I'm going to build a deck, what should I know?

danger boy

Ok.. since the weather is turning nice... I feel like a he man.. I wanna build something. A deck.

Anyone have any do's and don't for building my own deck? It'll be cedar wood. I don't like or can't afford the composite decking material. I know, my neighbor already tried to convince me it was better, but he didn't use it. so what does he know right?

It won't be an elaborate one or large. Just a basic 16 x 12 deck with railing to be added later this summer or next. I'm lucky, this will be a ground level deck, so no large support beams will be needed.

I hope to use 2x4's for the deck to go across the joists beams at an angle. I'm not handy man, but I figure me and friend can probably complete it in a couple weekends.

This pic below is very similar to what I want to build.

mule

Use stainless fasteners to attach the decking.

Screws have no shear strength so use either lag bolts or framing nails for structeral framing

In Pa the code for spindles is that a tennis ball can't pass between them

In PA the deck is to be built to the same load bearing specs as the first floor deck of your house, check if thats true in you area, it should be given in pounds per square foot.

Ricardo

danger boy wrote: »

Anyone have any do's and don't for building my own deck?

Here's one; DON'T build it; make a nice patio with bricks, or even concrete. You'll thank me over the years. Maintenance is a ****.

mule

+10 to above, I personally don't like decks either.

I would go with flagstone, but that can add up quick.

obieone

IF you really want to build one, check your junk mail. I get flyers every week from local building suppliers with deck, patio room kits, etc. They can prefab as much of it as you want, or install it.

janmike

Use Screw Nails.

amulford

I agree with Ricardo 1000%, Al. If your deck is going to be that low, DO NOT build a deck. Build a patio instead. Here are some of my reasons:

1) Maintenance - Every year you will have have to maintain it or it will look like ****. Strip the sealing/staining. Reseal/restain. Dig out the leaves that WILL get under it... (My brother has a small deck and trees in the yard. IN ONE year, we dug out about a TON of wet, decaying leaves, which we had to lay on our stomach to get out BTW...)

2) Animals - Whether they are wild or domestic, animals have an affinity for crawling into a dark place to give birth, live, and die. Someplace JUST like your low to the ground deck. We have a gazebo out at the pool that sits on 4x4's over gravel. I could tell you some nice stories, like the cute little litter of racoons who learned how to climb shear vertical surfaces like my screens, or the possum who took up residence one year and wanted to defend HIS home, but I think the dead, rotting skunk would be the best one...

3) Insects - Unless you screen it like (**** I can't even tell you 'cause I can't figure it out myself, and I ain't no slouch), insects will make all kinds of nests, ie. carpenter bees, mud wasps, hornets, ants, etc. Add to point #1 that you will have to play exterminator every year, or share your space with the insect kingdom. BTW, they outnumber you by about 1,000,000 to 1 if you have a glimmer of hope you'll defeat them. The chemicals wear off, and they'll keep coming...

4) Cost - It will cost you a little more up front to build the patio, but the lack of numbers one, two and three means you will be done spending when your done building. Stains go for about $30 a gallon, sealers the same. Insect chemicals are $10 to $20. You'll need sprayer bottles, too, and they need to be maintained... With your patio -Wash it down once in while...

skipf

Talk to a sailor to brush up on all the latest curses, they will come in handy.

amulford

skipf wrote: »

Talk to a sailor to brush up on all the latest curses, they will come in handy.

I'm laughing, but man is he right...

Ricardo

Al,

I just realized it is GROUND level. NO reason for doing that to yourself....

Build a patio. You can put some iron railing if that's what you want. It will look great.

Mike Reeter

I have to agree...decks do LOOK nice,but are a major PITA...Stamped and colored concrete,patio stones,a lot of choices over a wood deck.

Coming from a deck owner who will never build another...

pearsall001

If it's ground level, by all means go with a patio. But if you must build a deck...do not use wood. I don't care if it is cedar, it still turns & looks like crap after a yr.

I went with Trex along with vinyl railings & it's virtually maintence free. And since you mentioned cedar, you might as well go with composite because cedar is just as expensive. Now figure in the maintence involved wth wood & now it's very, very expensive. Also don't forget your time in maintaining a wood deck...not me.

Ground level...patio - deck...trex or other composite

Early B.

I agree with everyone who says, "don't build one." If you decide to do it anyway, get the composite decking.

I had a cedar deck and it was a maintenance nightmare. Never again. After a while, cedar will crack, bend, split, and fall apart.

If you didn't buy a home with a deck or huge back yard, that's probably because it wasn't important to you. How often are you gonna actually use a small deck?

Systems

Build a patio and add a railing all around if you want that deck look. You can stain and texture the concrete to look like wood if you want. I think Grainger still sells the stamps for the concrete.

