Straightening bowed deck boards is a routine part of deck construction. Set the board, bow in, and nail one end. As you work your way down, drive a chisel into the joist and lever the board toward you ...

In fact, for this kind of construction it’s best to over-build the deck. For example, I constructed each beam from 2-by-10 boards laminated together to form a big, brawny 4-by-10. And ...