Waterfront Projects Done Right
Trent Hollis · October 23, 2026
Every dock I’ve built or repaired on my own shoreline started with a dock building checklist folded into my back pocket, half-read and damp with salt spray. This is that list, rebuilt for the job site. It’s compact, scannable, and meant to be carried, not studied at a desk. For the reasoning behind each line, … Read more
Trent Hollis · October 23, 2026
If you’re searching for dock sealing northeast Florida guidance, the first thing to know is that this region doesn’t have one dock environment. The water under your boards can be tannin-dark freshwater, tide-driven brackish water, or full Atlantic salt spray, sometimes within a few miles. Each one changes when you should seal, what you should … Read more
Trent Hollis · August 6, 2026
I’ve sealed hundreds of wood docks along the Gulf Coast over the past 20 years, and I can tell you with absolute certainty: how to seal a dock correctly will add a decade to its lifespan. The difference between a dock that looks weathered and gray after three years versus one that still gleams with … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 24, 2026
Right now, I’m staring at a piling in American Beach that looked solid from the deck until I ran my scratch awl across the grain about three feet below the waterline. The wood gave way like wet cardboard. Fifteen years ago, that same spot would have been someone’s catastrophic failure story—the call you get when … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 15, 2026
Mixing galvanized fasteners with stainless steel hardware will eat through your dock in saltwater faster than you’d expect. After two decades driving pilings and bolting frames together on the Gulf Coast, I’ve watched structural decisions kill otherwise solid builds—and the biggest one isn’t about engineering at all. It’s whether you pick floating or fixed. Depth … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 10, 2026
You’ll hear it at the marina or the lumber counter, usually from someone who’s never actually driven a piling: “Just rent the cheapest hammer and get it done fast.” What sounds smart on a Tuesday afternoon falls apart the moment saltwater enters the equation. The wrong equipment choice—or worse, the right equipment operated in the … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 7, 2026
How to Tell a Piling Actually Needs Replacing Before any of this method matters, be sure the piling is genuinely done. Replacing a sound piling is expensive, and leaving a failing one is worse. Treated timber pilings tend to look far better than they are, because the decay happens where you cannot see it. The … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 2, 2026
Right now, I’m kneeling over a section of decking where the boards have cupped so badly they’re holding standing water — a telltale sign that the fastening pattern wasn’t tight enough when they went down, and UV exposure has warped what’s underneath. My neighbor’s dock had been like this for two seasons. He’d called three … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 25, 2026A marine contractor will quote you $3,000 to $5,000 for pre-storm dock reinforcement on Lake Monroe. That same work—anchoring, bracing, fastener replacement—runs $300 to $800 if you handle it yourself on a Saturday morning. The gap isn’t about complexity; it’s about knowing which three or four interventions actually matter, and which don’t. I spent two … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 25, 2026Mixing incompatible metals underwater will destroy your fasteners in months—and once they fail, everything holding your dock together fails with them. That lesson came home to me in September 2017 when Hurricane Irma forced me to drive to Estero, Florida to assess a 40-foot residential dock that the owner had secured with standard rope and … Read more