Oh sorry for being misleading. It’s a welded steel frame with 2x6s laid over them to give area to screw to when laying the decking. All the decking ends overlap steel crossbars and tie into the underlying 2x6. (Edit- I assume it’s a standard way of building them because all of the neighbor docks are the same).

So it’s structurally sound, but the boards underneath are the first to rot (due to the lateral surface area available to hold moisture). Followed by the decking board ends where they’re in contact with the underlying wood.

Re: your last statement, that’s what I was curious about too.

Thanks for the reply. The dock decking is mostly covered by a tin roof, but the dock perimeter and ~40 feet of catwalk from the shore is not.

The house was built in the 50s and this will be only the third time we replace the decking, but I’m not shy about incorporating new best practices.

The way the decking is built, the joists (?) underneath are laid horizontally (2x6s, 6 side up) for attaching the deck to, so there is quite a bit of lateral surface to collect water. So we do have some issues with it rotting out where we screw in the decking. While the exposed decking suffers the most from 24/7 full sun (house on the north side of the lake so the decking is south facing).

Edit: I think we’re also victims of the pressure treatment regulations change as we replaced the decking only ~15 years ago and it’s already pretty soft in some places compared to the original decking in a pile on the property still having some pretty sound pieces still.

This is the first I’m learning of joist tape and I wanted to ask a question without hijacking OPs post:

Are there any situations where the joist tape isn’t indicated? I’m getting ready to replace the decking on a floating dock.

ASAIK, only the front driver/passenger mirrors, windows, and front windshield are required on vehicles. Everything behind the driver can be entirely solid.

The states actually have different magpie species, and the North American variants are bigger. All the better to roast.

Sigh. How many microwaves do I need to take apart without dying?

Imagine one of those firm silicone straws. While someone is drinking from the straw, try to stop them by only being able to pinch the straw with your pinky and thumb in one small space. Now try to stop them by being able to grab the whole straw with your whole hand.

Women, generally, have a short urethra with weaker muscles. Men have a longer urethra with stronger muscles.

Women also have smaller bladders, and the muscles involved in their urinary track serve additional roles with the uterus and anus.

Looking at the pictures it appears there isn’t anything under the subfloor (you can see the joists and open space). I’d think OP would want to cover this from above or do something below the boards. Otherwise this is going to potentially lead to some weird noise/smells/insulation issues.