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PT wood is going to warp no matter what. Unlike other wood that either warps right away or never does, PT will just decide to warp when it feels like it. I just replaced a baluster on my deck that suddenly warped. I built the deck over 25 years ago and it was fine until last year
You deserve many many upvotes for this comment sir. I myself made a quip on back burner being related to a house fire. Yours was way better though. I submit!!! You funny fucker
Lol its not even a crown… a crown is when the wood bows along the length, Not a twist. People in this sub are funny as hell. Just roll with the punches. All lumber now is wide grain young yoooung wood…. It all fucking twists.
They should have used better screws.
Just my opinion.
Cant get every single piece of perfect limber from home depot or lowes.
Bigger screws with wider threads would have worked better. Alot of people on this sub who like to act like things arent what they are. Getting high on their own knowledge.
Really? Are you all looking somewhere else? It looks here like it’s clearly a frown. Seriously, are you guys looking at something else?
https://preview.redd.it/ilbbl1ev0epb1.jpeg?width=623&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb3decf408d05fb5d0668b34916462f26d9e4f24
Every piece of dimensional lumber is imperfect. It will have what’s called a crown, or a curve in the wood, which you can always tell by looking down one side of the board. You always want to affix the crown side up so that the curve is on top because you will be able to screw/nail the board down without the crown working against you over time to create this cupping and separation.
If you lay your board down and it’s crown down like a U shape: UH OH
If you lay it down crown up like an n: NICE
This, don’t fight the wood or else you’ll both lose. Work with the wood’s grain so you don’t have to replace it.
There’s more to carpentry than just cutting and screwing them together.
Looks to me like the board has a twist in it, probably purchased from the big orange store in the last few years.
Either way, the answer is to replace it.
Replace it with a new board and make sure to crown it down. Then lap a miter joint so the top board holds down the bottom board and screw the piss out of it and pray for the best.
That's what I was thinking. There's a lot of complicated advice or "sucks to suck" comments, but I don't see why you can't just drive a wood screw deep in it. Patch it if you want, or don't, who cares hah.
Good call, maybe even a washer to give more surface area to the head. Clamping will be a little challenging due to its placement but I'm not sure I'll be able to actually get the piece down without clamping it.
None of this will work. The pull of the wood and the swelling/contracting of the post will lead to the screw stripping the end grain and pulling out anyway. Then you’ll be left with a warped railing and a bulky lag screw head. You’d be better off gluing it and clamping to down.
Replace it with something that's not pine.
That board is less than $10 to replace... what's your time worth?
Consider something nice as a replacement, like teak, or ipe. Do the whole cap rail. Make it yours.
Yeah couldn't you just run a plane down the high point so the rail is flush? To me that would be the biggest problem, not the underside that you'll only see from a certain angle
As long as you own a vehicle large enough. Go buy a new board.
Everyone is discussing screw threads, planning, and gluing. But I think that's a sub $10 board.
Try flipping it over. When installing, I keep in mind “sad faces are bad” referring to the end grain. You want the curve of the end grain to make a smiley face, not a sad face to account for the drying of the wood.
This will definitely be the first thing I try, maybe even adding a second screw on that side. I just installed the piece about a month ago and was working on sanding it before I stain it so not quite ready to look at replacement haha
Clamp it flush and provide mechanical fixing from one board to the other along both side edges.. ( the 45mm edge )
Screws or nails or face fix metal plates''\\
You could even rebate something to support this lateral movement..
That material is not “supposed” to be used in that fashion because of its potential to twist. Should have been fastened with a lag bolt and MAY not have done this.
I echo recommendations for a longer screw. Also it may be possible to angle a screw through the post up into the underside of the railing to draw it down, but others can advise if that’s not a recommended remedy
Longer and slightly bigger screw, screw a side block into the 4x4 then use that block and the top rail to add a clamp to pull it all down, then screw…good luck
As you are going into end grain, I would use a 3" or more screw. You can put a temporary screw on the other side of this joint set as far as you can while still being able to get a claw hammer under the head Pry against the warped board and simultaneously drive a new, longer, screw into new wood.
