Deck Repair in Kent, WA
Soft boards, a rail that moves, stairs that bounce, a joist that has gone punky at the house wall. What each one costs to fix here and how to tell which repairs are worth making.
What Deck Repairs Cost in Kent
Most repair calls in Kent start with one soft board found on the first dry weekend in April, and the useful question is what is under it.
Deck repair in the Kent area typically costs $1,300 to $5,200: a few boards about $300 to $800, a joist or beam $500 to $2,500, a ledger $800 to $3,000 or more. Repair when the frame is sound; once rot reaches the joists or ledger, price a replacement instead.
Those figures come from a Seattle builder's published repair schedule for the 2026 season, and south King County quotes tend to land inside them. The cost of any single repair matters less than what the inspection turns up: a deck with one bad board and a dry frame is a small job, and a deck with one bad board and a wet frame is the first of many. A builder who gets under the deck with a flashlight and an awl before quoting is doing the part that matters.
The Repairs That Come Up Most
Soft or split decking
Individual boards go first where water lands hardest: under the eave drip line, at the bottom stair, and against the house. Replacing a handful is a half-day job. If the new boards are cedar on a cedar deck they will not match for a year; if the whole surface is grey and checked, resurfacing the deck on its existing frame at about $20 to $50 per square foot is often the better spend.
A guard that moves
Guard posts on older Kent decks were often notched and nailed to the rim, and the notch is where they rot and loosen. A guard has to resist 200 pounds at the top rail, so a post that moves an inch when leaned on is a safety failure. The fix is a new post through-bolted to the frame with a tension tie, and it usually runs a few hundred dollars per post.
Stairs
Stringers sitting on a paver or on soil wick water into the end grain and rot from the bottom. A new stringer set, on a footing with a bracket to keep it off the ground, runs from a few hundred dollars for a short run to more for a long flight with a landing.
Joists, beams, and the ledger
A single rotted joist can be sistered. A ledger that is soft, or a rim joist behind it that has gone, is the expensive one, because the siding comes off and the house wall gets repaired before the deck can be reattached with flashing and the hold-downs the state code requires. At $800 to $3,000 and up, a ledger repair on an old deck is the point where most owners ask for a replacement quote alongside it.
Checking a Kent Deck From Underneath
Rot in this climate starts on the underside of boards, in end grain, and wherever water pools, so the top of the deck is the last place it shows. A ten-minute check with an awl or a screwdriver each spring finds it early:
- The ledger and the rim behind it. Probe along the top edge where it meets the siding. Any give, or staining running down the house wall, means water has been getting in.
- Joist tops. Push the awl into the top edge of each joist where a screw goes through. A dry joist resists; a wet one takes the point half an inch.
- Post bases. Probe the bottom two inches of each post, and note whether it sits in soil, in concrete, or on a metal base above the concrete.
- Stair stringers. The bottom end, where it meets whatever it rests on.
- Hardware. Rust streaks below joist hangers or bolts mean the fasteners are giving up before the wood does.