Saw a neighbor in Austin use a paint scraper to fix his deck boards and it blew my mind

I was walking my dog past this house a few weeks ago. The guy was working on his deck. He had a 4 inch putty knife, the kind you use for drywall. He was sliding it under the warped boards and lifting them just enough to drive a new screw in. I stopped and asked him about it. He said he'd been doing it for years, saves him from pulling up the whole board. I tried it on my own deck last weekend. Had a board that was cupped pretty bad. Used my own putty knife, lifted it maybe an eighth of an inch, and screwed it down flat. Worked perfect. No more tripping hazard. Has anyone else found a weird tool that works for a job it wasn't made for?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason28312d ago

Yeah, the car trim tool for outlet covers is such a good call, @cameron724. I use a plastic spackle knife for the same thing, it's basically the same idea. My weird one is using a butter knife to pop the little plastic clips that hold car interior panels on. The rounded tip is perfect and doesn't break them like a screwdriver would.

cameron72412d ago

Oh man, that's brilliant! I've totally used a flat pry bar for the same thing, but a putty knife is even smarter for getting into that tiny gap. My weird one is using a car trim removal tool for popping off outlet covers and light switch plates. The plastic ones are perfect for it, no more scratched up paint from a screwdriver tip. It just slides right in and pops the cover off clean.