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Deck problem

Janger

Janger

(John)
Vendor
Premium Member
Our house has a nice deck made of cedar installed by the previous owner but the guy didn't leave any space between the slats. The boards are nicely rounded which leads to the problem - the space between the boards is valley where leaves, needles, dirt and water all get stuck. It turns to glue and looks awful. Washing it out with a hose is tedious and ineffective. I tried cutting a slot between a few boards with a circular saw but it's too thin and the debris still gets stuck. How can I make a 1/4 or 3/8 slot between the boards without taking all the boards up? Can I sandwich 2 or even 3 blades in the circular saw and try that?
 

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Janger said:
Our house has a nice deck made of cedar installed by the previous owner but the guy didn't leave any space between the slats. The boards are nicely rounded which leads to the problem - the space between the boards is valley where leaves, needles, dirt and water all get stuck. It turns to glue and looks awful. Washing it out with a hose is tedious and ineffective. I tried cutting a slot between a few boards with a circular saw but it's too thin and the debris still gets stuck. How can I make a 1/4 or 3/8 slot between the boards without taking all the boards up? Can I sandwich 2 or even 3 blades in the circular saw and try that?
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Router.
 
Yup, router will do a better job of leaving boards with a smooth finish. Setup a guide so you don't end up with squirrelly joints. And be careful to cut so the router pulls toward the guide! Don't want squirrel tracks like my dad had!
 
I was looking at dado blades. They seem to be for table saws. I have not seen one 7.25” just 8” which I don’t think will fit on the saw.
 
I was just just checking on-line, they advertise them for circular saws. But, I saw that Freud also makes a 6" set.

Not sure if it would fit.
 
I have a 6" dado blade, but I would not use it in a circular saw. I would go with a router. Plunge bit, and then follow up with a round over bit with a bearing on the end so the second pass just follows the first. Definitely some kind of straight edge, even a piece of angle clamped to the deck the correct spacing from where you want to cut.
 
Checking some more, most people recommend NOT using dado blades. So I don't know why some adverts say circular saw?
 
The boards look like they're screwed down.

Might be better to pull them up and screw them back down properly spaced. You'd need to expect broken screws but the spaces would be uniform.
 
Janger said:
Our house has a nice deck made of cedar installed by the previous owner but the guy didn't leave any space between the slats. The boards are nicely rounded which leads to the problem -
Click to expand...
Maybe not for rounded cedar- but typically cedar decking is laid pretty tight, as it dries it shrinks giving you a gap
 
YotaBota said:
The boards look like they're screwed down.

Might be better to pull them up and screw them back down properly spaced. You'd need to expect broken screws but the spaces would be uniform.
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There are about 1000 screws - each with mud and grit in the robertson hole - have to clean each one out. It would be a big and tedious job. Maybe I can get the old owner to come back and finish the job properly? :D
 
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Hruul said:
I have a 6" dado blade, but I would not use it in a circular saw. I would go with a router. Plunge bit, and then follow up with a round over bit with a bearing on the end so the second pass just follows the first. Definitely some kind of straight edge, even a piece of angle clamped to the deck the correct spacing from where you want to cut.
Click to expand...
Lee I've never used a dado blade - why would you suggest not to use one?
 
I'd simply setup 2 fence guides, and run the circ saw down one side, flip it, and back up the other side. A router "would" work too, but running 2 guides would be quicker. You'd probably want to run 2 trapped guides for the router anyway to keep it centered. A circ saw wants to cut straight, a handheld router does not. Unless you've got a nice big router, you're into multiple passes as well, I think the circsaw with 2 guides would blow the doors off the router time wise.

Alternatively you could run one guide with a removable spacer on the saw fence to get your groove width.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
Unless you've got a nice big router, you're into multiple passes as well, I think the circsaw with 2 guides would blow the doors off the router time wise.
Click to expand...

I think Dan has it nailed. Given that you have a whole deck to do, it would be time well spent to make a nice jig out of steel or aluminium that could have pins to locate it at both ends on the existing boards and then screw holes to lock it down. A little pressure on the hand saw to keep it against the fence and Bob's your nephew - cuz all 8 of my uncles are gone.
 
Janger said:
Lee I've never used a dado blade - why would you suggest not to use one?
Click to expand...
The dado blade adds a lot of weight compared to a standard blade. Also, the dado blade adds width, I haven't used my circular saw in awhile but I don't think there is much width on the arbor for the two blades plus chip blades or spacers. Maybe I am just over thinking it. I have the freud 6" dado blade set.
 
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