Taking down a deck in Kanata myself: safety steps?

Before you start pulling boards, request a locate through Ontario One Call at least five business days ahead. Any digging, even for a post you plan to cut off at grade, makes you an excavator under the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012, and you must have locate responses from every affected member before breaking ground. The locate is free.

On the permit question: the City of Ottawa's Decks page does not include a specific statement about whether demolishing an existing deck requires a permit. The Building Code Act, 1992 section 8(1) covers both construction and demolition, so it is worth confirming with the City's Building Code Services before you start, rather than after.

For the physical work, a few things to check before you touch a fastener. If the deck is raised and has a guard, treat that guard as load-bearing until you know it is not: removing decking boards first can leave a guard with nothing to anchor to. Work from the top down, removing decking, then guards and stairs, then joists, then beams, then posts. Keep the structure braced laterally at each stage so nothing shifts unexpectedly. If the deck is attached to the house with a ledger, the ledger connection holds the rim of the deck against the band joist or rim joist of the house: removing it carelessly can open the house structure to weather or leave fastener holes that let water in, so have a plan to seal that wall before you finish.

For disposal, the City of Ottawa says wood from construction, renovation or demolition, including pressure-treated lumber, is not collected with regular garbage. You need to bring it to the Trail Road Landfill Site or another landfill. If the deck was built before 2004, Health Canada notes it may have been made from CCA-treated lumber: wear a dust mask, eye protection, gloves and long sleeves when cutting or handling it, and never burn it indoors or outdoors.

A few practical points worth keeping in mind:

• Private lines, including electrical feeds to sheds, gas lines to barbecues or pool heaters, and sewer or septic piping, are your responsibility to have marked before digging. Ontario One Call covers public utilities; private lines need a separate arrangement.
• If any post is set in concrete below grade, extracting it involves digging, which brings you back to the locate requirement.
• If the deck carried a hot tub or a pool enclosure, the pool enclosure by-law (By-law 2013-39) requires a permit for any replacement enclosure, and zoning still applies to what goes in that space afterward.

If you decide partway through that you want a builder to take over, the local deck builders listed in the Ottawa Construction Network directory can be reached through the request form on this page.

When comparing any quotes for removal as part of a larger project, ask each builder to list every line item separately so you can see exactly what the demolition, disposal and site-clearing work costs on its own.