Not a great thing to wake up to this morning...

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by MeredithMan

I'm guessing that pine needles and other debris from the last 14 years blocked whatever drainage it was supposed to have and the water built up and it gave way.

Unfortunately the practicality of putting in esthetic features, is often not good. you have to have a way to get that debris out, or the result is as you have experienced..... Hopefully the frame of the deck is still solid.... a few punky boards on top are easy to replace... if you went the "roof" for the deck below, just incorporate a way to pressure wash the debris out occasionally....

[MeredithMan]

Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin

Unfortunately the practicality of putting in esthetic features, is often not good. you have to have a way to get that debris out, or the result is as you have experienced..... Hopefully the frame of the deck is still solid.... a few punky boards on top are easy to replace... if you went the "roof" for the deck below, just incorporate a way to pressure wash the debris out occasionally....

So I made the mistake of telling my brother who knows everything, (just ask him), and got the earful of, "...that's what you get for having a finished look that is nice to look at. My deck that's open underneath will never have that problem...blah, blah, blah... )

[Charlie T]

Originally Posted by MeredithMan

So I made the mistake of telling my brother who knows everything, (just ask him), and got the earful of, "...that's what you get for having a finished look that is nice to look at. My deck that's open underneath will never have that problem...blah, blah, blah... )

As much as you don't want to hear it, your brother is probably correct. Unless you have a waterproof membrane under the deck above, water is going to collect on the ceiling below. Eventually that is going to rot and you can see the results today.

[John Mercier]

''Nail Pop" occurs on both sides of a deck. The expansion/contracting of the wood wicking moisture and then drying out loosens the fastener and allows for a small amount of rot around it.

If the panels are still good... you can check the level of rot... clean it up... add joist tape and reinstall the panels, but with screws that are larger than the current fasteners. Most likely replace the purlins and wrap those with the tape before securing.

The top decking can be fixed by a mixture of either deck grates or just replacing a few boards that take the pounding from drip off the roof.
(obviously joist tape what you can under those also).

Time and Mother Nature will rip down any structure.

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by MeredithMan

So I made the mistake of telling my brother who knows everything, (just ask him), and got the earful of, "...that's what you get for having a finished look that is nice to look at. My deck that's open underneath will never have that problem...blah, blah, blah... )

Nothing wrong with the finished look, unfortunately most builders, and consumers don't think it all the way through..... It doesn't take much pitch to get the water to run off, unfortunately all the "stuff" following through the cracks of the deck above are a different story... It should be easy enough to create some access points, that would allow you to put a pressure washer nozzle through and remove the "Stuff" with some pressure once every couple of years...

[John Mercier]

I don't think a hose or pressure washer would work.
The attachment to the purlins limits the gap created for the run-off of water and debris.

If you look at a system, like the Trex RainEscape, it creates a large gutter that has an opening deep enough so that all the debris flows freely to the catch basins, and the catch basins are big so less chance of clogging.

Just rather expensive.