When I returned from Ohio, I got a big surprise, and not the good kind. When I looked out a window, I could see a large board lying on the ground in the backyard. What is that‽ I went outside, looked up, and this was what I saw.
When the porch and decks were built 16 years ago, at my request, my contractor pulled the necessary permits before he began work, so everything was built to code. So why would this happen?
I think I’m going to remove this whole section of the deck where you see the table. I no longer have that table, a long ago purchase from Home Depot. It didn’t even last a year before it began rusting. That section of the deck sticks way out into the backyard, and it is directly under a large tree that’s always dropping stuff. Before I removed the old deck in 2007 and replaced it with a screened porch, that section of the deck did not exist. If I remove that part of the deck now, there will still be two places left to dine outside.
There will still be a deck under the pergola that’s visible on the far right side of the screened porch. I used to have a set of beautiful outdoor wicker there until squirrels ate the arms of the chairs. Argh! I need to buy another dining set for that deck, one that’s hopefully squirrel-proof.
And of course, there’s always the table on the porch. So I don’t think I’ll miss that section of the deck if I have it removed.
It will be nice to reclaim that part of the backyard. What do you think about this plan? I’m in the process of getting estimates right now. If you live in the Metro Atlanta area and know any great deck removal/repair guys, email me at [email protected], and please share their information. I hope to get this done in the next few weeks. One of these days, I’m going to renovate the bathrooms in this house, but not today. Always something when you own a home, right? On a happy note, the trees are all leafing out in the backyard! Love this time of year!
Yikes; I’d be concerned about other areas of the deck having rot as well. Here in the Pacific Northwest we are always fighting the wet weather. And there’s just no way any work could be scheduled and done in a few weeks. We scheduled our house painting in late March to take place late May. We have shorter periods of good weather, so work gets booked early. Good luck!
They will def check for that, too. So far, the other parts look fine, thankfully. Weather really does tak its toll on our exteriors.
Good plan and cheaper no doubt.
Def cheaper and I like the idea of reclaiming part of the yard. Thanks, Toni!
Where is the metal rectangular table? Did you move to other side? I feel your pain with home repairs. At least you are not one for deferred maintenance and will nip it in the bud. Good luck
It rusted the first year it was on the deck, so it had to go. It was not expensive and was on sale when I purchased it, but I expected it to last longer than a year!
Thanks!
Just FYI…We have an aluminum table and chairs on our patio that has a black coating on it. It has been there for at least 5 years and still looks good.
My first table/chairs I had there lasted a really long time. Not sure what type of metal they were. Maybe they were aluminum, I remember they were painted coated, but so was the furniture that roasted. I guess the quality was different somehow.
If you decide to repair or rebuild, use redwood for any parts you can’t see. It’s expensive but doesn’t rot.
Good to know! I thought pressure-treated lumber didn’t rot, but I’ve been told that it can.
Here in the Houston Gulf Coast area, we are constantly dealing with termites. You would know if it were that. Of course, now they use treated wood which helps.
Thankfully, I don’t have any issues with those. I had the house protected when I bought it many years ago and I’ve always kept that current. My pest control company checks their baiting systems every time they visit, which is every few months. The person I met with today said that decks just eventually do start to have rot in places. That’s one nice thing about the Ohio house…no decks to worry about.
Amen, you are certainly right about home ownership. We downsized almost 10years ago to a home we hoped would be easier to maintain. HA! Since then my husband has resided the whole house, remodeled a bath and soon to redol the other two, redid the kitchen, new driveway and garage door and so on and on. You know how this all goes. Not to mention the house came with a pool. We replaced our deck and made it smaller as well. Our deck faces south and the sun, heat and midwest humidity allows a short season to use it. I think you will not miss the large deck area and will have less upkeep. All that said , how lucky are we to have a home to shelter us. I wish you good luck and hope you a find a great company to do the work.
Crazy how even small homes can be pricey to maintain. I’m finding that out with the Dollhouse.
So true!
Ugh. I feel your pain! Consider some of the composite materials that are available now. They should have a good warranty and can take the weather. Hopefully it’s just the interior skirting board and not the joists so it can be repaired rather than replacing or removing the structure. The sun might fade things, but without adequate sun exposure moisture can cause so much damage. While someone is there checking, it might be worthwhile to have your window sills on the shady side checked too. (Speaking from experience unfortunately. )
That may be why this happened, lack of sun in that area. I think I’m ready to just goodbye to that part of the deck. I’d like to have more yard in that area, too.
I bet you’ll be happy when you get rid of that deck, have more ‘back yard’. It’s really going to open things up. That rot is scary looking. The board to the left looks like it’s rotten under the paint as well.
