Homeowners usually judge a deck by how the boards look. But boards are the cheapest part to replace. The framing, the footings and the ledger connection are what determine whether you are looking at a resurfacing job or a full tear-off.
Realistic lifespans in our climate
Maryland gives decks humid summers, freeze-thaw winters and enough rain to keep untreated wood damp. Under those conditions, a pressure-treated deck built to code and maintained typically lasts fifteen to twenty years. Composite surfaces on sound framing run twenty-five to thirty. Framing itself, if it was properly sized and kept dry, often outlives the first surface.
Decks built before modern flashing details are the ones that fail early — usually not because the wood rotted from above, but because water got behind the ledger board and into the house framing.
The ledger is the critical connection
The ledger board attaches your deck to the house. If it was nailed instead of through-bolted, or installed without flashing, water tracks behind it and rots both the ledger and the rim joist of the house. That is a structural problem and a house problem, not just a deck problem.
Check for staining, soft wood or gaps where the deck meets the siding. If you can push a screwdriver into the wood there, stop using the deck and get it looked at.
A five-minute inspection you can do yourself
Most serious deck problems are visible if you know where to look. Take a screwdriver and go underneath.
- Probe the ledger board and rim joist where the deck meets the house
- Probe joists near the ends and anywhere they sit on a beam
- Check posts at ground level — that is where rot starts
- Grab a railing post and push hard; movement means the connection has failed
- Look for rusted or missing joist hangers and lag bolts
- Check that stair stringers still bear fully on their landing
Resurface or replace?
If the framing probes solid, the footings are stable and the ledger is properly flashed, resurfacing is genuinely worth it. You get a new composite surface and new railing on a structure that has years left, at a fraction of a full rebuild.
If the ledger has failed, posts are rotting at grade, or the framing was undersized for its span, replacement is the correct call. Putting a thirty-year composite surface on a frame with five years left in it is money spent twice.