My uncle told me to always use a 3/4 inch spacer for deck boards and I finally saw why after a job in Portland.

4 comments

4 Comments

Worked on a deck in Seattle last year. We used a 1/2 inch gap like I always did. By fall, the boards had swollen shut. Trapped water everywhere. Rot started in less than a year. Your uncle is right. That extra quarter inch makes all the difference with the wet weather up here.

james_bell2mo ago

Quarter inch is just wasted space.

gavin22816d ago

Yeah it's kind of like how people cheap out on gutters too. A little extra money upfront saves you from ripping the whole thing out later.

river9522mo ago

Yeah that "trapped water everywhere" line from @sanchez.mary is the whole story. Your uncle knows his stuff. That gap is cheap insurance.