Deck Repairs You May Need After the New Year

Once the snow starts to slow down and tem­per­a­tures rise in the new year, you may notice some changes have occurred on your deck. Most often those signs mean that repairs need to be made. This is def­i­nite­ly nor­mal for most deck own­ers in New Eng­land and oth­er cold win­ter cli­mates. SEAL-A-DECK repairs many decks right after the cold sea­son because wood goes through so much expan­sion and con­trac­tion dur­ing the win­ter. If you are a deck own­er, here are the first things you may notice after all of the snow and ice melts.

Lift­ing Boards

Win­ter will put a strain on your wood­en deck boards. Even if they are screwed down, you may see some lift­ing or buck­ling. Although this is a nor­mal occur­rence, you will want to address those soon since they are a trip haz­ard for your fam­i­ly. If your deck was not prop­er­ly con­struct­ed with screws dur­ing instal­la­tion and has nails, you can bet you will see nails stick­ing out in mul­ti­ple areas. This is not just a trip haz­ard, but it can also be extreme­ly detri­men­tal to well-func­tion­ing deck struc­ture and foun­da­tion. Some­times the screws aren’t the only things that need to be repaired, but the boards them­selves may need replac­ing, spe­cial­ly if you notice dete­ri­o­ra­tion or a sponge-like con­sis­ten­cy to the wood. We can work with you to deter­mine what works best for your needs and budget.

Seal­ing and/​or Staining

You seal and stain your deck in order to pre­serve its con­di­tion, there­fore when it goes through a lot of wear and tear in the win­ter you can expect it to peel a bit and uneven­ly. Snow, rain, and even walk­ing on your deck, can cause the sealant to come off. Seal­ing and stain­ing are a part of the SEAL-A-DECK deck treat­ment ser­vices and we can get your deck back to look­ing and per­form­ing its best. Depend­ing on the con­di­tion of your deck, our tech­ni­cians will choose either lev­el 1, 2, or 3 treat­ment to restore the wood. Any lev­el of these treat­ments will include a seal­ing and stain­ing ser­vice sure to last you through the rest of the year.

Rails, Posts, and Stairs

If you did have lift­ing boards, you might also see some issues with your wood rail­ing, posts, and stairs. Because these com­po­nents often depend on one anoth­er, an issue with one can cause prob­lems with anoth­er area. Regard­less of the win­ter weath­er, your stairs are going to get the major­i­ty of the wear and tear on your deck. These often need to be re-anchored after an intense­ly cold win­ter due to the free-thaw cycle. Your rails may also need atten­tion if you notice many lift­ing boards near them or a wob­bling when you touch them. These can be extreme­ly dan­ger­ous and should be addressed imme­di­ate­ly. If you see some­thing going on with your posts after the new year, call SEAL-A-DECK as soon as pos­si­ble. These are often things you can­not ignore or fix your­self and should be inspect­ed by a pro­fes­sion­al. The entire func­tion­al­i­ty of your deck is at stake when it comes to col­laps­ing posts. 

The Deck­ing Aficionados 

Don’t let bad deck­ing con­struc­tion or fail­ing deck com­po­nents go into the new year with you. SEAL-A-DECK is here to help you get your out­door liv­ing space up to a safe stan­dard and give you peace of mind. Call us today at 877-SEALADECK to dis­cuss your deck repair options.