We bought our home on the Oregon coast five years ago, it was built in the 1980's and in pretty good shape. A couple of years ago we had the foundational part of the deck replaced, but replacing the decking wasn't in the budget. We're now looking at replacing the decking ourselves. Here's the deck from below (before the foundation work was done) and a snap of a portion of the deck from above.
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The deck is about 36' long, alot of odd angles but 9' at the widest. We plan to keep the existing rail and replace only the deck boards. We had originally looked at composite, but overall it doesn't appear to be a viable choice for our climate/conditions so plan to use wood. The rail L-brackets must be replaced, though!
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What's a good way to get those top screws out without damaging the rail post?
Finally, looking at wood options and deck screws (current boards are nailed in place). I need to drop in and visit our local ProBuild to see what they recommend, but wanted to run it by the forum to get a broader perspective. We want to use screws rather than nails - do we need to go with stainless steel screws, or will the tan-coated ones sold online or in the box stores suffice (are some brands better than others)? It looks like wood choices (within our budget) are cedar, redwood or pressure-treated. If we go with cedar, should we stain the boards before we put them in place? The underside of the deck is not very reachable (very high) once we have the boards down. I want to have a grey, aged-wood appearance rather than the red color it is now.
We plan to do only small sections at a time, mainly because it is so high off the ground - we want to do all of the work from above if possible. Obviously, I haven't done this before (small 8x10 deck on the ground in a drier climate doesn't really compare ) Thanks for any tips!
dawn v