Fungus Among Us

Friday, August 7, 2009
You'll recall that on Monday, the Smart Boy and I discovered some yucky stuff growing on the bottom of our deck. Several HCDSM regulars speculated that it was might be a fungus of some sort, with Stonekettle Station's Jim Wright (a woodworker) chiming in with some information about rot.

Well, yesterday evening our Deck Guy came out and took a look. Fungus and rot, indeed, and it needs to be replaced before it affects the structural integrity of the deck. The rot is limited to one area (yay!), but that area happens to be the main supporting beam (boo!).


Since the Big Yellow House has a walk-out basement and the kitchen door leads to the deck, having a structurally sound deck isn't exactly a luxury item around here. So our Deck Guy gave us a bid, and we'll be be scheduling the work. Because it's the flitch beam that needs to be replaced, the rest of the deck will have to be raised and supported while the work is done.

Lovely.

On the bright side, I noticed the damage before the Smart Man went out to use the grill and had the whole thing collapse around him. 'Cause that would have just sucked.

4 comments:

Nathan said...

Yes, having the deck collapse under you definitely sucks.

Good catch.

Thordr said...

Might want to look at having it replaced with synthetic composite material beam, wont rot and is immune to ticks, fleas and other wood sucking parasites.

Anne C. said...

Water related problems are not generally a problem here in Denver. We're supposed to be a very arid region, but someone lost that memo this summer.

And yes, it would have sucked if you hadn't caught it before the grilling... we like the SmartMan to not be a SmartPatient!

Janiece said...

You said it, Anne.