How to seal gaps between boards on my porch?

Question

I recently rebuit my front porch and used 2x6. Well as I discovered you can never get a perfectly straight board. There a few small gaps, one is an 1/8 for a few inches. How can I seal up these gaps before I stain and seal the porch? I tried everything including a racheting bar to close the gaps till I screwed tem in.

Answer 1

You need to have gaps for swelling and the rain to drain.

Answer 2

Wood expands and contracts with temperature and humidity changes.

Answer 3

You are actually supposed to have a gap in between your decking as the wood needs to expand and contract.  The standard is to take a nail and leave the space between the boards to allow for water to run off and expansion.  I hope you did this, or you will have some issues with the decking pulling up, twisting etc.  

Good luck