Fiberon for a deck

[SomeGuy]

To make a long story short, we got screwed by a contractor installing a deck in my back yard. We used a wood composite called fiberon for the decking itself. The two biggest problems that we can see right now with the deck is 1) The spacing on the supports is 18" center to center instead of 12 ( like the directions say) and 2) the board ends are all splitting, because the guy overtightened the fasteners and didn' tpre-drill. So, my questions are - Can I reuse the boards that do not appear too warped? What I was thinking was to pull them up, and cut the cracked ends of, and reuse them. That would save me some money, because quite a few of the baord still appear to be good. I'm planning on putting additional supports in the framework to meet the

12"...

[Art]

You might consider installing the planks diagnally. That might save more of them. But carefully read the installation instructions and make sure it is right this time around. The warped ones may be ok to use.

[RicodJour]

If the boards are face screwed, won't you have holes in the middle of nowhere when you relocate the joists onto 12" centers?

Since the existing joists are 18" OC you'll probably find it easiest to add one in between. 9" OC is ridiculously close, but it'll be the easiest thing to do. If you have access underneath, you won't have to pull up the deck boards. If you're lucky, and the split ends are all at the edge of the deck, you could add another doubled joist just inboard of the rim joist. Cut back the split ends and install a deck board running perpendicular to the existing deck boards. In furniture that would be called breadboarding - not sure if there's a term for it in decking. The width of the decking will determine the exact location of that doubled joist so that it picks up the cut ends and also supports the edge board.

R

[Mikepier]

I'm not sure if I understand your suggestion, but putting the planks at a diagonal, like a herringbone pattern, increases the span between the joists. You will no longer have 18" OC, but more like 24", and that might be too big of a span for the Fiberon.

[Art]

I was suggesting he might be able to save more of the planks by using them diagnally. But he has to fix the joists to manufacturer's specifications no matter which way he runs them.