I know this isn’t a handyman forum but I thought I’d drop this here to get some input from the more knowledgeable members. The stairs to my mother in laws deck have recently become quite springy. Crawled underneath the last time we were visiting to look and found this.
The landing is at the edge of the driveway which isn’t level so that doesn’t help, trex treads, and pvc risers. I’m muddling out a quick fix (read bandaid) that I can do on our next visit. The propper repair I imagine would be to pull the stairs off and reattach or rebuild them, but I’m no deck builder, and she won’t do anything till they fall apart. I’m thinking of adding a rim joist for them to butt against and that I can attach Simpson stringer connectors to.
I’ve seen that write up and that’s essentially what I would like to do, except from below existing structure instead of from scratch. I’m still learning, doing ride alongs to get licensed here in VA. I can tell when something isn’t right (as in this case). If I were writing it up in a report I would say something to the effect of: the stairs are not stable or properly constructed, recommend correction by a qualified Deck contractor.
I think decks might be one of the most common places to find structure type issues. They are frequently built or modified by drinking buddies or cheapest bid contractors. Or not constructed to current standards. In this case all I really need to know it’s that there is noticeable bounce too call it out for an expert. I wouldn’t want to hang my name on recommending the specific details or plans for repair.
