Outside the house

Deck Repair: Boards, Railings, Stairs and Framing

Rotten boards, loose railings, shaky stairs and worn framing repaired so your deck is safe and solid again.

Decks take a beating in this part of Georgia. Long humid stretches, heavy summer storms, and pine needles that pile up and hold moisture against the wood all wear a deck down. The good news is that a lot of decks don't need to be replaced. They need the right deck repair, with the bad parts found and fixed.

Repairs we handle

• Replacing rotten, split or cupped deck boards
• Tightening or replacing loose railing posts and balusters
• Rebuilding worn or wobbly stairs and stair stringers
• Sistering or replacing soft joists
• Replacing rotted post bases
• Adding or replacing hardware like joist hangers and post brackets
• Re-securing a deck where it attaches to the house

Warning signs to check

Walk your deck with a screwdriver. Push it into the wood in a few spots, especially near the house, around posts and under the stairs. If it sinks in easily, the wood is soft.

Also watch for:

• Boards that flex or feel spongy underfoot
• Railings that move when you push on them
• Stairs that bounce or have stringers pulling away
• Rusty or missing nails and hangers
• Gaps opening up between the deck and the house wall
• Dark stains or fungus around posts where they meet the ground

Our guide on signs your deck needs repair goes into each of these in more detail.

Repair or rebuild?

Here's how we think about it:

• Repair when the problems are in the surface boards, railings or a few spots of framing, and the structure underneath is sound.
• Rebuild when posts, beams or many joists are rotted, the ledger board at the house is damaged, or the deck was built without proper footings or hardware.

We'll crawl under and show you what we see, with photos if you can't get down there. If a rebuild makes more sense, we can talk about building a new deck.

Safety comes first

The parts that matter most are the ones holding people up: the connection to the house, the posts, the stairs and the railings. If we find something unsafe, we'll tell you right away and suggest keeping people off that area until it's fixed.

After the repair

Once the deck is solid, cleaning and sealing it slows down the next round of wear. Keep debris swept off, trim plants back so the wood can dry, and keep sprinklers from soaking it every day.

Get a deck repair estimate

Send photos of the problem spots by call or text to (706) 594-5049, or use the free estimate form. We'll come check the boards and framing and give you a free estimate. Pricing depends on what we find.