By: Seomavens

For people who love spending time outdoors or throwing parties, you know how valuable a deck can be. Even if you’d generally consider yourself indoorsy, a great deck can be, at the very least, practical. It helps increase your living space and add tons of functional possibilities to your home. Regardless of where you stand, it’s so important that you know when it’s time to revamp your deck. Otherwise, you won’t be able to make the most of your outdoor space!

So, stick with us… We’ve put together a couple of the top signs to look for when evaluating this part of your home.

Signs It’s Time to Change Your Deck – Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Getting a new deck can be a tough call. However, sometimes, it’s also a necessary one. That’s why you need to make the decision very carefully. Here are some factors you should consider:

There Are Obvious Signs of Deterioration or Rot

This one’s pretty straightforward. To be clear, all decks, no matter what they’re made of, will eventually succumb to the wear and tear of time. That being said, some deck materials go faster than others, and wood is arguably at the top of that list because it’s more vulnerable to moisture and splitting.

If you start to spot sections where boards seem to sag or bounce as you walk, there’s a good chance that rot has begun to set in. You may also feel screws (or nails if they unfortunately used those) start popping up from the decking or wood splinter as you shuffle your feet across. These are indicators that your decking is failing. When that happens, it allows more water intrusion to the framing, which can impact the integrity of your structure.

At this point, changing your deck isn’t about aesthetics anymore; it becomes a matter of safety and functionality.

You Have Pest Tenants

In a few cases, there are no obvious signs of decline in the quality of your deck. However, the presence of certain creatures may clue you into the fact that all isn’t quite as it seems. Case in point, if you see a wasp’s nest or a colony of termites or ants, odds are that they are either exploiting a weakness in the structure of your deck or creating one! This means that there’s a pretty good chance your deck has been weakened on the inside.

You Have Faulty Railings

The role of railings on any deck is often greatly underestimated. Because many deck designs tend to add a lot of aesthetics to this part of the structure, it’s easy for many people to feel like it isn’t necessary. However, faulty railings can be a major safety hazard. If you feel your railings getting wobbly to the touch, it’s time to address it. The good news here is that if that’s the only problem with the structure, you can often simply change the railings alone.

However, if we’re being honest, it’s often best to just overhaul the whole thing. Railings are often one of the most costly parts of the deck and if you’re going to go through the trouble to replace them, you may as well guarantee your entire deck will last for years to come. By addressing the whole structure, we can also give you confidence there won’t be more hidden issues to fix later, costing you even more than it would’ve initially.

Your Posts or Footings Are Warping or Heaving

We aren’t building decks the same way they used to be built 20-30 years ago. Code has changed based on what’s been learned. For example, deck code didn’t always take frost level into consideration for footings. Elevated decks used to be built on 4x4s, which realistically aren’t meant to span over 6 feet without warping or bending. Overtime, it has caused structures to fail.

So, when you’re looking at your deck, if you notice that your posts are warping / twisting or that your footings have heaved or cracked, it’s time to replace it!

Have Your Deck Inspected Regularly

As building practices and materials have evolved, decks can be built better than ever before. This means a deck built today will typically last longer than one built 30 years ago. That said, no deck will last forever. For example, a wood deck will typically last about 20 years depending on maintenance and environmental exposure.

As we mentioned before, decking typically fails faster than framing. If you catch it quickly enough, simply resurfacing your deck could be an option that depends on two factors. First, is your structure underneath still in good shape to support new materials? And secondly, is it still up to code? Codes change and as responsible contractors, we’re at their mercy. If your old structure doesn’t meet new codes, we’ll have to do a full rebuild.

However, even if your deck looks fine on the surface, we highly recommend having it inspected by a professional every 15-20 years. It’s possible everything will check out fine, but in the event something is going on, you can catch it early and potentially save money. 

Our free estimates include a free inspection of your current deck as a standard part of our deck team’s process. Contact Deck Builders Madison WI  so we can schedule a good time to take a look.

Published by: Khy Talara