Timber is not everlasting

A springiness in some of the deck boards led Mike to unscrew them - not an easy task, as they've been down for nine years and varnished over a couple of times - to check the supports. Water damage was evident in some of the supports; some rotten timber could be dug out, and the resulting holes stabilised and refilled, but some was so extensive that the best solution was to replace the supports completely - these were in the area which gets most traffic, directly outside the French windows. We couldn't find treated timber of the right dimensions, so untreated timber was bought and given two coats of "lasure". This was given plenty of time to dry out, and then installed in place of the 3 worst beams.

Now that the boards have been replaced - and re-fixed using longer screws - the deck feels very secure again.