Hi. We bought a house in Lake City with a big deck that the previous owner clearly built himself. It feels fine but I don't trust amateur work. It has no permit on record, which makes me even more nervous. How do you check if a DIY deck is safe?

Hi. DIY decks can be surprisingly solid or surprisingly scary. We had the same worry and asked GotRot to inspect during a Seattle Deck Repair consultation. They checked the ledger attachment to the house, joist hangers, footings and fasteners, all the stuff DIYers often get wrong. Ours had a poorly attached ledger, which they fixed. We also got the new work documented for future resale. Honestly, the ledger connection is the most important thing, a deck pulling away from the house is how collapses happen. Free estimates are available for eligible projects, so it's worth asking.