Where to look first
The ledger, always: the deck-to-house connection is where water enters and where failures that matter begin. Menlo Park's mature landscaping adds a second local suspect — planting beds built up against deck posts hold moisture at the base the same way they do on fences.
What the ledger is actually bolted to
The part people miss is that a ledger has two sides, and only one of them is the deck. On the house side it is fastened to the band joist behind the cladding, and what that cladding is decides how much of the job is deck work at all.
On the stone and brick-veneer frontages that are common in the older parts of town, this is not a detail. The code is explicit that a deck ledger may not be supported on stone or masonry veneer — veneer is a facing, not a structural member, and a connection made to it is a connection made to nothing. Where a deck appears to hang off a faced wall, the honest first question is what is behind the facing and whether the original builder went through it.
What repairs locally here
Boards and treads come out one at a time; a soft joist gets sistered alongside; both leave the rest of the deck where it stands. The ledger is the exception and always has been — it is a connection rather than a component, and it comes with the wall it is fixed to.
Next step
If you can get underneath: ledger and joists first, then worst boards, then any railing that moves. Send the set through the form for a range and a straight repair-vs-rebuild answer.
Inspection order in full: see the deck repair page. City rules: see the Menlo Park page.
A deck ledger may not be carried on stone or brick veneer — the facing is not structure, and a bolt into it holds nothing.R507.9.1.1 On a faced wall we establish what is behind the facing before quoting any deck work.
Send Photos — Get an Estimate Range