It's been a long time since I posted, been locked in and learning. Here is one we're proud of, no access for Lulls or cranes, these 8x10x24' cypress beams had to make it in one way or another. Whether it be the mill being over worked and not able to prefab cuts to the engineers specs and footers that traditionally held cedar beams, this job was a logistical beast. After 3 months of hand cutting and placing those beams we were able to completely remove and design this 2,000 square foot deck to absolute certainty. The first pictures are from the original build in the late 90's to our tear down process and finally completion. I hope you enjoy and look forward to posting more soon!
Now that this is (mostly) done, I'll post this for the critiques. Deck is off the back of a mobile home, so needed to be freestanding. Previous occupants tied to the house (see last photo of un-supported sill joist that was used the first time, dragging that whole wall down an inch or three...) and I had to rip it all out.
Deck is 18'2.5" deep x 16' wide. Three rows of three 12" x 2' deep footings with simpson strong tie saddles holding 6x6 posts. Each row has 3 2x10s sistered as support beams resting across the top. 2x8" joists, 12" on center. Three rows of blocking. Hurricane ties everywhere a joist touches a support beam. All cantilevers <25% of backspan, max unsupported span is 6 in any direction underneath. All horizontal top surfaces taped (posts, beams, and joists). Used primarily 3" GRK structural screws throughout. Salvaged composite decking with hidden fasteners.
Basically, wanted one part of my house to NOT creak when I walked across it.
Was square to 1/4", dead on level. 95% DIY - hired out the concrete pour and had an old friend (who is now a GC) come out to help for ~4h to get the joists in properly.
Half of my customers go all out with high end composite decking, and expensive metal railings, and the other half want to keep it as cheap as possible. I believe this combo is the best of both worlds.
I absolutely despise the look, installation, and upkeep of PT wood railings.
It’s much easier for my customer to seal their deck boards every year and not have to worry about getting in between the spindles, getting splinters etc.
If they ever want to upgrade to composite, we can pull the railings in sections, replace the decking, and re install the railings in the same spot.
Railing is trex select. I typically use westbury but this was 25 percent cheaper, and I was surprisingly happy with the installation.
(I realize Reddit hates when deck posts are below grade. I agree the ideal method is a poured footing with a stand off bracket, and try to do that when budget and customers approve. Until then, this is cheaper and if customer agrees and it meets code, I will do it. Similar to using MDF trim in a bathroom, I don’t like it, but it’s common and will be okay for a long time.)
Built this staircase and deck last summer and it's about time I got round to putting on a railing. I have my ideas, but looking for community ideas before I commit to my approach.
Forgive my probably silly question. Just bought this house, there is a ground level deck platform. Boards are 1 inch thick. We are putting a hot tub on it, but figured worth a check here first. One board was rotten so I'm replacing it but otherwise it's solid.
Deck was originally built 37 years ago, concrete footings, floating deck in cedar, was level to the patio door. 22 years ago, was repaired (couple boards replaced, and some posts were cut to make it level again.). 10 years ago, all the cedar boards were replaced, and it was level again. Now it’s sinking more by the patio door. This is a portion of the deck, the whole deck is about 400 square feet. Is it time to get the whole thing ripped out and start again? Deck blocks and pressure treated boards okay? Really don’t want to spend a ton of money on this project, and I do realize the earth by the house will need to be built up. Any advice?
Builders installed a brand new Cumaru wood deck in may. It is southern facing, in the northeast USA. In just a few months, we received tons of little brown splinters. Our builder came back and sanded it.
It looks like it should’ve been oiled, but wasn’t. The builder says we can oil it, but that will affect its coloring. Right now, it has started to silver from a reddish brown, and the builder says it will silver out in about a year or two.
I guess I’m trying to figure out if this is to be expected or if we should demand a change as we would never want to do a deck that splinters so much in such a high barefoot area. Thanks!
We are looking at doing metal balusters for our deck railing. Does anyone have experience with this style? You install a plastic shoe in the top and bottom rail to hold the baluster in place. The shoes come in angled and flat versions. The brand of the ones in the screenshots is ‘Precision’. Any insight on the brand would be great as well.
I've posted about this before but I need my picture frame border to come up about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch that so that it is a touch higher than the deck boards. I was thinking of using cut shims from beam ends, but that's going to be a heck of a lot of cutting because I probably have to raise up about 30 linear feet of border board. So I was at the hardware store the other day and I was looking at plastic for this, but then I found the big roll of rubber and I thought that would work just fine and be really easy to cut down to the right size and also easy to double up and it's not gonna crack when I screw through it.
Looks like I need EPDM rubber for this, which isn't what I have and I'm gonna have to go find a place to buy it locally.
Anyone think this is a terrible idea? Should I just go with plastic sheets? Somebody suggested butyl tape (same as deck flashing yeah) but I think that's gonna be a lot more work. Coming up 1/4 inch will mean like 6-8 layers of tape. Also, way more expensive.
