Replacing decking

[TopDMC]

Hi all,
New member here, I am active on car forums as am keen detailer; but have never thought of joining DIY forum as have always just got on with tasks and have (over the years) done so much to a pretty dilapidated house till I have got it just about perfect.

Enough about me...

About 10 years ago I put decking all round the house and it looked great; but over time it has perished in places (never treated it). It is not bad, however two things make me want to replace it.
- I can no longer get the same decking planks, so any repairs do not match the original
- To avoid slipping on the deck I want to turn the boards so as the grooves run against the direction of walking.

I started to remove the old deck boards and then had a brainwave, why remove, why not just put new decking on top of old? It would be so much easier as the screws are proving difficult to remove after such a long time!

Can anyone give advice on whether this can be done, or will it cause rotting to the old wood? Should I treat the old deckboards with anything assuming it is possible to put boards on top of the others.

Thanks for any advice

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I would be concerned that you'd get water trapped between the two layers of boards.

If the screws won't come out, what about using a hole-saw around them? Once all you have left are small plugs of wood with a screw in, stillsons or a pipe wrench will get them out or shear them off.

Or run a circular saw along the sides of the joists, leaving little pads?

But what do you mean by "I want to turn the boards so as the grooves run against the direction of walking"?

 

[TopDMC]

Thanks "ban-all-sheds" for the advice, I thought that would be the case and although it is tempting not to take it all up (there is nearly 100sqm and about 1200 screws), probably sensible to do the job right!

What I mean by turning the boards is so that the grooves on the decking boards run "contrary" to the direction of walking... The way it is now is that when you are walking on the decking the grooves on the boards are straight ahead and if they ran from side to side you would not have so much of a chance of slipping when wet.

In for a very long weekend of hard work

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How can you rotate the orientation of the boards by 90° without doing ditto to the joists?

 

[TopDMC]

How can you rotate the orientation of the boards by 90° without doing ditto to the joists?

Probably should have explained that I was only rotating by 45° so most joists were able to accommodate. I did have to add a few noggins; but nothing major.

Section one done - got distracted a bit too much with all the nice weather. Looking really good and at least the section where the delivery people walk to the front door is done so less chance for being sued by someone who slips.

Thanks for all your advice, much appreciated - sections 2 and 3 should be finished within 2 weeks.