Deck maintenance

The deck will have been down 7 years in a few months. For the last year, bits have been a bit firmer, or a bit saggy. A check last year showed a few joists had rotted out, which is pretty normal for untreated Douglas Fir, particularly when it gets wet from on top, and the bottom and sides have increasingly been filling with leaves and clay.

Spot the carefully placed flower pot.

It seems that the spring rain the last 3 years and mediocre summers, plus the northern part of the west face rarely sees sun, has taken its toll. Originally I left quite a lot of clay below and in between the joists, which liquefied and leveled out. This is slowly being removed to reveal a much higher water table than 2011 (now about 18cm below DPC). The weed suppressing matting also wicks water, so any in touch with wood was rotted. The hop had spread its roots a long way (mainly to the low spot where the new drain is) and were chopped out; the roots near the original plant were put back under the matting. A few bits died, but it's started sprouting again.  The vine didnt seem to have many roots. The honeysuckle had done a good job of keeping clear of my digging, and seems ok.



This is about 56 tiles up, out of 159.
All this clay is being barrowed uphill to fill an old ditch. The rain continues to fall which limits the load, as you just cant get grip. About 2m3 in total. 

The tiles also needed cleaning and oiling. They were jet washed first, but hand prep prior to oiling. 56 tiles prepared and painted in 4 hours. Paint is 1L cold pressed linseed oil, 200ml turps, 30ml siccatif (drying agent banned in some countries due to toxicity. Speeds drying)
Stacked on end to dry. For all the tiles, I used just under 3L of oil for 1 coat, nearly 2L of glue D3 glue and almost 800 25 x 4.5 screws.
All joists where covered in damp proof membrane. Time will tell if this is a bad idea; previously the joists soaked up the water. Now the water sits on the membrane and may rot out the tile bases.

Tiles then relaid temporarily on new joists, and another 50 taken up. More temporary joists, and the remaining tiles removed under the covered area (different look to that batch - several marked Burmese teak) and replaced with the batch from the kitchen end. The house isn't quite square, so there is a bit of a twist from the covered area to the main area. A reference line of tiles is screwed down at joist 10 in the long run, but the deck just isn't square towards the kitchen.
9 joists replaced, and some cut down and swapped. 1 joined as I couldn't face buying more wood.
A gravel filled trench runs the length of the deck and drains from the middle to the hedge (in line with the rose). This will join up to a new drain slightly further uphill; a job that has been on the list for a couple of years. The trench finally went dry about a week after the sun came out; it nicely filled when it rained and flowed well.


D:\photos\Garden\2018\Deck Renovation