Q – Our deck is getting a little old and most of it is in good shape, but every here and there a nail head is sticking up and they hurt to step on, or snag a sock on, or ruin a flip-flop on.
I nail them back in but that only lasts for a short time.
Do I need a new deck?
Don in Smyrna
A – I hate it when that happens.
First of all, you suffer from nail pop. Happens all the time as age wears on wood with nails driven into it.
The problem is that through movement over time the nail is not wedged into the joist below the deck anymore and it backs out. When you nail it back in you aren’t wedging it into new wood, just driving the nail down into its old nail hole, the one that already won’t hold it secure.
Your best option is to remove the nail totally, but carefully, and replace it with a screw. The screw will ‘dig into’ new wood and will hold in place much better than a nail. It will also be easier than nailing a new hole since you will be using the old hole for a guide.
Do you need a new deck… Ummmmm…
Perhaps. It depends on your tolerance for nail pops and repair, how old the current deck is, how well it has been maintained, stuff like that.
I will tell you if you go new deck I really like the manufactured wood, the “fake” wood look in a deck. Plus many brands are assembled using connectors rather than nails/screws so a majority of the deck has no nails in it at all, thus no nail pops ever. That’s a bonus for toes, socks, and flip-flops.
Also, I have always been partial to the words “maintenance free”, which comparatively a deck using composite boards is compared to a wood deck which needs nailing and sanding and sealing.
Which is nice…