With help from an experienced Brighton deck repair professional, your current grimy, rotting, or sagging structure could be transformed into an ideal place to entertain visitors, enjoy your hobbies, or just catch a fresh breeze. While regular maintenance can slow the decay process, it'll eventually be necessary to get services for deck repair in Brighton, CO. If you know about the warning signs of trouble, you can call our local handyman team before it's at the point where your entire deck is on the verge of a deck collapse.
Rotting Wood
Homeowners and builders alike often choose timber for deck building, for good reason. It's beautiful, durable, strong, renewable, and easy to work with. However, your wood deck has one major weakness: it's vulnerable to wood rot if it doesn't receive proper maintenance and regular refinishing.
Decayed timber softens and crumbles, which can cause severe structural damage when it affects support beams and posts. It can also spread, and some varieties can even travel across non-wood surfaces, such as masonry, to find new patches of wood to infest, so it's important to call your handyman to halt the decay. Rotted wood can never be fully restored to its previous strong, durable condition, so the best way to deal with Brighton deck repair for wood rot is typically to remove damaged boards or trim altogether and replace them with new timber treated to resist water.
Weathered Timber
If paint and sealant wear away from exterior wood over time, or if it was never protected by a sealant in the first place, the timber starts to turn gray and develop other signs of weathering, such as a splintery surface. If you're afraid to step outside on your creaky deck boards in bare feet because you're at risk of getting a big splinter in the bottom of your foot, your structure has already reached this condition. Since there's nothing to stop water from seeping into the wood and raising its moisture content, the next step on the decay scale is wood rot.
How we handle the Brighton deck repair for this problem will depend on the extent of the damage. If splintering isn't too severe yet, timber can be sanded down to expose fresh, unweathered wood underneath. We'll then apply paint or a solid stain and a couple of layers of sealant to prevent moisture intrusion in the future. If the damage runs deep and sanding won't be enough to restore your boards to usable condition, it may be necessary to replace the most damaged boards with new wood. You may also notice that the gaps between boards on your deck surface seem a lot wider than they originally did. Shrinkage occurs when boards soak up water and contract as they dry, so it's a symptom of water damage that needs to be halted.
Grime Build-Up and Organic Growth
When your deck boards are covered in a thick layer of dirt and grime build-up or a slick, slippery coating of algae growth, it makes your outdoor space a lot less welcoming and appealing—who wants to have to tiptoe around on a slick coating of algae so they don't slip and fall, or sit somewhere surrounded by filthy surfaces? But it's not just about the appeal. All that grime and algae can also have some negative effects on your structure if it's not stopped by deck repair in Brighton, CO. It harbors harmful bacteria that eat away at the paint and other finishes, leaving the material underneath exposed and vulnerable to moisture damage problems like wood rot, and it can conceal signs and symptoms of more serious damage.
Even if you acknowledge it needs to be done, you're probably not exactly excited about the thought of heading outside with a scrub brush and a bucket of water to start scrubbing. We don't blame you. Fortunately, that's not necessary—we've got a much more effective Brighton deck repair tool to get all that build-up and organic growth blasted away. If you've never seen power washing in action before, you might be pleasantly surprised by the results. We can get your deck looking as good as the day it was installed, along with many other outdoor surfaces and items like siding, driveways, walkways, outbuildings, large play, sports equipment, and much more.
Peeling Paint
Speaking of pressure washing, did you know it's also the best way to remove peeling paint or solid stain, priming for Brighton deck repair and refinishing? Power washers are capable of producing pressures that range from 750 to 3,000 psi (pound-force per square inch). That's strong enough to remove peeling paint, stains, and other stubborn substances that most cleaning methods can't handle, leaving a smooth, clean surface ready for refinishing. Not up to the task of painting, staining, and sealing your structure on your own? No problem—our handyman can handle that step as well, providing a complete Brighton deck repair service that will leave your outdoor space ready for summer.
Pulling Away from the House
Whether your deck rises several stories off the ground or just a few feet, it should be firmly connected to your house. If you notice a widening gap between your structure and the exterior wall of your house, that's a sign of serious structural issues and a huge cause for concern. that needs attention from a Brighton deck repair expert. It could lead to a collapse, so you should exercise caution and have it repaired before you continue to use the structure. Pulling or leaning away from the house could be caused by wood rot that has weakened supporting posts and is causing them to fail, or by faulty installation, where the posts aren't buried deep enough, or the structure isn't properly attached to the house.
Sagging Structure
Does your deck noticeably dip down in the middle, or seem to be sinking downward on one side? This is another potentially dangerous problem that is likely happening because the posts are weakened or the footings are sinking into the ground. If it is very old or wasn't installed correctly, the soil may have eroded underneath the footings. That can pull the whole structure downwards as the deck posts sink into the soil, eventually causing a collapse. It could also be an issue with wood rot in the posts, causing them to soften and crumble, which is unsafe. Either way, it is a good idea not to allow anyone to walk on your structure until it has been looked at by a Brighton deck repair professional.
Water Pooling Around Footings
When you're looking around for signs your property may need Brighton deck repair, make sure to get a good look at hard-to-reach areas, such as the underside, especially around concrete deck footings. Deck posts are typically buried in the ground and reinforced with concrete footings. But if grading wasn't done properly or has been altered by landscaping changes or just soil movement over time, it could cause water to pool around the footings. That can crack and crumble the concrete and also wash away soil, exposing more of your posts. If you see a dip in the earth around footings or visible water collecting there, those drainage issues need to be corrected right away so water can drain away without compromising structural stability. It may also be necessary to rebury the posts.