Deck Help

[Bailey Guns]

In preparation for our upcoming move I've needed to make some improvements before selling the house. One of those improvements involves updating the deck.

I always wondered why some of the boards near the top of the stairs on the old deck were wider than others. It became obvious after my son and I rebuilt the stairs. The upper deck and lower deck are out of square at least 3" over 4'. The stairs are perfectly aligned with the lower deck and are attached straight. Unfortunately, the upper deck slants inward towards the lower deck as you can see in the photos.

So, I either: 1) Realign the upper deck which I can't do, 2) square the stairs with the upper deck and they'd be angled towards the left as you're looking down (which I think would look really bad from below), or 3) do something with the boards on the top step to correct the alignment problem.

Now, I'm no construction expert so there may be other options I'm not aware of. Any of you guys have any suggestions?

My feeling is to angle the top step boards into the first deck board once I start replacing those boards. I thought maybe if it looked too bad I could cover the mistake by using some grip tape or paint since that would also help with traction in snowy/icy weather. I'll actually need 3 boards on the top instead of two because I have so much misalignment to correct.

The joys of dealing with home improvements never seem to end.

Looking down from the top:


You can see on the left side of the picture how much the left side of the step is overhanging as opposed to the right side:

[tmleadr03]

The only advise I have is to trim the bushes around the deck, that way your deck looks bigger.

[Boadie30]

The only advise I have is to trim the bushes around the deck, that way your deck looks bigger.

I read this at the worst time... It feels like I got hot coffee in my brain... lol

[tmleadr03]

I read this at the worst time... It feels like I got hot coffee in my brain... lol

Let me help with that and derail this thread even more.

[StagLefty]

Let me help with that and derail this thread even more.

Excellent derail-still laughing !!!

[Bailey Guns]

But will it still look crooked?

[ray1970]

So, basically, the stairs are coming off the deck at an angle is what it looks like.

Where do they end up at the bottom?

[HoneyBadger]

So, basically, the stairs are coming off the deck at an angle is what it looks like.

Where do they end up at the bottom?

If I understand right, the stairs do come off the top at an angle per se, but only because the top deck Has become crooked over the years. Bottom deck looks newer and perfectly straight.

[HoneyBadger]

Maybe trim the top step boards on an angle so that they are square on the front? I would do it evenly to both boards, but this might make the step too small on the right side (right side as you're looking down from the top). You might consider cutting into the first board of the upper deck to help get right of the angle, but that might look goofy. Good luck!

[ray1970]

Hmm. Sounds like the real fix would be to move one of the decks a bit so the stairs will line up square to both decks.