Deck Screen Repair

After having a new deck build eight years earlier, I designed and built these very nice "deck screens". See the Deck Screen Project Page for more details.

A few years later, there was some rot and insect damage to one of the screen sections. The damage was on the structural parts, not the facing (Ipe wood) or Slats (Cedar wood). The structure was 4x4 pressure treated wood and 2x4 cedar wood. The quality of that wood is a big question for me as they should have lasted far longer. I procrastinated for a few years but eventually got around to fixing this.

The deck screens had a simple construction so were relatively easy to disassemble. I was only replacing the 4x4 post and 2x4 header and footer pieces. The cedar slat and Ipe facing would all be reinstalled afterwards.

The problem with replacing the 4x4 post was that this would have required disassembling a big part of the deck and re-pouring the footers. Instead of making this a major project, I hoped I could get away with affixing the 4x4 to the deck surface instead. The post is not bearing much weight. To make this somewhat sable, I could need to build a little support box for it to slip into.

The end result of this was that it looked the same as when I started, except without the damaged wood.