Attached Deck Removal in Boise: What About the Siding?
Pulling a deck off your house exposes the wall behind it. Here's what Boise homeowners find under the ledger board, what it costs, and how to close it up.
When a deck has gone spongy, most people focus on the decking. But the better question is about the wall behind it, and it's exactly the right question to ask before any attached deck removal.
"When you pull that off, what's under there?"
Honest answer: nobody knows until it's off. The deck is the easy part. What's behind the ledger board is where these jobs get interesting, and it's the piece most people don't think about until the crew is already swinging.
Why the wall matters more than the deck
A deck attached to your house is bolted to a long horizontal board called the ledger. That ledger is lagged through your siding and into the rim joist of the house itself.
So for as long as that deck has been up, there's been a seam sitting right where water likes to run.
If whoever built it flashed that seam correctly, you'll pull the deck off and find dry, boring sheathing. That's the good outcome, and it's pretty common on newer builds around Meridian and northwest Boise.
If they skipped the flashing, and on plenty of older homes on the Boise Bench they did, you're going to find dark, soft OSB or plywood. Sometimes it's a spot the size of a dinner plate. Sometimes you can push a screwdriver straight through a whole section of wall.
Neither one is a disaster. But one costs a lot more to close up than the other, and you'd rather know that before the deck is sitting in a pile in the yard.
Heads up: If you're planning to sell, pull the deck before you list, not after an inspector flags it. Rot found before you list gives you time to fix it on your own terms. The same rot found during an inspection window can turn into a price concession, and how big depends on how much damage the inspector finds.
What attached deck removal actually involves
Here's the order it usually goes, whether we're doing it or you're spending a Saturday on it yourself.
Railings first. Then decking boards, then joists, then beams and posts. The ledger comes off last, because until that point it's still carrying a surprising amount of weight.
Once the ledger is unbolted and pulled, you've got a raw stripe across the back of your house. It runs as long and as tall as the ledger did, with a row of bolt holes running into your framing.
That stripe has to get closed up. Not eventually. Before the next real rain. Which means:
- Bolt holes sealed with exterior-grade sealant, not left open
- Soft or blackened sheathing cut out and replaced with new material
- House wrap patched and lapped so water sheds down and out instead of behind it
- Siding pieced in to match, or the whole run replaced if the match is hopeless
- Paint or stain on anything raw, because Idaho sun chews up bare wood fast
We handle the demo, the haul-off, and getting that wall sealed and weather-tight. Matching 30-year-old cedar lap siding is a siding contractor's job, and we'll say so instead of pretending otherwise. Our [deck removal service](/demolition/deck-removal) is about getting the structure gone and the wall protected, not repainting your house.
What attached deck removal costs when siding is involved
What pushes the cost up or down:
| Part of the job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Deck removal and haul-off (10x12 to 16x20) | $700 – $2,400 |
| Sealing bolt holes, wrap patch, weather-tight | usually included |
| Replacing rotted sheathing | $150 – $600 |
| Siding match and install (separate contractor) | $300 – $1,200 |
The spread on siding is wide for a reason. Vinyl and fiber cement are usually easy to source. Older stained cedar or T1-11 is a coin flip: sometimes you find a close match at a Boise lumberyard, sometimes you end up redoing the whole wall section so it doesn't look patched.
Second-story decks run higher too. More height, more staging, and the debris has to come down instead of getting dragged straight to the truck.
Where all that material ends up
Most deck framing is pressure-treated, and treated lumber has rules. You can't burn it, and it doesn't go into wood recycling.
It goes to the Ada County Landfill out on Seaman's Gulch, or Pickles Butte if the job's down in Nampa or Caldwell. Metal railings, brackets, and joist hangers get pulled off and run over to Western Recycling. Composite decking is landfill material too. Nobody in the valley takes it back.
If there's anything worth saving, like a solid gate or dry lumber from under a covered section, we'll set it aside. Idaho Youth Ranch won't take construction material, but neighbors and Facebook groups will take clean 2x6s all day.
Should you just repair it instead?
Sometimes, yeah. If the ledger is solid and only the walking surface is shot, you're looking at a resurface, and that's a very different budget. We broke that call down in [Deck Demolition vs. Repair](/blog/deck-demolition-vs-deck-repair).
Wondering whether the city needs to be involved? Depends on size, height, and whether you're rebuilding. Details are in [Deck Removal Permits in Boise](/blog/deck-removal-permits-boise).
What's not worth doing is leaving a failing attached deck up because you're nervous about what's behind it. If water's getting in, it's already getting in. The deck is just hiding it.
Bottom line
With an attached deck, you're not only removing a deck. You're opening a wall. Plan for it, set aside some money for sheathing and siding, and get everything buttoned up as soon as the deck comes down.
Want a real number instead of a guess? Send over a couple photos of the deck and where it meets the house, or call us at (208) 593-2877. We do [deck removal all over the Treasure Valley](/demolition/deck-removal), and we'll tell you if the honest answer is that you don't need us yet.
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