Checking the Support Beams for Deck Care & Maintenance

"Hi this is Drew Finn for expertvillage.com we are going to talk about cleaning and maintaining a deck. This video is presented by Black Dog Video and you can visit us on the web on blackdogvideo.biz. When we are checking underneath we want to make sure the columns are vertical. That the main beam is straight that it has not kicked out one way or the other and the all the columns line up. You would look down on the line of the columns and see that they are straight. Sometimes you would find that the bottoms are kicked out because the concrete has been pushed out by the frost. Particularly on a hill in hilly area. This are the beams you want to make sure that they are vertical and that they are in a line. By lining up the three you can tell if one have got kicked out more than the other and also the support beam is straight. So we got vertical columns and the support beam being straight and level too. That one has not come over. It is also good to tap on them cause sometimes what you'll find is one of these columns may have sunk and it is not bearing the load anymore. A lot of time you would see but sometimes you can't so it is good to tap on the top maybe even kick the bottom but make sure the beam is under load. That is under load; you can hear it. So that tells you this set of beams are okay. If the whole beams is like this way or the columns are bent this way it could be that the deck is moving away from the house which will be obviously a critical problem with the deck."