Arguably, one of the largest factors in building durability is water management. If you’re building a deck, don’t skip this step! We’re installing new boards on a rotted out cedar deck in the burbs. The pressure treated joists were in pretty decent shape, overall, but they were starting to rot out at the top but we wanted to protect the skeleton for as long as possible. Flashing the top of the joists protects them against premature rot and stagnant water.

There’s two main types of joist tape: butyl and acrylic. G-Tape is the most referenced brand. It’s an acrylic tape (similar to zip tape). We’re using butyl tape here, mainly because we had access to it. Our biggest problem with butyl tape is that it loses it’s stickiness pretty quickly and peels off vertical surfaces. We’re not too concerned in this application, though. G-Tape is a little more modern and probably a better all around product…

If you’re reading this far, we were a little concerned about the underside of the cedar boards potentially sitting in water. We treated them with a healthy dose of linseed oil. They’re pretty safe from UV degradation, so we should be okay for a while? Plus, the structure is much more costly to replace than the boards.

Here’s products we like!

Butyl Tape: [ Ссылка ]
Acrylic Tape: [ Ссылка ]
Concealed Fastener System: [ Ссылка ]

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