Repair deck or replace with patio

[Drew Morton]

I am in the process of rehabbing my house that I am currently living in to later rent long-term for top dollar in my area. All interior work has been completed and now I’m working on the exterior. The back deck is falling apart and was not built to code. One corner isn’t being supported properly and is sinking, the floor boards are separated way too far apart, joists/beams are rotting, and a few other issues. This said, it is about 3 feet off the ground and I haven’t personally felt unsafe on it but would have more of a concern if a large group was on it at one time, especially in the corner that isn’t supported properly.

From what I can tell I have 3 options:

#1:  Repair the deck.

#2:  Build a new deck.

#3:  Replace deck with a patio

With money being a constraint, but willing to pay what it will take for the best long-term fix, what option makes the most sense?

[Marcus Auerbach]

Concrete every time! Decks are a profit drain with annual maintenance and if you don't you'll have to replace sooner. So concrete for sure, even if you need a few wooden steps down to it. 

Literally made the same decision this week on one of our properties, we kept the deck as long as possible, squeezed a few years out of it with a couple hundred bucks for replacing some of the boards, but now really it's time to replace it and we are going with concrete.