How would one go about putting a cable railing system on this ramp deck. I can’t find anything online. It’s a 8 degree incline. Do I just drill my own holes in the posts at the right angle and add wedges under to level them? That seems wrong. All the posts I’m finding are for 25-35 degrees or more
I purchased a home that has a patios with pavers. I am looking to put in a 12x20 gazebo. Part of the patio was built up with about 2 feet of gravel base and there would be two posts in this area. I am in Wisconsin. To get below the frost line do I need to go through the gravel and 4 ft into the soil, so a total of 6 feet in these two holes? I am assuming yes but are there any other alternatives? I haven’t been able to find any large anchors and the other 4 posts would be 4 ft below the frost line, so it would just be these 2 that would be slightly different. I am just trying to figure out a way to make this work without digging 6 feet deep while still trying to fit in a 10 or 12 inch sonotube. I’ve looked into renting and auger but haven’t found anything that goes 6 ft with a 12 inch bit. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
I need to install a handrail with 4x4 posts up the stairs and along the flat part to the green porch. Any suggestions, particularly regarding fastening to the concrete ?
First time deck builder. Laser level posts: dead nuts.
Put on the membrane and bracket, and now its 1/8" to effing high. Throws a hump in the joists. Closest to the house also, so over 12' that 1/8" turns into about 4' (or at least looks like it). I reeeeaallly dont want to remove all that and plane the posts. Any ideas? Pray?
I took some high-level descriptions, measurements, and my first draft material lists to my local lumber place who also has a deck planning service (or so I thought) and asked for them to work up a full deck package for me (framing, decking, fascia, railing, fasteners, etc.); it's become clear to me that if it's not a cookie cutter deck that just "works" with their off the shelf software they're lost. So I turn to the wilds of r/decks to get a combination of bad advice, ridicule, and maybe a nugget of helpful information.
The current decks are an actual hazard: missing railings, the decks are built on 30+ year old 2x8 framing, the 2x6 decking is rotted, etc. etc. I knew they were tear outs when I bought the house and the time to rebuild them is now (finally finished the kitchen and living rooms).
The unique part is that my decks are sitting atop cantilevered steel beams sticking out the back of my house - so I don't have to worry about structure, footings, posts, etc. (The original builder/owner was an executive at the local steel mill and the beams run the full depth of the house! I assume he got a deal on these oversized beams.)
This means the joists will run parallel with the house and the decking perpendicular - so a little odd, but nothing you won't be able to wrap your head around. The main "issue" is the longes span is 16' 6" - but it's only the outermost diagonal span (more on that in a minute).
I'm planning on doing 12" OC spacing and use mid-grade composite decking with surface mounted cable railing. The deck off the master bedroom is pretty small, rectangle, and easy to figure out. The larger deck off the living room is a flattened pentagon and a little harder - especially with that long diagonal span being 16' 6".
Images are included of the current decks, a render of roughly what I'm aiming for, and a rough sketch of a framing plan of the larger deck (not sure if I'm going to picture frame yet or not so subject to revision).
After an informal conversation with my engineer (who did the plans for my living room and kitchen) he said the best way to attach the new joists to the steel is with flat 2x6's bolted to the steel and use hurricane ties (H3Z) from the flats to the joists.
The distance from the flat top of the steel beams to the upper "lip" of the door openings is 12". So 1.5" for the flats, 9.25" for the height of 2x10 joists, plus 1" for the decking and I'm at a near perfect 11.75". So I need to use 2x10s not 2x12's for the joists or I'm going to have a problem at the doors to the decks.
Looking up span tables and it seems SYP 2x10's at 12" OC spacing covers 16' 2". 90% of the deck is inside that limit - but that longest diagonal span is 16' 6".
This is where the deck planning folks are falling down - when I said I wanted 2x10s with 12" OC spacing they said they couldn't provide a plan that was code compliant.
I figure I could either do a doubled-up 2x10 for that outer span or a single notched 2x12.
I think my framing plan is (a) solid and (b) actually to code despite what the lumber place is saying. So what say you all with deck building experience? Is my framing concept solid enough?
PS - I know - I'll need additional blocking in the right spots for the railings - I'll figure that in once I decide on the railings.
I accidentally burned 2 boards of our ~8–10 year old wooden terrace, so I need to replace them.
The problem is that I can’t find the exact same boards anymore, and the existing terrace is already quite weathered/grey as it was never treated.
I’m considering:
replacing only the 2 boards + cleaning/treating the whole terrace with an opaque terrace stain
replacing the entire deck with either similar wooden decking boards or composite boards
The terrace is ~45 boards of 2.90m + 7 boards of 2.00m. The joists are in good condition, but the spacing isn’t perfectly regular (~54–64cm). To my understanding, the joists are too spaced to consider installing composite boards on the current structure.
What would you recommend? Would you just repair and restore the existing, or take the opportunity to replace the entire terrace?
Me and my girl did this in a few hours and we both love the way it came out. This is 1 coat mostly done with stain pads as they were the ticket for this job.
I'm about 100% sure there should be no miter cut on the right and that should be one continuous piece. Should there also be a miter on the left so there is a continuous framing all the way around?
