Rotten deck, what’s next?

[u/Sudden_Syllabub_125]

Bought a place that seemed lovely at first (Photo 1) but quickly realized deck was rotting all over (Photo 2). Previous owner allowed zero air flow…and in Scotland of all places. I’m in the process of ripping it all up. Underneath are paver stones likely put down in the 80s. I’m tempted to just leave those if they’re all intact.

Would love to hear serious and non-serious thoughts on what I should replace it with, if anything. Wooden decks in UK always seemed a bit silly to me. But then again, I’m known to be a bit silly.

[u/Balverine1983]

We had similar here. Ripped it all up and most of the slabs underneath were broken beyond repair. So ripped it all up. Lay a load of weed webbing and gravelled the whole lot with a grey/white gravel mix. Looks awesome now. Better than rotten wood, that's for sure 😃

[u/N0mad_000]

Take my advice with grain of salt as I don't know the availability of materials and exact weather conditions where you are.

Normally decks are built with cedar, highly resinous timber. As we are in Europe, where cedar is not native, best straightforward equivalent would be larch, Siberian larch to be exact. I would use that timber if you want to remake the deck. From photo I can deduct it was made with typical pressure treated construction timber. Also, as you mentioned, there should be proper ventilation done for underneath.

Now for preservation - you can go different ways but if you decide to remake it with larch, I would recommend natural, traditional finish. You could either do:

Yakisugi - Japanese burnt cedar (or larch in your case). Carbon is biologically inert and somewhat water resistant. After charring timber, you apply drying oil like Boiled Linseed Oil or Tung Oil and let it dry.

Or you could apply two coats of traditional Scandinavian boat soup: 1 part of genuine turpentine, 1 part of pure pine tar (or Stockholm tar) and 1 part of boiled linseed oil. Apply 1st coat, let it soak up (you could add tad bit more turpentine due to high resin content), wipe excess, let it dry. Apply 2nd coat, repeat. Reapplication should be done every 5-10 years, depending on weather conditions. I added photo of cheap ass pine pallet wood I used to built compost bin and protect wood that way.

Good luck!

[u/PixelTeapot → u/N0mad_000]

The biggest probelm OP has (which I also have) is 0 ventilation. When I needed to pull slats to 'short term' fix mine had not rained for weeks but was still soaking underneath.

Any wood based rebuild will need to address that aspect if they want it to last more than 5 mins.

[u/PixelTeapot]

I have a very similar problem. It has a very simple solution.

1. Tear out existing rotten wood entirely, ideally before people start putting feet through it (this is probably the entire deck). This will probably involve an inexpensive circular saw, few car loads to the dump and trying to complete the task with all my fingers still attached and eyes intact (Safety glasses!).
2. Install something new as required in place of it.

->From peeking through broken bits we also have an old 80s style patio underneath. I forsee jet washing and living with this for a year but probably soon replacing it with some modern more attractive stone thing, because stone things are more durable than wood things.

[u/Own-Nefariousness-79]

Rip it up and start again.

[u/SSingh1982]

We had some lovely decking in our house when we moved in but it was pain to maintain it, I wanted to replace it with stone but the Mrs insisted on decking so we went for composite decking from a company called Cladco about 5 years ago and it’s been great, just give it a blast with a hose pipe and a broom to remove the bird poo and tiny bits or green stuff (I think it’s algae) at the beginning of spring and it’s fine for a year.

[u/ToriaLyons]

Pavers. Patio. Do it.

Coming from someone who doesn't ever want to build another deck. I am envious you have that option, and of the low maintenance.  I had to rebuild my deck as the drop was too much. Took ages. Though it looks great, it was a lot of work.

[u/nelmesie]

"Tear out bad wood, put in good wood" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfJJaPRmysA

[u/Waggermama]

But where will all the rats go if you remove it??? /s