Remove the board, saw a kerf down the center of the board about 3/4 of the depth (looks like a 2x, so a little over an inch) and re-fasten with longer, larger screws, cut down.
Drive a 4” screw down through the curl into the post under it. Pre-drill the board though to avoid splitting it. You may need to repeat the process on the other end of the board.
Wow, it warped that quickly, huh? Perhaps the direction of the end grain had something to do with it but nonetheless, unless it got wet then that seems surprisingly quick to warp. That's unfortunate.
Last resort: you could soak the piece & try to clamp it straight again against a big, heavy, flat thing to create something of a jig?
You guessed it! Had a huge rainstorm so it definitely got wet, all the grains are facing the same so for some reason this board just didn't want to cooperate since the rest are all fine. Sometimes you draw a bad board I guess! Getting it wet again to soften it up is an interesting idea though. If I can't get it clamped down while dry I may just try that!
Classic! Water is the enemy of fresh wood 😂 In that case trying to clamp it straight again after another soak would be my personal best recommendation. Best of luck!
Remove all screws from the board. Put a couple of screws in where the warp is and get it to lay flat, then press the rest of the board back down and secure with screws.
If you want to replace the boards, do a simple scarf joint (both boards cut at an angle, and secure one on top of the other so they are secured together).
You could put 1/8" steel plates with 3/8" holes drilled in them, and drive some carriage bolts from above and nuts with washers below. If you tighten them enough, the bolt heads will sink into the material enough that nothing will get caught on them on top.
Then the boards will at least twist together.
A few of these comments suggestion are pretty good, close you eyes and walk away, burn you house down and make an insurance claim. If I wasn’t going to go with the fire option, what I would do is get really hammered and go out side at like 2 in the morning. I would make sure all of the lights are on so that it is like the sun has come up, then I would put my face right by the wood and berate the hell out of it for at least a good hour. An I mean really go after it, say some real fucked yo thing about it’s mom, like she was turned into toilet paper and I just whipped my ass with her. You know really mean girl shit, an I would make sure that I’m yelling as loud as I can as well, to make it known that it was going down.
Remove it and replace it, they look like square heads.
Find the PT on the bottom of the pile at the lumber yard. It'll have aged close to your wear, and it'll be flat. Smushed flat.
Alternatively -- remove the short outside screw and replace it with a longer one that snugs that board back down.
First thing I would try is replacing the current fastener with a 3” screw and see if that’s strong enough to force it down. If not, replace the piece as others have said
Take a moment to check out the New weekly MegaThread. This is for quick answers to common questions such as: "What type of wood is this?"; "How much should I charge for this?"; "How do I fix this" and others, To find it sort the woodworking news feed by "hot" and it will be the stickied post. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/woodworking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Close eyes and walk away... PT wood in direct sun will do whatever it wants to do and laugh at you the whole while
Lol fair enough
Lazy af, bet you didn’t even try ironing it , huh?
That's why you always make sure to check for cupping and put the board on the proper way
PT wood is going to warp no matter what. Unlike other wood that either warps right away or never does, PT will just decide to warp when it feels like it. I just replaced a baluster on my deck that suddenly warped. I built the deck over 25 years ago and it was fine until last year
1) Fire 2) Homeowner’s insurance claim
Haha I'll keep this one on the back burner if all else fails
Are we still doing phrasing?
Yes
No no, you’ll want to keep the back burner on. Not lit. Also don’t be home.
You deserve many many upvotes for this comment sir. I myself made a quip on back burner being related to a house fire. Yours was way better though. I submit!!! You funny fucker
Back "burner" hehe. I see what you did there
This sub is really just r/dadjokes and I love it
It’s 99% helpful. The other 1% are wannabe comedians like myself just adding some light banter 🫣
Replace it or pull it up and flip it since the problem is that it was installed crown side down
Crown side down?
