My DIY deck project turned into a disaster zone last Saturday

Was out in my backyard in Austin trying to replace a couple rotten boards on my deck. Figured it'd be a quick afternoon job, maybe four hours tops. Got the old boards up fine but then realized the joists underneath were totally shot too, like completely rotted through in three spots. Ended up ripping up half the deck and spent the whole weekend rebuilding it from scratch, way over my head and $200 over budget. Anyone else have a simple repair snowball into something way bigger?

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1 Comment

jake_bell991mo ago

That's just how it goes with home projects, man. You peel back one layer and suddenly see the whole mess underneath, it's like the house is gaslighting you into thinking everything's fine until you start poking around. Happened to me with my car last fall, went in for an oil change and walked out $800 lighter because the serpentine belt was about to snap and the mechanic found a coolant leak. It's like the universe tests if you're ready to commit before letting you fix just the one thing.