Deck Care Plan
The Deck Care Plan is a recurring residential program for the wood and composite decks that lose a screw, a board, or a hardware bracket every wet Pacific Northwest winter — spring inspection visit (board-by-board screwdown check, joist-hanger visual underneath where access allows, post-base inspection on the deck rail, hardware refresh on loose railing brackets and gate latches), summer wash, and an end-of-season stain or seal coat applied when the weather window holds (late July through mid-September in the Seattle area when daytime temperatures stay between 50 and 90 degrees with a 48-hour dry window on each side). From $500 for the inspection and screwdown alone up to $1,300 for a wrap-around or larger deck with the stain coat included. Cedar, pressure-treated pine, and composite decks covered; painted decks and structural-frame repair route to a licensed Washington L&I contractor.
Service
How the Deck Care Plan Works
Five sequential steps from the spring inspection through the end-of-season stain coat — the actual sequence we follow on every Handis Deck Care plan year.
Spring Inspection & Board-by-Board Screwdown
Late April through May after the heavy spring rains taper. Every deck board gets walked and tested for spring; loose screws are re-set with a cordless impact driver, stripped holes are re-drilled and re-fastened with the next size up of stainless or coated deck screw, and any board with active rot at the screw point is flagged for replacement.
Joist-Hanger & Post-Base Visual Underneath
Where access allows (deck on piers, exposed deck under a back stair, deck with an openable lattice), the structure gets a flashlight-and-moisture-meter walk underneath. Joist hangers checked for rust-through and wrong fastener type (drywall screws never on a hanger — galvanized hanger nails or structural screws only). Anything structural routes to a licensed contractor.
Hardware Refresh on Rails, Gates, and Stair Handrails
Loose railing brackets, a gate latch that no longer holds, a hinge that has dropped and drags, a stair handrail that wobbles — all closed during the spring visit with new fasteners into solid wood, replacement hardware where the old part is past its life, and a re-shim of the gate where the post has moved with seasonal swelling.
Summer Wash — PSI Matched to the Deck Material
Mid-summer wash visit before any stain coat. Cedar and pressure-treated pine clean at 500 to 1,500 PSI with a 40-degree nozzle and a wider stand-off — higher gouges the wood and raises the grain. Composite cleans at 1,500 to 2,500 PSI with the cleaning solution doing the work. We never pressure-wash painted decks; pressure strips paint.
End-of-Season Stain Coat — When the Weather Window Holds
Late July through mid-September when daytime temperatures stay between 50 and 90 degrees with a 48-hour dry window on each side. Semi-transparent or solid stain (Cabot, Penofin, Behr Premium Solid) applied with a brush and back-rolled into the grain. We check the 7-day forecast before the visit and reschedule into the next dry window if rain threatens the cure.
Deck Care Plan Pricing
Final pricing depends on deck size (square footage including stairs and rails), material (cedar, pressure-treated pine, composite), whether the structure underneath is accessible for the joist-hanger visual, hardware refresh scope, and whether the plan includes the end-of-season stain coat. Members pay member labor rate on add-on board replacement caught during the inspection. Request a free estimate for an accurate annual quote.
Tell us the deck size, material, and whether you want the stain coat — we will quote the year.
Why Handis for the Deck Care Plan
Most deck failures we get called for trace to the same three issues — screws that backed out over a wet winter and were never re-set, a joist hanger underneath that had a drywall screw instead of a galvanized hanger nail and finally failed, and a stain coat applied during a humid week that never properly cured and started peeling six months later. After a few thousand deck visits across cedar, pressure-treated pine, and composite surfaces in the Seattle area, every one of those failures has a fix in the truck or a clear handoff to a licensed contractor when it crosses out of the handyman trade. The Deck Care Plan is the schedule that catches them in spring instead of the following winter.
Estimate
Tell us the deck size in square feet (including stairs and rail spindles), the deck material (cedar, pressure-treated pine, composite Trex/TimberTech/Azek, or painted), whether the structure underneath is accessible for the joist-hanger visual, the existing finish if any, and whether you want the end-of-season stain coat included. We will send back a clear annual estimate with the visit calendar.
Customer Reviews
Recent Deck Care Plan reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
Wrap-around cedar deck on a 1990s house. Spring inspection caught two boards that had pulled at the south rail and three loose joist hangers underneath. The tech replaced the boards, sistered the bad joist hangers with structural screws, and re-shimmed the back gate that had dropped a half-inch over winter. End-of-season stain coat went on the last weekend of August during a clean dry window. Stain has held a year on the high-sun side without fading.
Composite Trex deck off the kitchen, four years old. Tech told me on the booking call composite does not take stain so the plan would be inspection plus screwdown plus the summer wash only. Wash visit used cleaning solution rather than raw pressure — said pressure alone leaves residue on composite — and the boards came back to that flat-matte finish like new. Plan stayed honest about scope; nothing upsold.
Pressure-treated pine deck off the back, heavily weathered and silvered. Tech walked me through the choice between semi-transparent (would not hide the silvering) and a solid-color stain (would). We picked the solid coat, summer wash a week before to get the surface clean, stain went on Labor Day weekend during a dry stretch. Looks like new lumber. He scheduled the late July wash visit and the stain visit on a forecast that held both ways.
Spring inspection on a 12-year-old cedar deck. Tech walked every board, re-set probably forty loose screws, swapped four boards where the rot had set in at the screw point, and refreshed the loose handrail brackets on both stair runs. Underneath he found two joist hangers with old drywall screws that had failed in shear — flagged those, took photos, recommended a deck contractor for the structural fix. Saved us a separate diagnosis call.
Booked the plan because the gate to the back yard had not closed properly in two years and the deck was eating screws every fall. Tech re-shimmed the gate where the post had moved, swapped the latch and hinges for stainless, did the full board screwdown, and put down a semi-transparent stain coat in late August. Gate closes one-handed and the deck has not lost a screw all winter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the Deck Care Plan — pricing, scope, stain weather windows, deck materials covered, and what routes to a contractor.