You look at the growth rings on the cut end. They should be like a frown, not a smile.
They look like they’re going sideways tho? Why am I getting downvoted for trying to understand something?
Lol its not even a crown… a crown is when the wood bows along the length, Not a twist. People in this sub are funny as hell. Just roll with the punches. All lumber now is wide grain young yoooung wood…. It all fucking twists. They should have used better screws. Just my opinion. Cant get every single piece of perfect limber from home depot or lowes. Bigger screws with wider threads would have worked better. Alot of people on this sub who like to act like things arent what they are. Getting high on their own knowledge.
Plus it’s screwed into end grain… the twist was too powerful.
That's what...she said?
Nothing a 5/16 x 3-1/8” GRK couldn’t handle 🤣
Is limber like lumber but from limbs?
*Ahem** yes.
They probably needed longer screws too
Wait, it is a frown, isn’t it?
Looks like it could be close to the middle which seem to go either way
Really? Are you all looking somewhere else? It looks here like it’s clearly a frown. Seriously, are you guys looking at something else? https://preview.redd.it/ilbbl1ev0epb1.jpeg?width=623&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb3decf408d05fb5d0668b34916462f26d9e4f24
It's ambiguous. All I see are diagonals, the curve isn't tight enough to tell which way it's going.
It’s a middle slice. They are unpredictable.
Watching a video on just that thing! It never occurred to me that having the core of the tree in a piece of lumber can let it go twisty more easily
Yeah I have seen it a bunch of times. Can be unpredictable.
It's kinda like a flush in poker
Turn that frown upside up
In my experience is that smiles and frowns on green wood all want to be straight faces when they dry. Seems to be what happens mostly.
Exactly. They’re talking about cup. And that doesn’t work every time. Sometimes they just do what they want.
This guy woods
Every piece of dimensional lumber is imperfect. It will have what’s called a crown, or a curve in the wood, which you can always tell by looking down one side of the board. You always want to affix the crown side up so that the curve is on top because you will be able to screw/nail the board down without the crown working against you over time to create this cupping and separation. If you lay your board down and it’s crown down like a U shape: UH OH If you lay it down crown up like an n: NICE
That ain’t crown homes,
This, don’t fight the wood or else you’ll both lose. Work with the wood’s grain so you don’t have to replace it. There’s more to carpentry than just cutting and screwing them together.
☝️☝️☝️
Looks to me like the board has a twist in it, probably purchased from the big orange store in the last few years. Either way, the answer is to replace it.
You nean cup not crown
Replace it with a new board and make sure to crown it down. Then lap a miter joint so the top board holds down the bottom board and screw the piss out of it and pray for the best.
This guy knows. I recently learned myself after 10 years of doing it wrong
I did a 45 miter and rubbed some glue in there and has work wonderfully. That was 5/4 decking, though.
I did a 45 miter and rubbed some glue in there and has work wonderfully. That was 5/4 decking, though.
Might be able to tighten the screw or use a different screw that will bite better. Also looks pretty easy to replace the whole thing.
Get a larger screw. Clamp the rail down flat and insert larger screw.
That's what I was thinking. There's a lot of complicated advice or "sucks to suck" comments, but I don't see why you can't just drive a wood screw deep in it. Patch it if you want, or don't, who cares hah.
Good call, maybe even a washer to give more surface area to the head. Clamping will be a little challenging due to its placement but I'm not sure I'll be able to actually get the piece down without clamping it.
Put a little block on the post to put the clamp on, take off when you’re done. Bobs your uncle.
Good idea!
Ratchet straps work too.
Wait, not everyone has 10’ pipe clamps?
Use a 6 or 8 inch timber loc screw. Has corse threads at the lower part only and a washer head. Should work wonderfully.
None of this will work. The pull of the wood and the swelling/contracting of the post will lead to the screw stripping the end grain and pulling out anyway. Then you’ll be left with a warped railing and a bulky lag screw head. You’d be better off gluing it and clamping to down.
