Deck Repair & Restoration in Arvada, CO

The frame decides. If the ledger, posts, and joists are sound, almost anything above them — boards, rails, stairs, finish — is repairable at a fraction of rebuild cost. If the structure itself is rotted or the attachment to the house is failing, honest money says rebuild rather than paying twice. I'll probe the frame and tell you which deck you have before you commit to anything, and I build new decks as well as repair them, so you'll get the same answer either way.

More often than the can says. Altitude UV is roughly a third stronger here than at sea level, and south-facing decks take the worst of it — figure every two to three years for most stains on exposed decks, longer for shaded ones. The tell is water soaking in instead of beading. Letting it go past gray and into checking is what turns a maintenance coat into a sanding job.

Sometimes, but don't assume so — a wobbly rail is the one deck problem I treat as urgent, because rails take load exactly when someone's off balance. If the post connection is sound wood with tired fasteners, it's a quick re-secure with proper hardware. If the post or rim has rotted at the connection, the fix is replacing that wood, and a longer screw into rot is worse than no fix at all.

Yes, and for a lot of Arvada and Littleton decks that's the sensible order — the boards and railings that face south and west go first, and there's no reason to replace the shaded half at the same time. I'll show you what's structural and needs doing now versus what's cosmetic and can wait a season.