Yes, will be happy when it’s finished. Thanks, Julie!
I am so sorry, Susan! The joys of being a homeowner. I’m wondering how reputable your contractor was. Since it appears you already have ample and beautiful deck space, I think your plan is a good one. I wouldn’t go bargain hunting though. Be sure you find a really, really good GC.
He came with very good reviews and credentials, so I don’t think it was anything he did or didn’t do.
I’ve had two contractors come out so far and they are both really good, just waiting on estimates.
I think your outdoor porch without that extension would be fine. Good thing you spotted that rot now and no one fell through 🙁 I think houses are like living beings, always something to go wrong and needs attention 🙂
It definitely feels like that! Last time I came home, squirrels were living in the top of the chimney. lol At least that can’t happen now since it’s been screened in.
For many years we considered purchasing a vacation home, after much thought we decided it would be hard managing a second home as we get older. Best decision ever. No way we would want two homes to maintain. When you bought the dollhouse I so admired your courage, you may find it hard to maintain two homes as time progresses. When a home sits empty for awhile it automatically goes downhill. I wish you the best hon, if anyone can do it you can!!❤️❤️❤️
It helps having family a few doors down, but I don’t want to maintain two forever. Thanks for that vote of confidence, Mary! I needed that today! lol
As I’ve said before, our home is much like yours in Georgia. Our home is brick on all sides with one long continuous deck on back. Luckily we don’t have any trees back there which keeps sunlight out and moisture in. I definitely recommend that you get rid of the damaged deck. You’ll still be able to enjoy the rest of the deck with plenty of room to spare.
The trees do create work—keeping the decks cleaned. They are beautiful to enjoy from the porch, though. I agree, time to remove that deck and have less to worry about.
You are so right ! If a contractor says it’s just that board, would you consider just replacing the damaged area? Does it mean repainting the house? Good thing you came back and saw the damage. I love spring and the new growth on the trees and sunshine.
We are going to remove that whole section that sticks out since some of the other boards appear to be rotting, too. Me, too! So beautiful out right now!
So I have a question and perhaps you have addressed this before? Why don’t you move to the dollhouse full time? If it were me I would just not want to take care of two houses – ugh! What a pain ♀️
So many reasons: 1. My furniture won’t fit in the rooms upstairs with slanted ceilings and I don’t want to give up the pieces that won’t fit. 2. Ohio has the 8th highest property taxes in the U.S. and the Governor vetoed all the attempts to change that…it was some huge number of vetos…like 49 or something like that. So the outrageous property taxes will never change. 3. Not a fan of snow and it happens a lot there during the winter. 4. Everything is more expensive there, higher sales tax, higher heating bills, higher costs due to having to have snow removed multiple times a winter. That’s just a few of the things that I don’t like. It’s very, very expensive to live there, way more that here in GA. So I don’t ever see myself moving there fulltime. If I sale a house, it will be the Ohio house. I love living in the south and the cost of living here.
I just looked it up, and I was wrong. He vetoed 67 (not 49) sections of the Ohio state budget bill that would have helped lower the property tax burden for Ohio homeowners. I read somewhere that Ohio is one of the top 10 states that people are leaving and moving away from…weather and property taxes were two of the reasons.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/states-people-are-leaving
I wish I could move. I hate to see where IL falls. The gov (who is looking to run for Prez) just keeps adding fees, taxes all the time. I’m sure we’re close to CA which I heard is the highest prop taxes in the nation. I never looked it up though. One problem is the high taxes on the wealthy and businesses. We’re losing the Chicago Bears so the citizens will have to take up the slack. We lost Caterpillar, Boeing and more. Chicago is running off the wealthy and it’s astronomical how much their property taxes jumped. One guy said his went from 7 grand to over 19 grand. I’m scared to what mine will be. Then the governor is pushing for Data Centers and they said our electric bills will jump way up. If they want Data Centers, they need to pay for their own electricity to run them instead of passing the cost to nearby residents. This state, as many others do, has a spending problem and couldn’t stick to a budget if they had. Same on the Federal level.
That sounds terrible, Sandra! I don’t understand the decisions they make since it just drives people away. Ohio is def losing people every year. I hope things improve. Sorry you are going through that in your state.
Never ending…sorry…*sigh*
franki
Yup! Thanks, Franki!
You might want to replace rot and keep deck since you’ve spent money to build. But I would replace with Hardiplank (cement board). Treated wood is not as good as it use to be years ago. Chemical is not as strong now because it’s not allowed. If you water flowers that will cause treated wood to rot faster. I’m speaking from experience. Check for carpenter ants or termites because we were infested.
