Complain about a 7-year-old deck that is already rotting?

[BirgitS]

Is it the craftsman's fault that ts doesn't maintain their terrace? That should be understood. Quite obvious.

And how do you suggest that TS should have maintained their terrace over the past 7 years?

 

[Utsliten och utdömd]

Well, I don't think you can blame the OP. Just because you own a house doesn't make you a professional. If you can't or don't want to do something, you hire services, which cost quite a bit for someone else to do it right. You don't expect to pay for mistakes, and it's hard to know if you don't have the interest and/or aren't well-read.

However, I'm skeptical about listening to a carpenter on how to paint in general. Plastic paint works well outdoors when you paint one side of a board and let the other side ventilate any moisture. Completely sealing something with plastic paint is asking for rot, especially on a structure like a fence that often has corners and flat surfaces where water can accumulate.

 

[ToRy]

I think that if you hire a carpenter to build a deck railing, you should be able to assume that they know a bit more than just how to cut and attach the parts. The carpenter should definitely be aware of the risks—and the measures to reduce the risks—of using untreated wood outdoors. The fact that the carpenter responds to the question with "there's no time" is, in my opinion, remarkable.

An aspect that might not be entirely unimportant in the responsibility question is how the decision-making process regarding the use of untreated wood looked. Did the carpenter say something like "oh, it's no problem!" or was it TS who insisted on using untreated wood despite the carpenter's warnings that it will rot? Even if the latter scenario is the case and the carpenter eventually gave in, they should have informed TS about the importance of protecting the wood as much as possible.