Written report with photos Pre-purchase assessments Structure, not cosmetics

Deck Inspection in Ottawa

Deck Builders Experts inspects decks across Ottawa and hands you a written structural assessment rather than a verbal opinion at the back door.

We look at the things that actually fail: the ledger and its flashing, the footings, the post bases, the hangers and the guard. You get a report with photographs that says what is sound, what needs attention now, and what can wait a season. If you are buying a house with a deck on it, that report is worth having before you close.

Ledger, flashing and fasteners checked

Guard height and opening spacing measured

Findings ranked now, this season, monitor

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Tell us the deck's age and whether you own the house yet.

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Where decks actually fail

The Ledger Is the Deck Connection That Decides Everything

A deck that pulls away from a house almost never fails in the middle. It fails where the ledger board meets the wall. That connection carries roughly half the deck’s load, and it has to be fastened into the house framing with the right hardware in the right pattern, then flashed so water runs out over the cladding instead of down behind the board. A ledger nailed rather than bolted, or lagged into sheathing instead of into the rim joist, is holding on by friction. A ledger with no flashing is rotting from the top down where nobody looks. We get a light in behind the board, check the fasteners and their spacing, and look for the dark staining on the joist ends that says water has been sitting there for years.

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The Deck Inspection Checks We Run, Point by Point

Every assessment covers the same list, working from the concrete up.

Footings and depth

Where footings can be seen or probed, we check that they go down rather than sitting on grade. In Ottawa and eastern Ontario footings are commonly taken to 1.5 m, deeper than the 1.2 m minimum common in southern Ontario, and a deck on shallow pads moves every spring.

Post bases and saddles

Posts belong on galvanized saddles that hold the end grain clear of standing water. A post set straight into concrete traps moisture and rots at grade, and you can often push a screwdriver into one. This is the thirty-second check any homeowner can do themselves.

Ledger board and flashing

Fastener type, fastener pattern, and whether flashing is actually directing water out over the cladding. We look at the joist ends closest to the house for staining and softness.

Hangers, fasteners and bearing

Joist hangers filled with the right fasteners rather than whatever was in the pouch, and beams bearing on top of posts rather than hanging off the side of them.

Guard height and opening spacing

Guards measure 1,070 mm, with 900 mm permitted while the walking surface is not more than 1.8 m above the finished ground, and no opening in a required guard may let a 100 mm sphere through. We measure rather than eyeball.

Stair geometry and handrails

Consistent rise and run through the flight, stringers bearing properly at both ends, and a graspable handrail on any exterior stair with more than three risers, mounted 865 mm to 965 mm above the nosing. A wide flat guard cap is rarely graspable enough to qualify as that handrail.

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Three Reasons Ottawa Homeowners Book a Deck Inspection

Nearly every inspection call we take is one of these.

Before you buy

A deck is the part of a house a general home inspection tends to cover lightly. A separate structural assessment before closing tells you whether you are buying a deck or a rebuild, with a number attached to it.

Something moved

Bounce underfoot, a rail that gives when you lean on it, a gap opening where the deck meets the house, or a post you can rock with your hand. Each of those has a specific cause and none of them improve on their own.

Before you spend

Worth doing ahead of a refinish, a railing upgrade or a resurface. Spending on the surface of a deck whose ledger or footings are failing is money you take straight back off in two years.

What you actually get

Your Deck Inspection Report, Ranked by Urgency

The report is the product. You get a written assessment with photographs, organised by what we found and what it means, and every finding lands in one of three buckets: address now, address this season, or monitor. That ranking is the useful part. A guard that passes the 100 mm sphere check but sits at 890 mm is a different conversation from a ledger with no flashing and rot in the rim. We put the measurements in, so if you take the report to another builder or to the City, everyone is working from numbers rather than adjectives. Where a fix falls inside what we do, we will quote it, and that quote is kept separate from the report so you are never paying for an assessment whose job is to sell you a rebuild.

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Our Process

What Happens on Inspection Day

1

You give us the history

Age of the deck, who built it, whether there was a permit, and what about it is bothering you now.

2

Top-side measure

Guard heights, opening spacing, stair rise and run, handrail height and grip, plus board and fastener condition across the surface.

3

Underneath, with a light

Ledger, flashing, hangers, beam bearing, post bases and footings, plus whatever the framing tells us about how the deck was put together.

4

Report in your inbox

Written findings with photographs, ranked now, this season or monitor, stated as measurements rather than impressions.

Deck Inspection Clients

Feedback shared directly with us by clients.

Excellent experience from the initial estimate to the final inspection. The builders paid close attention to every detail and kept us updated throughout the project. I would recommend them to other Ottawa homeowners.

Deck Builders Experts did an amazing job building our new backyard deck in Ottawa. The crew was professional, organized, and completed everything on schedule. The finished deck looks beautiful and feels very sturdy.

Our new deck has completely transformed our backyard. The workmanship is excellent, the railings look great, and the entire structure feels solid. Thank you for the professional service.

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Questions About Deck Assessments

How long does a deck inspection take?

Most residential decks take about an hour on site, longer if the deck is large, multi-level, or sits so low that getting underneath means working on your back. The written report follows afterwards rather than being handed over in the driveway, because measurements and photographs need writing up properly to be worth anything.

Is your report the same as a City of Ottawa inspection?

No, and the two should not be confused. Municipal inspections happen against an issued building permit, on work in progress, and only the City signs those off. Ours is an independent structural assessment of a deck that already exists. They serve different purposes and neither one substitutes for the other.

How can I check my ledger flashing myself?

Stand where the deck meets the house and look at the top edge of the ledger board. You want to see metal or membrane turning up behind the cladding and lapping out over the top of the board, so water running down the wall passes over the ledger rather than behind it. If bare wood meets siding with a bead of caulk as the only defence, that is a finding, and it is one of the most common things we write up.

Do I need a deck assessment every year?

No. A deck built properly and finished on schedule does not need annual paperwork. What it needs is a look after something changes: a heavy ice load, a tree limb coming down, a season where the ground moved noticeably, or the point where the deck passes fifteen years old and nobody has been underneath it. Book it when something happened, not on a calendar.

What if the report says the deck has to come down?

Then it says that, with photographs and the reasoning. We are not going to soften a finding because you would rather hear something else. What we can do is separate what must happen from what would be nice, because plenty of decks need the substructure rebuilt while the boards and railings are fine and worth keeping.

Can you assess a deck in the winter?

Snow on the boards hides most of what a surface check is looking for, and frozen ground makes probing a footing pointless. Underside work is still possible on a raised deck. If a deck feels unsafe right now, call and we will come look at it, but for planning purposes the useful window is once the deck is clear.