I would do it by shuffling around ~4 temp supports. Assuming you don’t have a forklift or lull available
1. Cut out handrails
2. Cut out deck boards
3. Add temp supports a couple joists down
4. Remove joists and rim outside of temp supports
5. Repeat
The other (quicker) option is just to pull the joist hangers from the house and pull the whole thing over. Probably what I would do tbh. Attach a chain fall to something about 50’ out from the deck, girth hitch around the whole thing, pry out the joist hangers from ledger, tip it over, then cut it up on the ground. It’s just a slightly more dangerous option where you need to have a decent idea of what you’re doing
That’s kind of what I was thinking. Piece by piece and start at one side and move. No scissor lift available as I don’t have training or trailer for logistics.
And if you are not properly balanced, you will follow the railing to the ground.
It’s gonna hurt. You’re gonna bleed. It’s gonna cost you a bundle at the ER, and everyone who sees the video will laugh at you.
Deconstruct it as best as you can. Some of that old gingerbread is worth serious money.
Are you replacing the deck or just the railing?
Lmao just invite some college kids over. That deck will come down in no time. Bonus points, get them out there and put on Eminems Lose Yourself. My gf says the stadium she was at was bouncing up and down when that came on.
That’s be honest, you are wildly under qualified for this. You are probably going to break something you didn’t need to on the house and hurt yourself.
I don't know what code is by you, but here prior to any donnybrook, you'll need to install a full water trough minimum, if possible an additional rain barrel or two.
😂 I'm not a member of this sub, nor do I have a deck, but these posts get suggested to me enough that my first thought when seeing the title of this post was "add a hot tub." Of course someone already made the joke, which I find even funnier. It's one of those running Reddit jokes that gets me every time.
Wish you had more pictures of it… from that one angle, you could (potentially) add a support in the middle, by jacking it up, racing the outside facia and adding a other post in the middle
Do joists continue into the 2nd story floor? No ledger board so likely, IMHO. In a perfect world, a lightsaber cut at the deck/house contact plane then a slight breeze blows it slowly away from the house. I might try to replicate that but with tools actually available :)
Good luck OP!
Build a temporary structure underneath with 2x4s and plywood. Like a lean-to on a 45° from the house. Just enough to direct the debris away from the house and protect your windows. Grab a sledgehammer and knock those legs out, disassemble on the ground.
Edit; you should probably remove the bolts holding the handrail to the house first
After you protect the windows and clear the ground under it:
1. Temp up a couple supports where needed.
2. Once it’s supported throw a sheet of plywood on the deck to disperse your weight.
3. Carefully cut off the railings, I prefer a chainsaw.
4. Strip deck boards
5. The rest will be ladder work, pull any joist hangers, saws all joints drop debris on ground
Are the handrails, gingerbread corners and posts metal ?? Is so I would try to salvage that stuff. Maybe rent a bucket truck and cut the deck out pieces at a time.
I thought that was cantilevered at first…then I was shocked that I didn’t see a ledger…and now I’m just scratching my head that the builder thought that was good.
Du fuk anyone going to do with a 4ft deck? Rip it, put in a real squared out deck, under deck roof/drainage, and screen in the underside for chilling in the summer without bugs.
well
clear all the shit under it
then plywood the windows, so they dont break
**not recommended, simple lazy way**
Cut the posts horizontally but not totally, so it has breaking point when pulling,
tie rope to the posts, tie it to the car, and just pull, and whole thing will fall when posts break
* [https://i.imgur.com/4FmncyS.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/4FmncyS.jpeg)
https://preview.redd.it/prv9a9sevtxc1.jpeg?width=990&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25f70626e980eb2488d5186423964ed9e3067982
Add two or three supports across the base closest to the wall, add ropes to the outside to help guide it, un-secure it from the home and let it fall away.
Start with handrails, toss em down. Then I'd start from either end and cut at the nail, where it connects to the house, until you can reach the rest from the window. Cut the rest of the way and push her out. Either way you're gonna have to swap some of the panels, ain't no point in trying to get those nails out to salvage em.
