suffering for the wife

Frank Fusco

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12,782
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Mountain Home, Arkansas
We have a nice deck on the side of our house. Unfortunately, one of the deck boards was cut a bit short and the end screws didn't bite into anything underneath. Now that end is curling up. Only took 20 years to decide to do that. Wife kept tripping on it an, of course, complaining. So, me being the good guy, and harrassed hubby, decided to finaly fix it. Simple fix. I thought. :eek: Plan was to cut a hunk of treated 2x6, screw to existing joist to give the deck screws something to screw into. Okay, first problem, my torn up old shoulders could not hold the drill in place to start the screws.:( So, back in shop on the bench I started the screws. Back under the deck. Still could not get a good hold to start the screws. Intending to go back to shop, I hit my head on a joist, went down face first, whacked my arm, lost my drill and cap, laying in weeds, probably poison ivy:eek:, arm hurts and is bloody. Struggle up, gather up cap and drill, stumble out to regroup. Decide to pre-drill all holes. Go back, cannot hold wood in place overhead. Thinking about alternatives, like clamps. Thunder starts, rain starts. Good excuse to quit and cry on y'alls shoulders.:cry:
 
No good deed goes unpunished. Take a pageout of my book, Frank. Ask for help. When youu can't, you can't No shame there. Frustration, yes. Bite the bulletin, my friend.
 
So did you get a chance yet for a re-try, Frank? Did you get it worked out?

Yesterday, I went back under the deck and this time, using a clamp, was able to get the support piece in place so I could use two hands to hold up the drill. That worked. But, when I tried to screw down the warped end from the top it would not go. Just too stubborn. So I'll get a piece of 15 foot decking board and just replace the whole thing.
 
Frank,
I had a couple of those on my deck. Rather than putting in a whole new board ('cause I'm lazy), I used my Harbor Freight vibrating multi tool to cleanly cut off the toe stub board in the middle of the next closest joist and then just screwed down a new short piece to fill the gap. Worked like a charm.
 
Don't have as vibrating saw, or anything :rolleyes: . Already bought replacement board at Lowe's. Now saga continues. Existing screws are resisting being unscrewed. #1 Philips heads. Not sure how I'm going to handle this. A simple household fix-it chore has turned into a project. Not looking forward to the the pry bar, axe, hammer thing.:bang:
 
And are you sure it's a #1 Phillips? Seems awful small for a deck screw. Will a bigger Phillips screwdriver (or better yet, Phillips bit in your driver) fit the screws?

If the screws are stuck, I'd be inclined to drill into them enough to remove the heads, then pry the old board off the deck. Them, I'd cut/grind/hammer off the remnants of the screw and put the new board in place.
 
And are you sure it's a #1 Phillips? Seems awful small for a deck screw. Will a bigger Phillips screwdriver (or better yet, Phillips bit in your driver) fit the screws?

If the screws are stuck, I'd be inclined to drill into them enough to remove the heads, then pry the old board off the deck. Them, I'd cut/grind/hammer off the remnants of the screw and put the new board in place.

Yep, they are #1, quite small. And that is part of the problem, no real grip. Methinks brute force is only way to go now.
 
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