Deck Problems

About 15 years ago I had a deck put down in Brownston backyard. it was built on top of soil and brick. The deck goes up to the house and also covers (with a cutout) the metal door to the basment. The deck (which was made out of cedar) is starting to rot and fall apart. The area near the house is especially bad since most of the year there is no sunlight–lots of mildew. I rent the place now so I’m not anxious to put in a lot of money. I’ve started to have specific pieces of wood replaced with outdoor decking and now must have most of the deck near the house replaced. My question is this: 1\. does it make sense to put in some kind of stone rather than wood in the area that is near the house? does anyone know who can do that? 2\. the metal doors leak–could I safely cover it with a plastic mat or a metal cover (and where can i get that). 3\. i’ve considered rebuilding the deck but that would be cost prohibitive. I’ve priced reverting the deck back to lawn and that is even more costly. any suggestions greatly appreciated.

lnneedshelp

in Brownstoner Renovation 13 years and 2 months ago

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noahsarc5914 | 13 years and 1 month ago

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You could plant stepping stones, a sitting bench and inexpensive ground cover that grows and propagates quickly like paqasandra or ivy.

mike2366 | 13 years and 2 months ago

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Sounds like a lot of manual labor just cleaning out the yard first. I remember cleaning out one yard in park slope the pain in the butt was going through the house to get out the trash items. Worst part was the idiots who handle every thing twice, it all has to go out directly into a dumpster in one shot. Next problem is the metal door to the basement, first the roof pitches into the yard in most cases, make sure the gutter is clean and the leaders go into the drain pipes in the yard. Then replace the basement door or caulk the crap out of it and then paint it, the door seams can be sealed with thick weather proof tape from the HD store, just like car door seals. Your whole project needs drainage away from the building and a heavy shade mixture of grass. Forget the stone due to it needing a really compacted soil subsurface. Remember cleaning that back yard is going to be real hard work due to over 100 years of people throwing stuff into the yard. You need to get down six inches into the soil and run every thing through a hand made soil screener. Then you can grade the yard and plant grass