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Repurposing Old Deck Lumber?

Started by lowpolyjoe, May 22, 2016, 07:19:26 PM

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lowpolyjoe

We're having our old deck torn down shortly.  It's pretty small - something like 6' x 21'.  The boards vary in how well they've held up.  The floor boards don't look too bad:




The railing and some other stuff is a mess



We had planned to have the contractor take away the old lumber but I started wondering if it's worth saving any for future outside projects.  I just got a dewalt planar and was wondering if I could run these through to rip all the paint off them or if that would cause problems - I assume it would take a toll on the blades but I was also wondering if it would gunk up the planar - between the plaint and whatever pressure treating chemicals are likely in the wood (I don't know the details of the deck wood).  Hand planing is more than I willing to do to recover this wood.


Ljohnsaw

The wood looks like fir or pine.  Not redwood?  You will be pleasantly surprised at the condition on the bottom, probably.  If it is not rotted, it will be fairly clean.  I picked up a lot of redwood decking that was 4" from the ground (sitting on treated 4x4s) and was in "good" shape.  I used it to make my raised bed aquaponics setup.

 

The boards have all sun faded to the same dark brown/grey finish now.  If you only need one good side, you might not have to do anything.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

lowpolyjoe

Thanks. I should inspect the bottom side of the deck.  It's a second floor platform so no ground contact so it expect it's  ok. 

Great looking project you got there.   I had to look up "aquaponics".  I really like that concept.  Surprised I hadn't heard of it before. 

breederman

Some people just turn the deck boards over and use them again . I wouldn't plane them  because of the chemicals . I salvaged a deck like that a few years ago and just put the good pieces in the shed , It has mostly disappeared already for projects around the homestead . :)
Together we got this !

thecfarm

Turn them over.  :)
I use to work for the low income. Had one guy that was tearing down an old house. He was taking the clap boards off and turned them over to put on his house. The clap boards looked brand new.
One of the few that was trying to help himself,instead of us helping him.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

lowpolyjoe

Thanks everybody.

I hate to see stuff go to waste.  Have to see what the wife thinks about me piling up the old boards in the yard until I think of something to use them for :D

21incher

Some of that old pt lumber has nasty chemicals in it and should be disposed of properly. The surface chemicals have probably washed off by now, but if you cut, sand, or plane it be carefull.  :)
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

lowpolyjoe

Hmm...  that sounds like a good point. 

petefrom bearswamp

I use it for my tree stands.
the new stuff according to my builder friend is crap.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

Brad_bb

I'm all for re-use.  I see people tear out PT decks all the time and dispose of the wood when 50-90 percent is still totally good for re-use.  De-nail/de-screw it.  I'm set up to do this quickly because we de-nail a lot of barn wood.  Best tools (each have their own circumstantial use):
1. Mayhew de-nailing attachment for pneumatic air hammer.
2. Various cats paws and hammer.
3. Crescent 56 nail puller (from Apex on Amazon)
4. Cordless drill with 1/8" bits (for removing broken off nails in barn beams)

I need some PT for 2 projects right now and haven't found any used.  Hate to have to buy new.
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

lowpolyjoe

Thanks for the tool references Brad.  I'm still undecided if i'll try to recycle the wood or not.


lowpolyjoe

Kind of funny story.   The contractor who was supposed to do our deck got his plans rejected by the permit department.  We relayed the message to him - he needed to increase from 2x8 to 2x10 for some stuff and triple up one of the beams.   His response was that his plans are never rejected anywhere else and he's just not going to do the job. 

Turns out our town has some of the strictest building codes.

We had another guy come by yesterday and he was much more thorough than anyone else we spoke too.  He's done a bunch of work in our town and knows the codes.  Also very friendly and gave us a great quote. 

red

Your first contractor is the Typical contractor that gives good contractors bad names . Just like Used Car Dealers . I just shot my mouth off a few days ago on a post talking about sawing framing lumber .  Your first contractor is the kind of guy to Seed the pile of lumber with framing material he cut himself to save a few dollars. If you have ever seen a deck collapse from to many people on it you know why there are Codes ! ! !
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Czech_Made

I used old deck lumber to make floor in my shop.

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