Decks built and repaired around Logan County

A deck is posts set in the ground, a frame on top of them, boards across it, and a railing wherever the drop calls for one. The parts you walk on get the attention, but the posts and the frame decide how long it lasts.

A covered deck adds a roof, and that roof adds weight and wind load the posts and beams have to carry. Luke's photos include one under a covered roof looking out over a green field, and a small shed with a raised deck built on top of it.

Older decks and porches wear out from the ground up. Boards cup and split, the frame under them goes soft where water sits, and the lattice along the bottom falls away. Some of that is a board or two. Some of it means the frame needs work first, and it is better to know which before new boards go down.

A quick test you can do yourself: push a screwdriver into the frame under the deck, near the posts and where the deck meets the house. Sound wood stops it. Soft wood lets it sink in.

Steps need every rise the same height, because a foot remembers the first step and trips on the one that is off. A railing that moves when you lean on it is the first repair on any deck, before boards or stain. Luke's camper deck photo shows a set of steps coming down off the deck to the yard.

These help Luke give you a real number.

• Roughly how big, and where it goes
• Whether the ground there is flat or slopes away
• Open, or covered with a roof
• A photo of the spot, or of the deck you have now