Joinery/decking question

[Dave Dempsey]

Ok, question for all you joiners etc. out there. We have some decking at the rear of the house which has not been maintained by the previous owner, now Ive started cleaning it up however one issue I do have (Ill use my rather pish artistic skills here):



Post B seems to have warped slightly away from post A, this has not been helped by the screw holding the two together having rusted and broken. Now in order to secure these two posts together again I was going to just screw them back together, however this will obviously leave a gap as post be is no longer straight. So what I did plan to do was to get a ratchet strap and ratchet the two posts together, however I dont want to cause damage to the post doing this. So the basic question is a) will this work & b) is it worth leaving the ratchet strap on for a few days to try and get the post back into shape or could I just put it on, fire some screws in and take it back off?

[BlackBox]

It will help a lot if you do this when the wood is wet, ie well into a rainy season in winter. Maybe use longer thicker screws and pull the wood together a bit at a time over a long period by tightening up the screws a little at a time.

[j17sparky]

If possible absolutely soak the wood - hosepipe left on for ages? And then bend it back into shape

[Turbodave]

Oh dear God...

So then Handy Andy, can I have the ST200 for a track car?

[Dave Dempsey]

Cheers for the replies, as for reply #4, I'll remind you that this current state of affairs is entirely your fault, thus stop complaining.