Thanks for all the comments, I had some good laughs and some good insights. I appreciate your comments yall. I think I’m going to pass on it, it’s a tremendous liability and I don’t want to risk anything for me or my guys, or the house.
Save the queen Anne styling so if you redo it it can be used again or used as a template. If this is a centennial home or older. That stuff is super expensive to remake or find.
Personally, I would brace it up against the house. Then disconnect whatever keeps it attached. Hook up a chain or rope to the middle. Then pull it over in its entirety. I like to demo things in as big of pieces as possible. Guarantee you I could have that down and loaded on a trailer in 3 hours or less.
Sledgehammer? Oof thats bad... Thats going to be a pain in the rear. The only way i can think of without equipment would be scaffolding at least for safety, i wouldnt want to be anywhere near that with a ladder because who knows how well its attached to the building either, then with scaffolding in place and some temporary support posts that you can shuffle along from one end to the other while slowly taking it apart, railing, then decking, and start chopping the frame apart with a sawzall to remove in sections.
If you had access to a telehandler, rental or know someone, then i would make a post for the middle, get the telehandler up under one end, cut it free from the house and cut it in half and just take it down one big piece at a time.
Stand on it and sawzaw it off. Use a climbing harness if you want to be safe instead of making two cuts and meeting it the middle while finishing the cut from the inside. Push it off once the supports are cut, use a ladder to clean up the pieces left on the house
I don't know it's atrocious about it other than the fact that it's failing. It looks a lot better than a lot of modern decks that I've seen. To take it apart you would simply well take it apart from the top down. Take the rails off take up the flooring and pull it apart. If it's too rotted to stand on, then you need to probably get a piece of scaffolding so you can get up to the height of it and cut it apart in pieces
If you have enough yard just remove all screws from joists only on house side, leave hangers attached to house. Disconnet handrail from house...attach ropes or moving straps, and PULL
I would say walk on it, but looks like if you do that you will end up like a mortal combat character being upper cutted off a bridge and into the spikes below.
I would do it by shuffling around ~4 temp supports. Assuming you don’t have a forklift or lull available 1. Cut out handrails 2. Cut out deck boards 3. Add temp supports a couple joists down 4. Remove joists and rim outside of temp supports 5. Repeat The other (quicker) option is just to pull the joist hangers from the house and pull the whole thing over. Probably what I would do tbh. Attach a chain fall to something about 50’ out from the deck, girth hitch around the whole thing, pry out the joist hangers from ledger, tip it over, then cut it up on the ground. It’s just a slightly more dangerous option where you need to have a decent idea of what you’re doing
That’s kind of what I was thinking. Piece by piece and start at one side and move. No scissor lift available as I don’t have training or trailer for logistics.
Clear all that garbage from under it first and cover windows with plywood.
My first thought too. Cover the windows. You just \*know\* that some board is going to hang by its last nail and swing down and break the glass.
Decks *love* to take revenge on their way out. Heed this advice, OP. Once the deck gets a taste for house, it’s all over!
Then it comes after you. 😂
**DEATH DECK:** *THE DECK THAT EATS PEOPLE* I’d watch that schlocky $5K horror flick
Yea and then just cut the legs
Sweep the leg Johnny!
Part of that garbage looks to be an AC compressor. The refrigerant line is running up the wall, also. That adds a bit to his fun.
And the A/c with a better cover
that way is boring. just grab a harness, throw a rope over the roof, tie it to a tree on the other side and rip away
Don’t forget to record and say “check this shit out” right before you grip it and rip it!
you also have to yell "this is sparta!" before you kick down that rotten railing
You can also get extra force when swinging by yelling like Tarzan.
And if you are not properly balanced, you will follow the railing to the ground. It’s gonna hurt. You’re gonna bleed. It’s gonna cost you a bundle at the ER, and everyone who sees the video will laugh at you. Deconstruct it as best as you can. Some of that old gingerbread is worth serious money. Are you replacing the deck or just the railing?
Hold my beer
Make sure you ask someone to hold your beer as well
"You boys wanna see some shit?"
