DIY Deck Demo Tips & Back Patio Renovation Plan

Sharing all of our tips & tricks for diy deck demo on a budget, saving money by doing it yourself including what tools we used to get out stripped screws & composite deck boards.

We have a raised deck off of our family room that we almost never use.

Although the deck looked nice, it was awkward to get to, had almost no shade & much of it was taken over by our hot tub. 

Because our backyard patio that connects with our side & backyards it was important to us to find a way that we could use & love this outdoor space. 

Our plan for this backyard space is deck demo & build a sunken patio space instead.

DIY Deck Demo Tips & Back Patio Renovation Plan

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The Deck Before

Our Plan to Create a Sunken Patio for the Backyard

Deck Demo

Build a Wood Retaining Wall around the Sunken Backyard Patio

Move the Hot Tub with just 2 People

Build a Reclaimed Brick Patio

Build a Flagstone Patio Walkway in Front of the Family Room Sliding Doors

Landscape around Sunken Patio

Build a Wooden Arbor for the Backyard Patio Entrance

Before we started our deck demo, we first needed to add a fence & stone walkway along the back of our farmhouse.

Once those big DIY projects were over we started demoing the raised deck.

Deck Demo Tips

Over the years some of the wood had started to rot & a groundhog had made a home under our deck. 

It was not easy taking this deck down.

Unscrewing Exterior Nails

We first started by unscrewing the exterior screws holding in the composite boards with our cordless drill.

Using a Hammer & Crowbar for the Boards that were Stripped

Unfortunately, Most of the screws holding down the boards of the deck were stripped & we had to prey most of the deck floor up with a hammer & crowbar.

Thankfully we had lots of little helpers for this job!

Here they are hammering down the exterior screws so no one would get hurt stacking the composite deck boards.

We saved the composite deck floor boards for a future project we have planned.

After the composite boards were off, we used a sledgehammer to knock down all the pressure treated boards for the deck frame & steps.

Overall, deck demo took a lot longer than we imagined it would but we saved a ton of money doing it ourselves & we will use most of the wood & composite deck boards in future DIY projects.

Saving the Reclaimed Brick for a Brick Patio

We were very excited to find the original brick patio under the deck & plan on saving the brick to reuse for our sunken patio.

Digging out a Space for the Hot Tub to Go

The next thing we did was dig an 8 foot by 8 foot hole to place our hot tub.

Our family loves our hot tub.

Call me crazy but…we would rather not have it be the first thing you see when you come out of the family room.

Moving it to the side of the patio provides a much larger space to entertain.

I can not wait to be done this giant DIY project & start enjoying this backyard patio. 

Backyard Sunken Patio Reveal (HERE)

We FINALLY completely our Backyard Patio! I hope you will stop by & check it out.

I hope this inspires you & answers your questions about doing deck demo yourself!

by Tara Lehman

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