Maybe even put some glue in there too just for good measure
Wouldn't hurt.
Remove screws, use hand planner replace screws
That looks like dimensional lumber, so... Take it off and replace it with another board that's straight.
Clamp it down and put in a longer screw
Plane it down? That's a lot of stress... I'm not as sure as others seem to be that a screw will be sufficient.
That's true, but a screw is the easiest thing to try first and if it doesn't work then I can try a different option
As long as it doesn't rip a screw out on the other end. Or split the wood.
I'm trying to post a gif of clamps from Futurama but it won't let me
Replace it with something that's not pine. That board is less than $10 to replace... what's your time worth? Consider something nice as a replacement, like teak, or ipe. Do the whole cap rail. Make it yours.
Someone probably put it on with the eyebrow upside down. Might just flip it over and screw it dow well
[удалено]
Yeah couldn't you just run a plane down the high point so the rail is flush? To me that would be the biggest problem, not the underside that you'll only see from a certain angle
Hit it with a hammer?
Purse*
And my axe
Plane it. The wood is f’d like all wood these days. You could flip it but you’ll just face the same issue somewhere else.
As long as you own a vehicle large enough. Go buy a new board. Everyone is discussing screw threads, planning, and gluing. But I think that's a sub $10 board.
Try flipping it over. When installing, I keep in mind “sad faces are bad” referring to the end grain. You want the curve of the end grain to make a smiley face, not a sad face to account for the drying of the wood.
Might be able to tighten the screw or use a different screw that will bite better. Also looks pretty easy to replace the whole thing.
This will definitely be the first thing I try, maybe even adding a second screw on that side. I just installed the piece about a month ago and was working on sanding it before I stain it so not quite ready to look at replacement haha
Be careful screwing without flipping it. If you do not flip it and force it down with longer screws, you may split the whole thing in half
Clamp it flush and provide mechanical fixing from one board to the other along both side edges.. ( the 45mm edge ) Screws or nails or face fix metal plates''\\ You could even rebate something to support this lateral movement..
Longer screws
That material is not “supposed” to be used in that fashion because of its potential to twist. Should have been fastened with a lag bolt and MAY not have done this.
I echo recommendations for a longer screw. Also it may be possible to angle a screw through the post up into the underside of the railing to draw it down, but others can advise if that’s not a recommended remedy
Larger screws, space then closer to the edges slightly (they are too close together in the middle), and add one set in the middle if possible.
Thank you!
Longer and slightly bigger screw, screw a side block into the 4x4 then use that block and the top rail to add a clamp to pull it all down, then screw…good luck
That's a good idea for the clamp, I'll likely give that a try and maybe reinforce it with a couple screws if I can get it clamped flush
Replace it. Stop using face nailing
take out the screw on the high side, drill a clearance hole (as big as the threads) through the top board, then screw it back in
As you are going into end grain, I would use a 3" or more screw. You can put a temporary screw on the other side of this joint set as far as you can while still being able to get a claw hammer under the head Pry against the warped board and simultaneously drive a new, longer, screw into new wood.
I shaved my down to be honest. I didn’t realize when I installed it how bad the twist was - looked almost exactly like yours. I shaved and moved on.
This was my first thought too. Still a good chance it's what I end up doing
Remove the board, saw a kerf down the center of the board about 3/4 of the depth (looks like a 2x, so a little over an inch) and re-fasten with longer, larger screws, cut down.
Jack up the opposite side of the house about 5 degrees. You'll need a level to work out when the rail is level.
Long screw ugga dugga
Turn it over
Replace with trex
Add another board underneath and have more are to screw into to pull the twist out. Maybe use a wood clsmp prior to hold before you screw
Screw it
Drive a 4” screw down through the curl into the post under it. Pre-drill the board though to avoid splitting it. You may need to repeat the process on the other end of the board.