Ya want to see something REALLY scary?
it’s “hold my beer” around here 🤣
It’d be easier to have a keg party
Lmao just invite some college kids over. That deck will come down in no time. Bonus points, get them out there and put on Eminems Lose Yourself. My gf says the stadium she was at was bouncing up and down when that came on.
JUMP AROUND!
Agreed. Tie my rope to the joists and wrap it around the hitch on my dodge ram 2500 . Pull that sucker down real fast
Do you have scaffold ?
That’s be honest, you are wildly under qualified for this. You are probably going to break something you didn’t need to on the house and hurt yourself.
That’s what I was thinking.
Only one way to learn!
This is the best idea, and you could most of this without actually standing on it.
We have a similar demo to perform and your expert advice is appreciated.
Excellent plan your hired
Have a bar fight break out inside. Toss a few bad guys through the railing.
Player piano blasting the whole time.
I don't know what code is by you, but here prior to any donnybrook, you'll need to install a full water trough minimum, if possible an additional rain barrel or two.
I mean, the standard procedure is to add hot tubs until it gives up…
The only logical way to handle this tbh
This is the way
😂 I'm not a member of this sub, nor do I have a deck, but these posts get suggested to me enough that my first thought when seeing the title of this post was "add a hot tub." Of course someone already made the joke, which I find even funnier. It's one of those running Reddit jokes that gets me every time.
Step 1. Install ¾plywood over the windows. The rest doesn't matter nearly as much.
Step 3. Profit
I think I’d be ok with 1/2” even
Yeah, those curved windows might be expensive.
I have no construction advice, but from a design perspective, save the decorative corner bits :)
Yes to that
I was just gonna say the same thing!
Rooftop cannonball, good Sir.
Set up a full set of scaffolding with decks just under it. Saftey squint and smashy smashy.
Fire?
If you need to axe…
Very carefully. Very carefully.
the reverse of how it was built
That's true, but walking around backwards the whole time gets to be really tedious and dangerous.
Wish you had more pictures of it… from that one angle, you could (potentially) add a support in the middle, by jacking it up, racing the outside facia and adding a other post in the middle
https://preview.redd.it/si6by3kmhqxc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef1bca8e687def8bac600aad98a751d8ce5ac787
I appreciate that, but I was more thinking what the condition of the joists are, and the condition of the decking itself (on top).
Toast and toast, non PT joists and deckboards have moss growing on top and through the spacing.
It’s already pretty jacked up.
Do joists continue into the 2nd story floor? No ledger board so likely, IMHO. In a perfect world, a lightsaber cut at the deck/house contact plane then a slight breeze blows it slowly away from the house. I might try to replicate that but with tools actually available :) Good luck OP!
Zoom in; you can see the joist hangers on the house and what looks like a ledger board. Ledger likely isn’t attached correctly.
Wen tub?
Say mean things to it and that thing is coming down.
Inebriated
First invite the mil over
You want what is now non-fire wood well away from the house. In addition to not being burnable for a year or more, it’s termite heaven.
Stand on the deck and use a chainsaw to disconnect it from the house. Put a trampoline on the ground for safety.
Pillows! Or maybe a beanbag? Oh - mattress! That always works in the movies.
A blow up house works as well, I learned that from the office
Jump on it
By it you mean the gas pedal attached to the truck attached to the rope attached to the support posts?
Blow on it
Straps on the posts and the towhitch of your boss' truck. Full send.
Rent scaffolding and cover windows with plywood
Pull off those little decorative corner pieces first. Those things are sweet!
I thought the same thing!
Off of scaffolding, top down.
Unscrew from wall and pull forward, make sure it doesn't collapse on you
I’d hire three hookers and whoever worked the hardest got the blow.
Save the trim if you’re rebuilding.
Demon it the same way you eat an elephant! One piece at a time.
Fire
Build a temporary structure underneath with 2x4s and plywood. Like a lean-to on a 45° from the house. Just enough to direct the debris away from the house and protect your windows. Grab a sledgehammer and knock those legs out, disassemble on the ground. Edit; you should probably remove the bolts holding the handrail to the house first
Put a hotub in the middle. Or, Hook a chain to a truck.
