How much does Deck Repair cost in LA?

Single-board replacement: $80–$160

A single rotted, split, or cupped deck board replacement runs $80–$160 in LA. The price is mostly labor and trip — the board itself is $25–$50 in cedar or pressure-treated pine, $60–$100 in redwood, $70–$140 in composite (Trex, TimberTech) depending on the line. Labor is the cost of pulling the existing board, checking the joists underneath for rot or hardware corrosion, and screwing in the replacement with the right hardware to match the rest of the deck.

The lower end of the range is a single deck board on a flat ground-level deck where the joist underneath turns out to be sound. The higher end is a board that's stuck — original framing nails rusted in, neighboring boards swelling against it — or one that requires color or grain matching to look right next to the rest of the deck.

If you've got one bad board, you very often have three or four. Pros will check the surrounding boards and joists during the visit and quote any additional work before starting. It's usually faster and cheaper to replace 4 boards in one visit than 4 boards over 4 separate visits, so honest scope discussion up front matters.

Multi-board section: $200–$480

Replacing a section — typically 4 to 12 boards in one localized area where rot or impact damage has spread — runs $200–$480. This is the most common deck repair scope in LA right now because of the age cohort: a deck built in 1995 with the original boards is 30 years old this year, well past the typical 20–25 year lifespan of pressure-treated softwood in a humid microclimate.

What's usually happening at the multi-board level is that water has been getting between two adjacent boards and into the joist below for a few seasons. By the time the surface boards visibly fail, the joist underneath is often softening too. A proper repair pulls the bad boards, checks each joist with a screwdriver-poke test, sisters in new joist material if needed, replaces flashing if it's missing, and lays new boards with proper spacing and hardware.

Where this scope lives in price terms: if the joists are sound, you're in the $200–$320 range. If even one joist needs sistering, you're $320–$480. If two or more joists need full replacement, that's typically larger scope ($480+) and the pro will let you know mid-visit whether to expand the work that day or schedule a return.

Railing repair: $140–$280

Deck railing repair shows up in two flavors in LA. The first is the loose-post problem: a corner post or middle support post that wobbles when you lean on it, usually because the lag bolts attaching it to the rim joist have either rusted through or the wood around them has rotted. Tightening or replacing those bolts and reinforcing with a post-base bracket runs $140–$220.

The second is the rotted-cap-rail or rotted-baluster problem: the horizontal top rail and the vertical balusters take the most weather and start to soften, split, or pull apart. Replacing a section of cap rail and the balusters underneath in a 6–10 ft run is $180–$280. Both flavors are often paired with a railing tightening pass on the rest of the deck — no point fixing one corner if the others are about to fail too.

California building code requires a railing on any deck over 30 inches off the ground, with no opening larger than 4 inches between balusters and a top rail height of at least 36 inches (often 42 inches for newer permits). If the existing railing doesn't meet code and you're approaching a sale, the buyer's inspector will flag it. Pros will tell you when a repair is bringing the existing railing back to its original condition versus when a code-current rebuild is needed — not the same scope and not the same price.

Refinish and seal: $300–$700

Cleaning and resealing a wood deck is the single best maintenance investment for extending its life, and pricing in LA tracks deck size and the chemistry used:

• Small deck (under 200 sqft): $300–$420. Soft wash with a deck cleaner, brightener application, dry time, then one to two coats of penetrating stain-sealer (Penofin, TWP, Cabot Australian Timber Oil are the brands LA pros mention most).
• Medium deck (200–400 sqft): $420–$580. Same process, more square footage and usually more masking around planters and house siding.
• Large deck (400–600 sqft) or deck with railings, stairs, and pergola: $580–$700+. The vertical surfaces (railings, posts, pergola beams) take much longer per square foot than the deck floor.

Westside marine corrosion: a separate failure mode

Decks within a few miles of the coast — Santa Monica, Venice, Mar Vista, Playa del Rey, Manhattan Beach, Pacific Palisades — fail differently than inland LA decks. The wood itself often holds up fine, but the hardware corrodes from the inside out. Galvanized fasteners that should last 30 years go in 10–15 in marine air; standard steel joist hangers rust through and lose load-bearing capacity even when the wood around them looks acceptable.

If you're on the Westside and your deck is more than 15 years old, ask the pro to check hardware specifically — pulling a board near the house wall and inspecting the joist hangers, ledger bolts, and joist fasteners. The wood may look fine while the structure is quietly failing. Hardware-only replacement is $300–$600 depending on access, and it buys you another 10–15 years on otherwise sound framing.

Inland decks (Valley, Pasadena, the basin) don't have the marine corrosion problem in the same way, but they do have UV-driven surface degradation and seasonal humidity-cycling that opens checks and splits in the wood faster. Different failure mode, different repair priority — pros who know the geography will tell you which to look for.

Pre-listing repair vs full replacement

If you're approaching a home sale and the deck is showing its age, the question is whether to repair to acceptable condition or replace entirely. The right answer depends on the buyer pool and the deck's structural state:

Repair (typically $400–$1,500 total scope) is the right call when the framing is sound and the issues are cosmetic or surface-level — split boards, gray weathering, loose railing posts, a few rotten boards. A pre-listing tune-up plus a fresh stain dramatically improves the look without triggering buyer-side concerns. Most LA inspectors will note a deck that's been recently refinished and check structurally; if structure is good, the cosmetic refresh is enough.

Replacement (typically $8,000–$25,000+ for a 200–400 sqft deck depending on materials and complexity) is the right call when the framing is failing, the deck doesn't meet current railing code, or you're targeting a buyer pool that expects modern composite or low-maintenance materials. This is contractor scope, not handyman scope — but a Shatun Brothers handyman can do an honest pre-listing diagnostic and tell you which path makes sense before you commit to either.

Five rot-test cues you can run before booking

If you're not sure whether your deck is at the simple-repair stage or the framing-replacement stage, here are five quick checks you can do in 10 minutes that line up with what a pro would look for on a diagnostic visit:

• Screwdriver poke test: press a flat-head screwdriver into the underside of any joist you can reach (from below the deck). If it sinks more than a quarter inch with light pressure, that joist is rotted.
• Rail wobble test: grab the top rail at every post and push outward. Anything that moves more than half an inch at the top is either a loose post bolt (cheap fix) or a rotted rim joist (bigger fix).
• Board fastener check: look at every screw or nail head on the deck surface. Rust streaks, lifted heads, or missing fasteners suggest the deck has been wet-and-dry cycling for years — boards near those fasteners are usually next to fail.
• Ledger flashing check: where the deck meets the house, look for a metal flashing strip on top. No flashing means water has been running into the wall behind the deck for the entire life of the structure — that's a serious diagnosis worth a pro look.
• Stair stringer check: stairs from the deck to the ground take more rot than the deck itself because they sit closer to wet soil. If the stringers (the diagonal supports) look soft at the bottom, expect to replace those even if the deck above is fine.