Decking board spacing

[HarrisonS]

Hi all,

I built decking in my garden last week when it had been nice and sunny for a few weeks. I managed to get down the frame and around half of the boards, using 5mm cuts of wood to space each board. The problem came this weekend when I went to lay the rest, the original gaps had grown to around 8mm!

Doing a more extensive Google revealed that freshly cut wood (I have no idea if it was) is likely to shrink, whereas I had assumed it was at its narrowest due to the recent weather.

Would you recommend I unscrew the boards currently laid and relay them at 5mm gap again or will this damage the joists? If I should, is there a better way of doing it than using 5mm bits of wood? Some of the boards were delivered warped so I need to push it up to the 5mm cuts to get a straight line.

Thanks!

 

[Deluks]

Not really worth it, in the winter it will get rained on and the gaps will shrink again. Stick with the current plan.
Use a wood chisel tapped into the joist, as a lever to force the bendy boards into line.