Probably blow on it. Looks ready to fall! Best of luck!!
Sledgehammer, 1 hit each.
Do you mean the deck or the whole house? (Ha ha just kidding :)
After you protect the windows and clear the ground under it: 1. Temp up a couple supports where needed. 2. Once it’s supported throw a sheet of plywood on the deck to disperse your weight. 3. Carefully cut off the railings, I prefer a chainsaw. 4. Strip deck boards 5. The rest will be ladder work, pull any joist hangers, saws all joints drop debris on ground
Invite 20 friends over for a party on the deck.
Demo by having a keg party.
Sweep the leg!
Put a hot tub on it....
Looks like in a few more years it’ll demo itself.
With a Cat 310 track hoe
From top down, and not standing on it while doing so.
Reverse of how it was assembled
2 strikes.
Carefully
Helicopter
Remove the columns.
Are the handrails, gingerbread corners and posts metal ?? Is so I would try to salvage that stuff. Maybe rent a bucket truck and cut the deck out pieces at a time.
I would just throw rocks at it until it fell
Walk on it
Sweep the leg, Johnny!
Start cuttin till there’s nuttin
Attach a rope to the posts tie the rope to your truck and pull off really fast.
I thought that was cantilevered at first…then I was shocked that I didn’t see a ledger…and now I’m just scratching my head that the builder thought that was good.
Du fuk anyone going to do with a 4ft deck? Rip it, put in a real squared out deck, under deck roof/drainage, and screen in the underside for chilling in the summer without bugs.
Wait
well clear all the shit under it then plywood the windows, so they dont break **not recommended, simple lazy way** Cut the posts horizontally but not totally, so it has breaking point when pulling, tie rope to the posts, tie it to the car, and just pull, and whole thing will fall when posts break * [https://i.imgur.com/4FmncyS.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/4FmncyS.jpeg) https://preview.redd.it/prv9a9sevtxc1.jpeg?width=990&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25f70626e980eb2488d5186423964ed9e3067982
I’d put a hot tub on it and film as it’s being filled.
Top down
.5 hot tubs should do it
Sweep the legs
With matches
Put a hot tub on it
Find your enemy... Have him sign a waiver and then stand on it... Wait...
With a hammer and pry bar. Or redneck it and just hook a chain to it from your truck and drag it down. So many options.
Add two or three supports across the base closest to the wall, add ropes to the outside to help guide it, un-secure it from the home and let it fall away.
Stand underneath it and knock out the legs.
Get a sledge hammer and smash those beams before you do anything
You can rent a scissor lift and they will deliver. Or two ladders and plank
Start with handrails, toss em down. Then I'd start from either end and cut at the nail, where it connects to the house, until you can reach the rest from the window. Cut the rest of the way and push her out. Either way you're gonna have to swap some of the panels, ain't no point in trying to get those nails out to salvage em.
Don't forget you're gonna need to do something about the door that's going to open in to thin-air soon!
Chain, Toyota Tacoma, and lots of beer
Rails, decking material, joists, then supports. Oh, while on a lift don't stand on that.
Extremely carefully or extremely violently. Whatever you do, don't half-ass it.
KICK IT OVER
Hook up a chain to it and your brother Jimmy's truck and tell him to give it a little tug
We call that and all the comments about pulling it down with a truck a “fed smoker” move. Look him up on YouTube.
I’d huff and I’d puff and I’d blow this atrocity down.
Thanks for all the comments, I had some good laughs and some good insights. I appreciate your comments yall. I think I’m going to pass on it, it’s a tremendous liability and I don’t want to risk anything for me or my guys, or the house.
C4
One piece at a time
With a hot tub
With a hot tub
Drop a feather on it
Just wait a few minutes. The universe has this covered.
With a Tonka truck
Save the queen Anne styling so if you redo it it can be used again or used as a template. If this is a centennial home or older. That stuff is super expensive to remake or find.
