The inspection that decides it
Four things get checked and all of them are underneath or behind the deck: the ledger where the deck attaches to the house, the posts and footings, the joists and beam, and the connections between all of them.
The ledger is the big one. A deck that pulls away from a house almost always fails at the ledger, and the two classic defects are that it was nailed rather than bolted with proper fasteners, and that it was never flashed — so water has been running behind it into the rim joist and the wall for years. That damage is invisible until the boards come off, and it is why a resurface quote sometimes has to become a rebuild quote.
Footings: depth below frost, size for the load, and whether posts sit on them properly or are buried in soil. Posts set directly in the ground rot at grade level.
Connections: modern deck framing depends on rated connectors and correct fasteners. Nails into end grain, deck screws used structurally and missing hangers are all common on older decks, and none of them is cosmetic.
Option one: resurface
New decking boards and a new railing on the existing frame. Cheapest, fastest, and available only when the frame, footings, ledger and connections check out.
Worth knowing: composite decking is heavier than wood and has different span requirements, so a frame built for wood boards at wider joist spacing may not accept composite without adding joists. People usually meet that constraint after they have chosen the boards.
Also worth doing while the boards are off: flash the ledger properly if it is not, because it will never be that accessible again.
Option two: rebuild the frame, keep the footings
When the footings are sound and correctly sized but the framing has gone — rot at the beam, a sagging joist, the wrong connectors — the frame comes off and a new one goes on the same piers.
Often the best value on a twenty-year-old deck: it resets the structure and the warranty position without the excavation and concrete of a full replacement.
Option three: full replacement
Required when footings are shallow or undersized, when posts are set in soil, when the ledger detail has damaged the house, or when you want a different size, shape or height — any of which changes the load path.
It is also the moment to fix what decks are usually wrong about: stair rise and run, guard height and baluster spacing, and lighting. Those are code items and they are also the parts people actually notice.
Materials, honestly
Pressure-treated pine. Cheapest, and it wants cleaning and sealing on a schedule. Fine if you will actually do that.
Cedar. Better looking, softer, same maintenance conversation.
Composite and PVC. More up front, far less maintenance, heavier, with their own span rules. On a deck you intend to keep, the arithmetic usually works, and colour and texture have improved to the point where the old objection no longer holds.
Railing is a separate decision and it is where a deck reads as new or as old. Cable and metal balusters cost more than pressure-treated wood and change the look of the whole structure.
Permits, and the part about the house
A deck replacement is permitted work in every jurisdiction we operate in, and the inspection covers exactly the items above: footings, ledger attachment, guard height and stair geometry.
And because we run the exterior and the roof too, the ledger detail is a water problem before it is a structural one — the siding and trim around it are part of fixing it properly rather than somebody else’s scope.
What we do
Free walkthrough across Maryland and Northern Virginia, including getting under the deck, and a written line-item scope stating which of the three options the structure allows and why. If a resurface is genuinely fine, that is what we will quote — it is the cheapest of the three and saying so costs us the bigger job.
MHIC #111971, Virginia Class A #2705183185.
Get it looked at, free
We inspect across Maryland — Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore counties. Free inspection, photo report within 24 hours, and the report is yours to keep whether or not you hire us.