Here's what it looked like to start.  All their plants have been moved to the rail so I can start on the house side.  The surface area is 12' by 32'.

We investigated a new surface coating paint and 'hidden fastener' planking but decided to go with a redwood colored composite board secured with 'hidden' stainless steel finish head screws.

One issue is that this railing post and one ballister actually sit on top of the deck boards.

But a bigger issue is that the deck boards continue under a sunroom. 

The sunroom had been built on top of one end of the deck.

And the deck I'm working on is 12' in the air.

I will become very well aquainted with these stairs.

I set up my saw under the sunroom.

In the far distance you can just see where the bundle of planking had been delivered.

Step one was to cut out the decking as close to the sunroom as possible. 

 I then added a new joist to support where the old and new planks meet.

That 'one by' piece of pine you see is supporting a gas line (for a gas grill) that the homeowners aren't using but still has to be worked around.

The first two rows of planking are out and the first new row of the composite material goes in.  Needless to say, the first row must be straight as everything else depends on it.

When I got to the post, first I removed or cut off all its securing screws. 

Then I cut the old deck board to leave a piece under the post to hold it up.

Next, I pryed the post up and slid the new plank under - pushing out the old deck piece.

It worked like a charm.

Some new screws and the post is again secure to the deck.

Here's how the decking replacement went:

1) Pull up one row of old decking with a pry bar and crow bar.

2) Go back down the line pulling out all the nails that remained.

3) Go back to step one and two to remove a second course.

4) Sweep all the dirt, hair and pine needles off the top of the joists.

(NEXT)

5) Apply a heavy duty sealant to the tops of each joist to prevent rot,

mold and insect damage via all the old holes and cracks.

(NEXT)

6) Cut and haul three boards, taking care to stagger the joints row to row.

7) Haul the boards up stairs - or if they're long enough, stick them up through the gap and haul them up from above.

(NEXT)

8) Screw the new boards down.  Upper left is the board to be secured.  Upper right I'm driving a 'finish head' stainless steel screw.  Lower left is the crater left by driving the screw a quarter inch into the board.  Finally, the lower right is after you push the 'cratered' material back toward the hole and pound it down with a hammer.

The result is very pleasing BUT -

(NEXT)

These are the worst screws I've ever used.  They may be stainless steel but the steel used is very soft.  The small finish heads used a square drive but could strip out instantly at any time without warning.  If the screw head is still above the board you could use vise-grips to back it out.  If the head was on or in the board, but not deep enough to hide the head, then I had to try using my 'easy out' screw extractor or even drilling off the screw head. 

If I pushed too hard while driving in a screw, it could (and often did) bend the screw.  I used 1,400 screws, bent about 10 and had to back or drill out another 50.

I went through five screw bits trying to keep good square corners to avoid stripping the screws.

What a pain.

I was able to lay 5 rows of 32' board a day, on average, following this 8 step process.

I threw the old boards down to a pile to be removed later.

It took Sue and I two trips to haul away the 1,500 pounds of wood.

Each day was in the 90s and with three of them over 100.

The only rain fell at night.

At the end of Day Five I got within four and a half screws of finishing for the day

 when the battery on my drill died.

And so it goes.

After twenty one rows of decking,

I used the camera to check how straight I was laying this job.

I think the picture says it all.

End of week one. The new stuff looks great and feels solid enough too.

It cost about $35 per board, special order through Lowes.

Sorry Kim, but Home Depot didn't have this color

and Lowes honored the homeowners WWII service for a 10% discount.

The screw extractor set was always at the ready.

Storms arrived over the weekend, but they didn't help the temps any.

The next rows on Monday were going to have to be cut around the 6"x6" support posts.

I used my jigsaw to fit them around both sides of the posts.

The result was one fine looking deck.

The view from the other end.

Here's what it looked like up close.

The screw holes are barely noticeable.

A visible screw head would have stuck out like a sore thumb.

Where the new decking met the old by the sunroom was a problem.

The old unevenly sized boards didn't line up with the new manufactured stuff.

And the old boards looked crappy too.

The solution was to buy a vinyl 1x4, cut it down and nail it in place.

Once caulked, it gave a nicely finished look to the decking.

Around this time the homeowner asked if I could come up with something better looking to display her hanging baskets.  She'd been using clamp on brackets and various shepard's hooks.

I came up with an arbor type design that only used five boards and could be put together in a couple hours.  She liked it so the job continued.

I got the 6' 4x4s up without too much trouble.

How does one person get them all in place, plumb and even?

Well, start with a piece of 2x4 screwed to the back of the 6x6s at the right level.

You can pre-drill the 4x4s, set them on the blocks and clamp them in place

as you fool around with the plumb.

Then it's simple to drive in the lag screws and continue on.