Chuck

dorokusai

You just need a hammer and nails, no level required.

petrym

Cedar weathers and turns gray, we used pressure treated lumber. If you use wood and it's not dry yet, put the boards a little closer together than you think. As the wood drys, the gaps will open up and look as they should.

If you want to angle the boards, install them long and then cut them all together in one straight line - you'll never match them to length installing them one by one.

Make sure the footings are deep and below the frost line according to your local building codes. We poured concrete and then set trapezoidally shaped blocks designed to hold the vertical posts on top of the footings.

danger boy

all good ideas and gives me lots to think about. I will do some research on patio's now.

when you all say patio's.. what type of flooring are you talking about?

amulford

You can go a few different ways, Al. Pavers, concrete, stamped concrete, flagstone. Personally, I like stamped or flagstone, but you might wanna farm that out.

Pavers are a readily DIY project...

Do a little searching...

WilliamM2

6X12? That's not a deck, it's a landing. I prefer decks to patios, as patios require maintenance as well. If you use composite lumber, there will be no maintenance. Mine's over 5 years old now, still looks the same as when we built it.

danger boy

16x12

billbillw

I'd do it with brick pavers. Do a nice pattern and it will be much classier than a basic wood deck.

WilliamM2

danger boy wrote: »

16x12

Never said I could read.:o

markmarc

I will preface by saying I wish my deck was brick......

If DangerBoy does stick with cedar decking we should keep in mind that Spokane is a semi arid area. Maintenance tips should come from those of similar climate areas. From living in Denver and now Portland with cedar decks, I can testify how one takes care of their deck is different.

I just saved a bundle replacing cedar borders around five garden boxes by using recycled cedar (4 years old) in 2x6 x16ft planks for 75 cents each.

Rivrrat

Being from Washington, I understand the deck thing. I've built two, rebuilt my Mom's and helped extend a friends (he was going to screw it up bad). Recent here in Tucson, I added on to my patio cover, which has identical construction.

IMHO, the best advice I can give you is go buy both Sunset's and Ortho's books on decks. It'll give you how to's, what to's, where to's, and most importantly, load ratings on the various sizes of dimentional lumber.

Oh, and after all that do it yourself crap, I'm going to pay someone to do all my new patio work here.

polktiger

Danger Boy - I personally prefer patios to ground level decks, but it is a personal choice.

You will need support beams for a ground level deck, what you won't need to tall support columns. What you will find (if you want to do it right) your foundation work will be the same. Do not use the ground level 4x4 holder blocks sold at home depot, lowes, etc. Your yard is not level, it will never be level, and if you support your deck from these types of blocks, your deck will not be level for long. So, you will need to dig holes and set your posts (probably 4x4s or 6x6s depending on the number your want to use) in concrete. Since the deck is gound level, these columns will be very short. Also, I would not suggest using 2x4s as your decking material just get normal 1x6 or 1x8 deck boards.

I can not stress enough to avoid those surface mount deck blocks. I bought a house, the builder used those things, two years later I was installing a proper foundation for that deck becuase it was then so far off from level. Railings were a mess, everything was a cluster.

While you will use bolts to tie your joists and columns together, I would suggest you take the time to attach your deck boards with screws unless you really like hammering all the pop up nail heads back in.

petrym

danger boy wrote: »

16x12

Oh yeah? 20x12 with a lower deck that's 8x16

We had this deck installed in 2003 - I've kept it up by power washing every two or three years and then drenching it with Thompson's Water Seal.
I getting ready to install some lattice at the bottom of the lower deck to hem in the rock, but it's been raining for the past week.
You can also see the new blackberry plant at the far right - I put in three raspberrys, two blackberrys, and a white seedless Himrod grape.

dragon1952

A deck is way better than cement or rock. Soft and warm vs hard and cold, and much nicer to look at. As far as I'm concerned it's worth the maintenance. My contractor used the Trex for the deck floor and cedar for the rail. Use the treated wood for the supports.

danger boy

i am starting to fall in love with the flexibility of patio bricks and how nice they look. The estimate I got for just the wood for my deck is $900. I wonder how much patio I can install for about the same or slightly more?

polkatese

DB, I had a deck and paid good money for it, it was also cedar. As Ricardo and Anthony mentioned above, it was a **** to maintain and look good. And I live in SoCal, so rain is not an issue. I had to literally restain it every 8 months to make it look decent. Don't underestimate the weather effect to it.

amulford

Ask and ye shall receive:

Here's some gray in Spokane

Here's some from a local brickyard in your area

How Close are you to Tacoma?How about Olympia?

Polkitup2

Ricardo wrote: »

Here's one; DON'T build it; make a nice patio with bricks, or even concrete. You'll thank me over the years. Maintenance is a ****.

The best advice you will ever get! Ground level, build a patio.:cool: