To Remove and Demolish Your Wood Deck…
We try to remove as much of the deck as we can and reduce the deck’s weight as quickly as possible while retaining accessibility and support for the structure we are working on and around. Generally, this means removing the railings first and cutting them into large sections (we usually cut rails at the post) that will stack well. Then we strip up the decking a piece at a time, leaving the steps and framing for last.
We remove the floor joists one at a time, often retaining a few temporarily to keep a beam in place. If a beam is too large to remove all at once, we cut it into smaller sections. We leave stairs up until we no longer need them, occasionally adding temporary supports to hold up posts while we remove beams and stair stringers.