July 10th, 2019

Sometimes when you have a deck restoration project, the screws are lodged-in so tight they are impossible to remove with a drill. Here are a few tips to help save some time and effort. This method can work with replacing any floor over joists, including structural subfloor inside of a home.

Here is a photo of composite decking boards that needed to be replaced. Blue lines were snapped to show where the joists are underneath. They can be located by looking between the boards or by looking for the nails or screws at the top of the floor.

The structural floor joists are what supports the decking boards. You can make relief cuts between the spans of each joist and another relief cut along side the ledger board of the deck to loosen the finish floor from the framing. Make sure to set your blade depth so you do not over-cut and weaken the structural joists.
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Once you get to this point, take a sledge hammer and have at it.

The tail ends of the decking along the ledger can be tricky. Try prying them up and running a reciprocating saw to cut the deck screw loose.

There you have it. A clean deck frame ready for remodeling.