Just realized my neighbor's deck was built all wrong after watching a YouTube video

My neighbor Dave came over last weekend bragging about his new deck he built himself. He was so proud of how fast he got it done in 3 days. But I noticed he used regular nails instead of hidden fasteners or screws for the boards. Then I saw he attached the ledger board straight into the house siding without any flashing or gap. I watched a video from a builder in Portland that explained exactly why that traps moisture and rots everything out within 2 years. Now I gotta figure out how to tell Dave his deck is gonna fail without sounding like a jerk. Any tips on gently breaking bad news to a neighbor who thinks they nailed it?

2 comments

2 Comments

karent751mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, isn't it funny how one little video can totally wreck your peace of mind? It's like once you know something's wrong you can't unsee it, and now you're stuck in this awkward spot between being nice and being honest.

skyler_white1mo ago

Tell Dave you're researching deck building too and ask if he wants to see the video together.