Finally tracked down why my top rail kept popping loose

Started by Sam Whitaker · · 3 replies
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#1
Small one but felt good. Had a section of top rail on the resin frame that kept walking itself loose every couple weeks, figured it was just kids hanging on the wall climbing out which, fair, they do that. Turned out one of the uprights had sunk about half an inch into the ground over by the low side of my deck and it was putting weird sideways pressure on the whole rail run. Dug it out, threw a paver under that leg, leveled it against its neighbors and the popping stopped completely. Three weeks now, nothing. Should've checked level on individual uprights instead of just eyeballing the whole ring when I set this thing up, buddy. Cheap fix, wish I'd known two summers ago.

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#2
Good catch, that half inch sinking into soft ground over time is something I'd never have thought to chase down as the source, I'd have just kept retightening the rail like an idiot. Mine's inground so no uprights to worry about but I had almost the same lesson with my deck, one corner post for the ladder settled a little over the first year and I didn't notice till the ladder started rocking side to side when my kid climbed it.

Funny how it's never the thing you think it is, you keep blaming the obvious stuff like kids or wind when it's actually the ground doing its own thing underneath. Glad the paver held, that's the kind of fix that feels too easy to actually work but apparently does.
#3
Had the same sinking act happen on mine, low side of my yard naturally settles every spring when the frost lets go, and I chased a wobbly top rail for most of a season before I got down on my knees with a level and checked each upright instead of just squinting at the whole ring like you said. Found two legs down almost an inch. Patio paver under each one, relevel, never had the issue again, going on four years now. Ground up here in Ohio just doesn't sit still, freeze thaw cycle works on it every year whether you want it to or not, so now it's part of my spring check before I even think about putting water back in her.
#4
No above ground experience here so take it for what it's worth, but Bill, when you say the low side settles every spring with the frost letting go, is that native soil or did you have fill brought in under the pad when you set it up originally. I only ask because on my vinyl inground the one spot that ever gave me trouble was over a patched area where the original excavation backfill never fully compacted, took two seasons to show itself. If yours is just the yard doing what it naturally does regardless of what's under there, that is a different animal than a fill problem that is still settling out.