Deck Issues...Please Help!!!?

Question

The Hill that the legs of the deck where attached too and now it is eroding away, what can be done to save the deck? Any ideas of how much it would cost either? Please Help!!!

The erosion is coming from the hill itself causing the legs to separte from the base of concrete blocks.

Answer 1

Nothing to save the wood that's eroding unfortunatly. What you need to do is dig another hole near the bad footer and put in another 4 by 4 (preasure treated) and attach to deck. That will be the simplest and cheapest way.

Answer 2

Install some temporary supports if the deck is in jeopardy of falling down. Also, nail some long 2X4s horizontally between the current leg supports about half way up to keep them from moving sideways or down the hill. You might also buy some heavy duty metal fence posts and drive them in with a sledge hammer at the downhill base of the current posts to keep them from slipping out of place. Nail the fence post to the wooden deck leg in a couple of places. Finally install some new permanent supports as needed.

Answer 3

It gets quite boring really- after fightning the same deck so many times, and having to change your own deck recipe to counter them really starts to get annoying. I watch some of these videos, of the main tournamnets- 90% of the videos are about people who made it into the top 32 with Mermails!. It really starts to get annoying and boring by using the same deck over and over, espically an overpowered one. Some people really like a certain deck, and they can't win with it because they have to keep fighting these overpowered swarm decks over and over. That's why people rage- not because the deck are overpowered, but because they chose not to use the overpowered decks, but still can't win with their own orginial deck.

Answer 4

I see two approaches to this problem... and you may need to consider both, depending on if the deck support has moved/dropped any.

First, if the deck has dropped, or you think you need to add some support to the existing posts:

You need to make some new concrete piers for the deck posts.

I can see two ways of doing this.... put new concrete directly under the old posts... Or, put 2 new piers of concrete beside each post, and use these to attach a new brace to the old post.

If the deck has settled any, you will want to jack it back up into place -- a couple of hydraulic jacks, say 8 to 12 tons, will work just fine.

Ok... what do I mean by a pier? A pier is simply a tube of concrete poured deep enough to go below the frostline (usually). In this particular case... you may want to pour more concrete, than would normally call for, because of the erosion. If you cannot get a tractor back in this area, it means digging the holes by hand... You want to make them about 2 ft diameter, so they will be good and solid. If these end up being very tall columns, then you want to put some re-bar into them.

Now...if you are going to put the new concrete directly under the posts...(and I assume you have the old posts set either, in, or on, concrete already)... you will need to put some temporary bracing across the corners, to support the weight of the deck, while you dig out the holes for the new concrete.
..Deck
..Corner
.....I
....v ................. //
..=========//==== <<<---- Deck perimeter
..II------------ //------------------
..II--------- //-----------------------
..II--------// <<<---- Temporary deck support, cuts across the
..II------//-------------- corner of the deck, underneath, supporting
..II---//--------------------- the weight of the deck.
..II-//-------------------------------
..//-------------------------------------
//II---------------------------------------
..II------------------------------------------------


That's a simple graphic of the idea here...

If necessary, you can even make a form, for the new concrete, to surround the original, or bring the concrete up above the surface of the ground.

You can do this work yourself, if you want to put the muscle into it...or you contact some contractors for estimates.

Second, the erosion:

Erosion can be a tricky thing to handle... I would check with a nursery first to see what ideas they have.. but here are some ideas I've seen used.

Put plenty of plants into the hillside -- you want plants that are very good at sinking their roots into the soil, but don't grow up too high. I would imagine, this area is difficult to mow. If you decide to use a grass, use a tough one.. like is used to anchor sand dunes, along beaches. A plant nursery can provide the name of some of the better grasses for this type of thing. Bermuda, and St.Augustine are two names I recall. You may even want to think about putting some trees along the bottom of the hill, or along your property line, to help stop erosion.

Another approach is to put some kind of 'skin' over the soil, to help prevent erosion. Ive seen everything used from plastic fencing, to chainlink fencing for this type of application.... I believe tho, that you can also get a biodegradable 'netting' for this type of approach. You can often see this type of product being used along new highway construction.

Ive also seen folks try to use concrete, as a surface skin to prevent erosion... and from what Ive seen... it doesnt really help... because the soil continues to erode out from under the concrete.

With both approaches, you can get estimates from local contractors, and landscapers, or buy the supplies and do it yourself, with a lot of labor.

Hope this has given you some ideas on how to approach this.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

I WOULD POUR OUT THE CEMENT AND BUILD IT UP,USE QUIKCRETE