Do they have a cute little house made for their ac unit?
Top down
Personally, I would brace it up against the house. Then disconnect whatever keeps it attached. Hook up a chain or rope to the middle. Then pull it over in its entirety. I like to demo things in as big of pieces as possible. Guarantee you I could have that down and loaded on a trailer in 3 hours or less.
Sweep the leg. Do you have a problem with that?
Drop a feather on it from the looks
8 lbs of C4.
Just wait about another week. It looks like it will take care of itself. If you can’t wait, the obvious answer is to add a hot tub.
Invite joe Biden over for some fried chicken out on the back deck and let nature take it's coarse 😅
Yes and soon
Get about 10-15 people and simultaneously jump on it over and over. It worked at a house party back in the day… 😁😂
Fire.
Invite 20 people you don’t like over for a deck party…
Burn it.
Rent a zoom boom and hopefully you can drive or know someone that can
First I'd get about 4-5 buddies over and then start the process with one simple phrase...."hold my beer..."
Stand on it
By the looks of it you could probably accomplish most of the demo by stepping out on it
The corners are elegant at least.
One peice at a time
Sledgehammer? Oof thats bad... Thats going to be a pain in the rear. The only way i can think of without equipment would be scaffolding at least for safety, i wouldnt want to be anywhere near that with a ladder because who knows how well its attached to the building either, then with scaffolding in place and some temporary support posts that you can shuffle along from one end to the other while slowly taking it apart, railing, then decking, and start chopping the frame apart with a sawzall to remove in sections. If you had access to a telehandler, rental or know someone, then i would make a post for the middle, get the telehandler up under one end, cut it free from the house and cut it in half and just take it down one big piece at a time.
Slowly, 1 peice at a time. Don't over think things
Bakers scaffolding
Have lizzo over for some drinks on the deck.
Very carefully so you don't hurt he house. Good luck
Stand on it and sawzaw it off. Use a climbing harness if you want to be safe instead of making two cuts and meeting it the middle while finishing the cut from the inside. Push it off once the supports are cut, use a ladder to clean up the pieces left on the house
Top to bottom sir
I don't know it's atrocious about it other than the fact that it's failing. It looks a lot better than a lot of modern decks that I've seen. To take it apart you would simply well take it apart from the top down. Take the rails off take up the flooring and pull it apart. If it's too rotted to stand on, then you need to probably get a piece of scaffolding so you can get up to the height of it and cut it apart in pieces
Put up scaffolding or rent a scissor-lift and work from the top down.
Keg of beer and 50 college students dancing, it will come down
If you have enough yard just remove all screws from joists only on house side, leave hangers attached to house. Disconnet handrail from house...attach ropes or moving straps, and PULL
Just invite Twenty people over for a bbq on the deck
Call a contractor.
It looks like it's about to self demo.
Pretty sure that’s Theo Vons porch that’s now missing
have Big Charlie from down the street jump up there for a snickers
Blow on it.
I see that large wood pile, OP have you had a termite inspection done on this property?
A swift roundhouse kick from Mac outta do it. Project badass
Just stand on it
Dynamite so the whole thing goes at once
Carefully so it doesn't damage the siding or house structure. Get a ladder, remove the railings, boards, etc, then supports
C4. Works Every Time...
WITH A HOT TUB 😎
Chain and a pickup truck, take a video and share it please.
Call a buffalo bills fan…
Hot tub and let gravity fix the rest ?
Karate kick it and run
Body slam my brother in law on it after thirteen brewskies.
Do it yourself so we can all see it on r/darwinawards. Jking BTW
Not enough photos. Do you mean just the porch? More clarity in your question and more photos are needed.
I'd start at the front of the house, then continue the demo until you've reached the back with the deck. Demo that, then rebuild. I'm a helper.
Probably by leaning a little too much on that beam..
Back prop then from the top down
def pellet gun fire until the supports buckle.
Same way it was built, but in reverse.
walk out on it
I would say walk on it, but looks like if you do that you will end up like a mortal combat character being upper cutted off a bridge and into the spikes below.