Advice on deteriorating concrete deck

4 years ago

You all have been very helpful in the past - now for a new one. Our home is 5 years old and the builder put on a skim coated concrete deck. As you can see, it’s cracking (as would be expected with any concrete) and starting to deteriorate around the expansion joints (worst one pictured). The underside was finished with some sort of textured wood (or wood like material) and we noticed it sagging last summer when we were renovating. The contractor pulled off one sheet and got drenched with water. Pulled all the rest off and fortunately only 2 joists had to be reinforced due to a bit of rotting that had started. We had someone come out & look and they said when the skim coat was applied, basically any pitch that was there was eliminated, causing water to sit & deteriorate the concrete (we can vouch for that after a winter here) He suggested removing all the railings (it’s a 700 sq foot deck), grinding down the concrete to reinstate the pitch and re-skim coat it. Seem like a sound plan, or should we just remove all the concrete and replace with composite? (We’re all about as little maintenance as possible)

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Candace
Original Author

2 years ago

Update on this really unfortunate issue - here’s where we are today…. We were hoping we could save the laminated beams - but (surprise, surprise) they were TOTALLY water logged, so it’s goodbye to them as well. Even the flashing next to the house was rusted clear through and the plywood under the concrete was mush. Going with all laminated beams and joists and a high end composite decking material. The $ to fix this mess is nauseating - would have been so much better to just have done it right the first time around. At least this summer when we use it we will know it’s done right and now we can enjoy it for another 20 years!

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Comments (6)

cat_ky
4 years ago
My personal preference would be the new composite decking.
Candace
Original Author
4 years ago
@kat_ky - Kay - yes, I think so too - I have to think digging out all the caulk & re-caulking this time will not be the last…
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ci_lantro
4 years ago
The underside was finished with some sort of textured wood (or wood like material) and we noticed it sagging last summer

Installed to the bottom side of the joists?

He suggested removing all the railings (it’s a 700 sq foot deck), grinding down the concrete to reinstate the pitch and re-skim coat it.

5 year old house with an already failing deck and rotted joists. I would not duplicate past mistakes, new pitch or no. You already know to expect concrete to crack.

So I would opt for the new decking material & I would NOT seal up the bottom side of the deck. Leave the underside open to the air so it can breathe.
Candace
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks ci_lantro - we weren’t there when the contractor took off the underside, so I don’t know if it was nailed directly to the joists (it probably was) - we’ve since invested in an under deck system that has 6” of air space between the aluminum and the joists, so no further water will sit on the joists. I agree with you - no need to fix a bad situation with something that will go bad in the future!
cat_ky
2 years ago
So sorry, it has come to this. Its always best to do things right the first time, unfortunately, it doesnt always happen.