TIL my neighbor's deck collapse in Portland changed how I build anything.

I saw it happen last summer, the whole thing just dropped about 6 inches on one side. He used those cheap plastic composite deck boards and didn't space them right for drainage. The trapped moisture rotted the joists underneath in less than 3 years. Now I overbuild every outdoor structure, use pressure-treated wood for the frame no matter what, and leave a bigger gap between boards than the instructions say. Has anyone else had a project fail because of a small detail you thought didn't matter?

3 comments

3 Comments

valw361mo ago

Honestly, that's wild it only took three years to rot out! I always thought those composite boards were supposed to be low-maintenance. Makes you realize how one tiny spacing mistake can wreck the whole thing.

ben2061mo ago

Yeah but come on, three years? That seems crazy fast even with bad spacing. I've seen decks with way worse gaps that lasted way longer. Maybe it was a bad batch of boards or the ground was always wet under there. People online always jump to the worst case.

king.stella19d ago

Used to think composite was invincible, but this definitely changed my mind.