Easily Demo Your Deck Before Replacing It With A Simple Amazon Tool

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Decks can last a long time. However, at some point, they can deteriorate, as the average lifespan of a wood deck is about 10 to 20 years with proper care. Sometimes, doing a demo before rebuilding is the best option, which can be an expensive and heartbreaking process. Unfortunately, it's physically demanding as well. Even when using crowbars and hammers to get the job done, it takes a lot of time, leaves you feeling sore, and you're likely to damage the wood you were hoping to save. Thankfully, there are specialized tools like the Original Deck Board Removal Tool by Duckbill Deck Wrecker that make taking off the top boards of your deck much easier. Whether you need to demolish the entire deck, or just the top layer, this will help you save any usable wood and make the entire process easier. 

It is essentially two steel pry bars at the end of a long fiberglass handle. This design allows you to get better leverage to reduce strain on your body, even after hours of work. The bars are spaced far enough apart that they can fit around the joists to haul up planks. This placement is also ideal for getting leverage against even the most stubborn pieces of wood. "Was on my hands and knees removing screws and nails to get the boards up. Terrible on my back. This tool let me remove 10 boards in 25 minutes. Amazing. So glad I made the purchase," said a five-star review on Amazon.

To use this tool, you line up the opening between the two bars so they are on opposite sides of a joist,and pry up the boards. However, while it's simple in theory, you need to make sure you're doing it right, so that you don't risk causing unnecessary damage to the wood or yourself. "This item was not usable by me. I saw other reviews about how light it was, and how useful, but when I got mine, I could not separate a single board with it. It immediately started to crack the wood and does not move with the board so there is no support for the boards," said a one-star review on Amazon.

For this Deck Wrecker, you want to place the space between the two pry bars on top of a joist. Then, push down on the handle slowly and evenly to loosen the board. Depending on how long they are, you may have to repeat this a few times on different joists. If you are forcing it too much, or an uneven amount of pressure, it could cause the wood to splinter and break.  Even if you are completely demoing the deck and starting over from scratch, having whole boards and solid pieces is never a bad thing. There are plenty of smart ways to repurpose leftover decking materials at home. It also just makes less work for you.

Some decks are just stubborn and may need extra work to remove the boards cleanly. One review for this Deck Wrecker does mention that, to make the process easier for you, it may be worth also bringing along a crowbar and a screwdriver if your boards are screwed instead of nailed in. Remove the first board in the row with the crowbar to give you more leverage when using this tool. While the rotating head does help it to get into position better, having a board's worth of extra space makes the starting point even easier, as you have the joist to use as leverage.

As for the screwdriver, it's a good idea to try to at least loosen the planks first if you can. This tool should be able to remove even screwed-in boards. However, a particularly stubborn or weak board may simply shatter, or shear off the screwheads as you pull it up, leaving you with the additional struggle of figuring out how to take out those down the line. Also, whether you are demoing inside or out, you want to follow one of the tips from Erin and Ben Napier: wear full protective gear during the process. Though it seems unnecessary, a splinter of wood or metal can cause serious pain and even permanent damage if you aren't careful.