I bet you’re right about the pressure-treated wood not being what it used to be. I don’t think it’s termites since I have always kept that up from the day I moved it…had the house treated and now my current pest control company monitors the system they installed every quarter. That’s something I’ve never wanted to deal with after hearing terrible stories in the past.
Wow! I have been following you for a long time. I remember when you did all of this originally. You’re right about the wood. I bet if you go back, I think you talked about choosing the pretreated. Can’t you just replace the rotted ones and call it a day? Is that tree necessary? I cut down a couple of mine here in NC mountains, because they were destroying my house. Love this, where I live, I have to have permission and show why I need to cut the tree. Then pay a fee on top of hiring to have it cut. Ugh! But, no more rot issues. I did this in 2020. Best wishes!
It was all built with pressure treated lumber. I think it’s just the age of the deck. I don’t mind getting rid of that section since I think it will continue to not weather well so close to the trees. I love the look of the trees, and the shade, so hate to cut them down, but I know what you mean about sometimes it needs to be done.
Just a consideration you might have not thought of. If you plan on grilling outdoors, you would need to have a deck without a roof, for fire safety reasons. So, if you don’t plan on having an outdoor grill, it’s a great idea to remove that section of decking. Tell your assessor, when it is removed, so they can reduce the assessed value of your home and consequently reduce the home taxes. If you are looking for low maintenance decking material, I would recommend TimberTek. We had railings redone on our front porch and they were so nice to deal with. They send out free samples, which were very useful to make decisions.
I didn’t explain it very well in the post, but the section that you don’t see behind me in that photo of the deck, it will be staying. It’s the section where you can see the large, black thing which is covering the grill I used to have before I gave it away. I never grill anymore, but that section will be remaining. It’s fine and offers a great spot for grilling. I would love TimberTek or something similar, but I’ll just match back to the part that’s remaining for now.
time to put up the sign in Ohio FOR SALE your house in Georgia is so beautiful
Tempting! lol There are 4 people there who are going to be very unhappy with me if I do that.
I agree Tamara!
I’ve always been pea-green over your porch! What about scaling back on the damaged portion and mirroring your other open deck? Otherwise, what will you do with the door to the damaged deck? Will you have stairs to the back yard? Can’t wait to see what you decide. You amaze me!
That’s kinda what one of the contractors I was talking to suggested. We wouldn’t quite mirror the other side because the measurements are different somehow, so he didn’t want to try and exactly mirror it, but we would be doing a bump out, just not as far as it is for the deck with the pergola overhead. I think it may even look better if they don’t exactly mirror each other, but there will be an area that pokes out in the same way as the other side. There are stairs that go down from the other deck, the one with the pergola over it, just not off this end. Aww, thanks! I’m just a little exhausted! Ha!
Susan,I feel your pain! Two weeks ago I found out that it’s likely I will have to have an enormous oak removed. My tree company is checking to see if there are any treatment options that are practical. The tree is near the house, provides shade, is situated on a slope with wide steps to the lower yard, is next to the huge (20feet) retaining wall and the roots run under my lower patio with pavers. As I’m trying to figure this out, my furnace started to make a funny noise. Yesterday I found out that it is a motor is so expensive that the only practical solution since the furnace is getting older is to replace it and the AC is older than the furnace. You get where I’m going with this. At least the HVAC system is still running at the moment giving me a chance to explore my options. Whew! I feel a little better getting that off my chest.
I read your reasons for not living in Ohio full time and went down the rabbit hole on property taxes by state which led me to look at income taxes and then insurance. Very interesting to see where different states fall out overall.
Enjoy your spring weather.
Oh Boy! Always something with a house! At least you’re there to find it. I think removal of that part of the deck will actually enhance the look of your home. You have enough outdoor eating area(s) so there’s no need for the deck. Looks from photos that you have space on the right side. I realize that what you did was make the area symmetrical which might look good from another angle. But I don;t think you really need it. Last year I replaced a deck and the floor boards are Timber Tech and I love it! I don;t know the extent of their products in case you decide not to tear down old decking and replace it. You might check it out.
So sorry that happened, Susan. Was it termites, by chance? I like the idea of you just losing that portion and having a bigger yard. Less is more so often. Good luck finding the right contractors.
It seems the best plan–less mental clutter worrying about maintenance, especially whenever in OH. And can’t have too much garden with all that warm weather.
Most likely the deck is not perfectly level and that slight tilt sends all water to drain off at that point. You don’t need to rip out the whole deck, just replace that one board. You can use trex material that won’t rot. Unless you just don’t want that deck.