Built a floating deck last spring, and by October two boards were already springy under my foot

Hugo Stone · 2026-09-14T21:30:03.036511+00:00

I put down composite boards over a frame with joists spaced 24 inches on center, thinking it would be fine since the boards felt stiff at the store. By fall, the two boards right where the grill sits were flexing bad, and when I pulled them up the joist spacing was the whole problem. Composite needs 16 inches on center or closer, and I learned that the hard way after wasting about $140 in boards and a full Saturday pulling them back up. I also had the wrong fasteners, the little hidden clips were letting the boards shift sideways in the heat. Has anyone run into this and just doubled up the joists instead of tearing the whole frame apart?

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Built a floating deck last spring, and by October two boards were already springy under my foot | Bad Build Review - Rigidtalk