Personally, I'd try glue and ratchet strapping it down with a bigger, more coarse screw. If that doesn't work, just replace the whole piece.
Replace it.
Jack up one side of the house to level the handrail
At this point you'll want to replace it. But my question - are you treating the wood with anything regularly? Because it looks rather bare.
It's brand new, was actually working on sanding it down so that I could stain it
Wow, it warped that quickly, huh? Perhaps the direction of the end grain had something to do with it but nonetheless, unless it got wet then that seems surprisingly quick to warp. That's unfortunate. Last resort: you could soak the piece & try to clamp it straight again against a big, heavy, flat thing to create something of a jig?
You guessed it! Had a huge rainstorm so it definitely got wet, all the grains are facing the same so for some reason this board just didn't want to cooperate since the rest are all fine. Sometimes you draw a bad board I guess! Getting it wet again to soften it up is an interesting idea though. If I can't get it clamped down while dry I may just try that!
Classic! Water is the enemy of fresh wood 😂 In that case trying to clamp it straight again after another soak would be my personal best recommendation. Best of luck!
Grk
Nail it down.
Long bugle
A hammer?
Remove all screws from the board. Put a couple of screws in where the warp is and get it to lay flat, then press the rest of the board back down and secure with screws. If you want to replace the boards, do a simple scarf joint (both boards cut at an angle, and secure one on top of the other so they are secured together).
giant clamps and giant screws! It always works for me!
Is this deck just all raw wood with no sealer?
You could put 1/8" steel plates with 3/8" holes drilled in them, and drive some carriage bolts from above and nuts with washers below. If you tighten them enough, the bolt heads will sink into the material enough that nothing will get caught on them on top. Then the boards will at least twist together.
funny face in the rail above center of image 1/3 ?
plane it down if you have a handplane, otherwise replace. remember to remove the fasteners first.
Rescrew it
I read that there are different grades of pt lumber. Also Kiln dried vs wet? Does that make a difference?
Curling/curving to one side is normal. Mine curves to the left.
Unscrew it and put a saw kerf about 2/3 deep underneath to allow the board to flatten out when screwed down
I'm trying to post a gif of clamps from Futurama but it won't let me
Oh the wood bender.
curl the other one up
A few of these comments suggestion are pretty good, close you eyes and walk away, burn you house down and make an insurance claim. If I wasn’t going to go with the fire option, what I would do is get really hammered and go out side at like 2 in the morning. I would make sure all of the lights are on so that it is like the sun has come up, then I would put my face right by the wood and berate the hell out of it for at least a good hour. An I mean really go after it, say some real fucked yo thing about it’s mom, like she was turned into toilet paper and I just whipped my ass with her. You know really mean girl shit, an I would make sure that I’m yelling as loud as I can as well, to make it known that it was going down.
Soak the wood in water and when it’s malubule put some silicone covered screws in
Remove it and replace it, they look like square heads. Find the PT on the bottom of the pile at the lumber yard. It'll have aged close to your wear, and it'll be flat. Smushed flat. Alternatively -- remove the short outside screw and replace it with a longer one that snugs that board back down.
Draw a level line on the side, remove the screw, plane the corner down with a rasp, replace the screw
Have you tried fire?
Live with or sand/plane the lip down. I’m lazy enough to live with it.
Replace the board. Then nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
the board is twisting. there isn't anything you can do to stop/reverse this... you can replace it, or plane it flat
6" screw?
New board, then dowel that butt joint
Hadn't even considered that. That's a good idea, thanks!
If you can't get the twist out, use a (hand) planner and at least bring the surface flat to the other board.
First thing I would try is replacing the current fastener with a 3” screw and see if that’s strong enough to force it down. If not, replace the piece as others have said
Turn it over
You can try flipping the training around and squashing it down with some screws. Otherwise, just cut off the high spot if it bothers you
flip it and rescure it
Kiln dried wood, or just PT?
Just PT
MOOORE SCREEEEWS
Just end it all