Another “another”

Whoever came up with the phrase “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another” most assuredly lived on the lake.

My latest “another” moved slowly. It showed up first as a few “bouncy spots” followed by a few unusual crackles, then noticeable splits.  Three inch screws started letting go and popping their heads up at a perfect heighth for tripping somebody. A few black spots started to show up and the next thing you know, I was stomping on places to see if my foot would go through.

It did.

My over-the-water deck and exposed boat dock floor.

The damage from the spring flood of 2016 is still lurking, in places like the deck floors around my boat house that spent nearly a week under water in the flood, plus several other times under water for more brief periods during the past seven years of the rise and fall of the Lady D’Arbonne. Apparently the wood has been rotting from the inside out (much like Washington, D.C.). The new tainter gate should help with this issue, since it should keep water from going over except in 100 year floods.

I really expected better from my expensive, “treated” lumber. But I didn’t get it. Other homeowners around the lake are seeing it too. There are only two solutions: Get it fixed or put up yellow tape across the decks and take up Bingo. I chose option 1.

Thanks to Jared Cook and the crew at Flying Jack’s Marine Carpentry, I’ve got new floors that will stand up to me and all the big fish I plan to flop up on the decks for years to come. It certainly wasn’t in the budget, but neither was a potential call to 911 to have them come get me after I fell through….

Seriously, if you have a boat dock, deck or whatever over the water, check it out closely. If you’ve got bad spots, get them fixed as soon as you can. What I found in my situation was that about every third board seemed to be bad or going bad and every other board was looking like it wouldn’t make it another two years. So I decided to just replace them all. Fortunately, the braces held up better than the decking boards or it would have been a really major job. After a few months, I’ll be able to go back and stain the new wood to match the old and things will be just nifty for years to come.

If you’ve got problems, or think you might, check in with a reputable, licensed builder like Jarrad and have him take a look. You can get in touch with him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/flyingjackscarpentry/    He is also a sponsor of this page, so if you enjoy reading, make sure and tell him.

By the way, it is all worth it. Living on the lake is like being on vacation every day when you wake up.

Go Fish.