Disassembling a Deck

Put on long pants, work boots, gloves and goggles to protect yourself from getting injured in the demolition process.

Remove the deck rails by pulling out the nails and untwisting the bolts and screws that hold the rails in place. Use a wrench or drill to do this. Once the fasteners are gone, knock the deck rails off the deck with a sledgehammer.

Remove the deck slats by prying them up with a crowbar. Work from the edges of the deck toward the house, removing one board at a time. Pull nails from the deck slats if you are reusing them, or, if you are throwing the boards away, bend the nails flat against the wood to prevent you from stepping on a nail and hurting yourself.

Remove the slats in the stairs using the same process you employed for removing the deck slats. This will leave just the bare bones of the deck.

Pull any nails that are poking up from the joists and beams with a pair of pliers. Throw the nails away immediately.

Detach the joists and supports from the house by removing the screws, bolts or nails holding them down. Immediately throw these fasteners away. Continue removing fasteners from the bones of the entire deck.

Disassemble the deck joists and supports with a crowbar, sledgehammer and straight bar, starting from the area that is closest to the house and working your way away from the house.

Rock the remaining posts back and forth in the ground. If the ground is hard, use a shovel to dig out each post. Pull the posts up and throw them away.