Few things add as much value to a home – monetarily as well as quality-of-life upgrade – as a brand-new deck. But the last thing you want to do is compromise the safety of your home with a new deck that covers other core structural components.
That’s a nightmare you run into if your deck covers up weep holes. We pulls are strategically located to allow moisture to safely drain out of your exterior walls, and if they become blocked or obstructed you can cause some serious water retention problems. Do not block them.
Below we get into the ins and outs of why weep holes are so important and why you need to be sure that your deck isn’t ever designed to block them up.
Can a Deck Cover Weep Holes?
Absolutely not!
Far too often (especially when a homeowner decides to DIY a deck project without a lot of experience) we see beautiful new decks go up on a property, only to be torn down in a year or two – maybe even sooner – because of all the problems they have unintentionally been creating for the house.
Weep whole blockage is just one of those major issues!
Now, it’s important to understand that not every single home on the planet is going to have to worry about weep holes in the first place. Some homes are designed to allow moisture to permeate the exterior “envelope” of a home without needing these kinds of openings – but it’s still something to look into all the same.
If these holes become obstructed you’re going to notice an almost immediate uptick in humidity in your home. There also going to notice mold and mildew smells and may even have to worry about water building up and pushing out into the interior of your home simply because there’s nowhere else for it to go.
Unless you’re looking to deal with that kind of nightmare (almost always inexpensive fix to remedy) it’s a much better idea to avoid the problem altogether.
Just make sure that your deck is built without obstructing these core components and you’ll be good to go!
Weep Hole 101
The whole concept of a “weep hole” – whether it’s built into your foundation, your windows, or somewhere else – is to give water a space to escape without allowing water to get into your home.
The exterior of a building is often called the outer envelope by construction professionals, architects, and the like. The envelope is designed to keep the outside out and the inside in.
At the same time, a perfectly sealed “envelope” is a nightmare to contend with.
Moisture builds up inside the home, has nowhere to escape, and then inevitably turns back into water and damages pretty much everything it touches. And there aren’t enough dehumidifiers on the planet to avoid this from becoming a problem with perfectly sealed up properties.
Thankfully, though, weep holes act as tiny little perforations in the outer envelope of all to allow that moisture to escape and to guarantee that any excess water trapped inside does have a way to get out without causing a lot of damage.
Of course, if a piece of deck framing (or anything else, for that matter) gets in the way of that opening you inevitably plug it up and all that water has to find another way out.
That’s when things can go a little sideways.
Excess Moisture is a Huge Problem
There are all kinds of problems that can bubble up when these weep holes have been obstructed, including (but not limited to):
Difficulty regulating temperatures inside your home without spending a small fortune
Humidity issues in the home that just won’t dissipate
Mold and mildew growing inside of your walls (and then maybe elsewhere)
Water damage destroying core components of your property, including structural elements and beloved possessions
… And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
On top of all that, it’s not at all uncommon for the water that wants to come out of those weep holes to start wrecking the structural components of your deck as well.
Those areas that come in contact are going to be soaked and saturated with water (almost on a 24/7 basis), and it’s not going to take very long for the water to win.
All of these components are prone to failure with long-term water exposure, and it might not be all that long until you start to see buckling, you start to see warping and twisting, and you may even start to see obvious signs of rot and degradation.
Luckily, a lot of this can be avoided just by making sure that your deck framing components aren’t ever put in front of or on top of weep holes in the first place.
Closing Thoughts
When you get right down to it, there are quite a few things you have to think about when building your deck. Making sure that you’re not obstructing key structural elements in your home (like weep holes) is a huge piece of the puzzle.
Before you start to build your deck make sure that you go over the entire exterior space that will be covered up with deck framing and deck boards.
Mark out weep holes, try and design your framing around those key components wherever possible, and think about opening up new weep holes if you absolutely must go over them with the deck itself.
At the end of the day, it’s critical that you make sure that these tiny little holes (holes that don’t look all that important in the grand scheme of things, really) are free and unobstructed by the new deck that you are building.
The second that they get obstructed and gummed up is the second that your home starts to be threatened by significant and sometimes severe water damage issues.
Water damage (as well as the mold and mildew problem that results from water damage) is always a headache and hassle to clear up. It cost a small fortune, too.
Avoid that altogether by paying attention to weep hole positions and leaving them wide open.
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