screw in the old board on the left is more than 1.5” away from the two screws on the new board on the right. I feel like you’d want at least 4” on the “joist” or whatever you call the crossing beam underneath.

    Are you saying you just drill at an angle so you come into the joist at the corner or even at the side of the board?

    Edit: those screws in that pic don’t look all that angled to me.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    Are you saying you just drill at an angle so you come into the joist at the corner or even at the side of the board?

    Not OP but I build stuff for a living - including 3 decks this year. The joist is a little less than 2 inches wide (48mm) so in a spot like this I place the screws about an inch to an inch and a half from the end of the board and drive it in at an angle. That way I pretty much hit the corner of the joist but as the screw goes deeper it digs deep into the solid centre wood of the joist. It just holds the end of the board down. There's another set of screws on the next joist - the board doesn't get to move sideways either way. Sometimes there is only half an inch of joist for the deck plank to rest onto. That's perfectly fine.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 hours ago

    OP mentioned some of his joists are 4" thick. The deck screws on the right look about right, i.e. roughly 3/8" from the edge to the deck screw center. The deck screw on the left looks like it would be a miss unless the joist is 4" thick there. The angle I was talking about is when using a nail gun, not deck screws.

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