I need to have the perimeter of my house treated for termites. I had a wood deck in the back yard and it is connected to the house. I have a wood step and platform at the front door. The pest company said that they need me to take one plank out of the deck and the front wood step. They will drill a hole through the cement that is underneath and then inject the termite pesticide. The front wood step is about 3 or 4 years old. The deck is about 25 years old. The deck is about 18 feet long, the step is about 4 feet long. I believe the wood is pressure treated about 4 or 6 inches wide.


I went out today to try and start removing the deck plank. I got two nails out at the end of the plank because the two nails happened to be raised a bit, so I could use the backside of a hammer. The other nails on this plank and on the front step are deeply embedded in the wood plank, and I can't get a grip on them with the hammer. I cannot access the deck or the front step from underneath.


How can I remove these planks and cause the least amount of damage to the wood. The termite guy said that they could drill through the wood and then plug it up, but in his experience that never really works well and removing and replacing the planks is a better choice. I appreciate your advice.

 

I know the plank is weathered like the rest of the deck, but removal may booger up the board. I would use a cats paw to remove the nails by driving it under the nail head and use something to pad it from marring the decking when you rotated it. You can replace the board with screws, so the next time it will be easier. Other than that, if you destroy the planks taking them up, you will need to replace them with new boards, which will weather in time, but probably never match perfectly. Being against the house may not look as bad as you would imagine. If you can't get under the deck, why do you have steps? Curious.

 

Hi: Thanks for the advice. The wood step and platform is in the front of the house, for the front door. The deck is connected to the house in the backyard.

 

Whether it's a step or deck plank, why not just insert a flat prybar (starting at the very end) between bearing members and step/planks, then drive it in with a hammer to a point where it can be levered vertically to raise the boards you want to remove?

 

I think he said access from under is limited, or non existent. But that is the way I'd go, too.

 

Doing what I suggested would not require any access from underneath. Just starting at one end (where the exposed end of the plank is located), working from there inward.

 

Hi. I just wanted to let you know that I was able to remove the plank for the back deck. I am holding off on removing the plank for the front step because I use that on a daily basis. Thank you for the tips and advice.