TL;DR - Decking lumber sat in garage about a month and then out on deck for a few weeks before being installed. I still installed them very close because I didn’t want large gaps once they shrink down to size. Now I’m worried I should have left larger gaps since they had already partially dried. Help!This summer I started restoring our ~350 sq ft deck. I decided to remove all the decking, which was 2x4 boards with huge gaps between each. This part of the project took a while because I was saving each board and removing all the nails to reuse them for garden carpentry type of jobs. I also did the same for the railings. The frame was in good enough shape to use again. Came to be that the joists were around 30” apart so I needed to put them in between.I ordered my lumber, pressure treated pine, and had it all delivered at the beginning of August. I installed the joists and used a stain and sealer on the parts I was keeping after sanding and power washing. By the time I was ready to lay decking my job as a teacher had started again as well as grad school.By the time I got to start installing the decking last week, some boards had been out on the deck waiting to be installed for a couple weeks. I installed them close (about 1/16”), but some touch in areas. I’m afraid I won’t get a big enough gap now. I’ve read about wood being so wet it’s oozing when you put a screw in it. That wasn’t the case for me. I’m about half way done and am looking for advice before I start the half that requires cuts to fit around posts and the house. Should I go back and give them more space? Like 1/8”? Or am I good and they will still shrink enough to give me the gaps I want? We hated the huge gaps in the original deck and wanted to avoid that. EDIT: I live in Pennsylvania. It was a usual humid and hot end of summer. Now the temps and humidity are quickly dropping since its fall.Thanks in advance for your advice! via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2LMF7rj
