Decking Ramblings - longish.

[Michael Murray (HotM)]

Having moved house a few years back, there was a slabbed 'patio' at the back of the house. Presumably due to the original levels of the garden, this was laid over a total of 5 levels; with two of the levels being only a single slab wide. (total area approx 5m x 4m).

The plan was always to deck it off, in order to

- provide a single level on which moving your chair a few inches didn't result in one leg resting on thin air and topplind sideways.

- remove toddler trip hazards

- reduce injury when said toddlers 'just fall over' despite their being nothing to trip on.

So; last week I ordered up some timber, a new circular saw, charged up the batteries and set to it. Here are some (rather disjointed) thoughts / queries.

Levelling the supporting beams: I found these:

, bought a load of them, and would highly recommend them for anyone wanting a fast way to lay a deck over a solid, but uneven base. (just a happy user).

Supporting beams are 2 layers of 2 x 4 over part; dropping to 2x4 over

2x2 (well supported) and 2x4 on their own where the original 'patio' was highest.

Drill driver v Impact Driver I'm a bit of a tool buyer, and have a dewalt 18v Drill Driver / Impact driver set. The impact was bought with the expectation of using it on the deck but as the driver seemed to drive the 90mm TurboGolds without issue and the Impact driver was so much louder (and seemed to suffer from 'winding up' the screws rather than driving them) I now wonder what use I will get from it. Drill driver with 2.6Ah batteries did 700- odd screws on (I think) 6 charges. Very impressed. I tried driving one screw the last few mm with a 'normal' hand screwdriver, and could barely move it.

Edging the deck boards: I left all the deck boards overhang the end, and cut them all in a single pass at the end. Resulted in a very nice straight line that really stands out, I think.

Spacing: the deck boards shrank noticably over the first night. I laid them with 3mm gaps as they were quite wet. Gap is now easily 5mm.

Screwdriver bits: I bought a 10 pack of screwfix PZ3 bits, expecting them to be consumables on a job like this. I finished with the same one I started with. Is this normal? (I generally take good care of tools, and don't willfully abuse them, but thought this was strange.)

To those thinking of undertaking building one;

- buy a good screwdriver

- have extra hands to assist with aligning boards.

- plan it well *before* starting

- it took me approx 30 man hours. (two of us; two good screwdrivers with spare batteries)

(apologies for usign GGroups - I'm at work)

[dmc]

I've just sorted something similar. Concrete, not level, dropped away in one corner by 6 inches or so.

Digging up the concrete wasn't going to be realistic - 6x3m, anything from 3 to oer 6 inches thick and nowhere to get a skip...

interesting. I built 6 small piers out of brick (well, at the front it was a couple of paving slabs. Made sure this was level and also built small piers for the pergola legs - seemed easier than cutting through the concrete and although I considered using the bolt down metpost things doing this meant that each upright could be exactly the same length.

I used 2x6 for the frame. It wasn't much more expensive so I went with it. Across a span of nearly 3m it hardly flexed at all which suprised me. I added small posts standing on the concrete and then bolted to the deck frame (8 - 12 inch long depending on the location. 4inch posts).

I've never had a decent leccy screwdriver and used this as a chance to buy. Wow....

Ended up with

120 quid. Very pleased. Only downside is the small capacity batteries but with three and the included 20 min charger is wasn't really a problem.

Impact driver was fantastic (cheers Dave :)). Driving in 90mm turbogold bolts with no pilot hole to make the frame. Rather surprised at how many many battery charges I got through - I'd guess probably 8-10 building the frame, something similar screwing down the boards.

I was luck that the area was 3m wide and the local timber yard could supply

3m boards so very little cutting was required. The 3m boards they offered were thicker than most I've seen but that seemed to be fine.

the ones I used. Got a better price go going to the yard and presenting as a local as well ;-)

Can't say I've noticed anything that dramatic - a few of the boards that weren't screwed down twisted a bit but nothing much.

Heh, exactly the same here. I bought a box of 25 dewalt bits in the screwfix clearance sale. 24 left in the box, one in the impact driver still fine :-)

Definatly. I'd recommend the impact driver as well tbh. Well pleased with mine although I guess with a bigger screwdriver it might not have been so essential.

Yep. Essential for getting the pergola uprights straight as well :)

Yep. Google Sketchup was surprisingly easy to get the hang of for mocking stuff up for SWMBO approval. Not used it in anger before - will certainly use it again though.

Hmmm... Thinking about it it took me and my dad 5 days to get the bulk of it done.

Just need it to stop raining so I can build a step and a planter at the front bring it down to the lawn. Then think about some treament possibly. Deck oil or something... Are you planning on doing anything with yours?

shows the Frame

with some of the boards on it.

Any photos of your handy work? :-)

Hope this helps someone!

Darren

[The Medway Handyman]

Interesting. Were they very expensive? How do they help level?

Sorry, just to be clear, by '2 layers of 2 x 4' do you mean effectively an

8 x 2 or a 4 x 4 ?

I've only got a 14.4v driver & a 12v impact driver. The 12v ID is much faster than the 14.4v driver, especially on 6 x 90 Turbo Gold coach screws, but also on the deck screws.

Never tried an 18v driver. Agreed about the noise with ID's, mind you if you are doing decking commercially the extra noise impress's the client :-)

Deffo the way to go, thats how I do all of mine. Faster & neater.

Thats what winds me up with the Wickes & B&Q 'how to guides'. They always mention a gap with no regard for the moisture content of the boards, the weather or time of year.

Much the same experience, although I use an 8mm nut driver on the coach screws and now have an autofeed screwdriver with a square drive bit. Robertson Head?

Oh yes!

Deffo

Absolutely

'Desmond' & I would have done a 5 x 4m deck in around 2 x 8 hour days and we build a lot of decks, so you did well.

Any pictures?

[The Medway Handyman]

> for 120 quid. Very pleased. Only downside is the small capacity

Same set I bought, well pleased with mine as well.

It does knock 7 bells aout of the batteries, I bought a Makita mains impact driver to alleviate the problem. Cost about £50, about the same as one battery.

Did you build that yourself as well?

I always reccommend decking oil.

Nice job that.

[Tim S]

The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

>>> for 120 quid. Very pleased. Only downside is the small capacity >> batteries

That frame is beautiful - shame to board it.

Seriously - nice job :)

[dmc]

Came as a kit from Jacksons

of alteration but nothing major. Very impressed (again) with Jacksons - not cheap, but the quality is impressive.

How much does that change the colour? I see there are clear ones and a range of colours. SWMBO doesn't want to change the colour too much - I'd personally like it a bit darker (like I have a say!)

Ta. Your advice and posts over the years gave me the confidence to have a crack at it. Need to sort out the front and build a step now.

Darren

[dmc]

I tried to convince SWMBO that. She wasn't convinced :-(

Darren

[The Medway Handyman]

The clear one is, well, clear, but like all treatments does darken it slightly. Similar to seeing the boards dry, then wet after rain.

Glad to have helped.

[The Medway Handyman]

To be honest, that frame is neater than most of the jobs I do :-)

Commercially, as long as its functional it doesn't matter too much how it looks because the boards cover it up. We don't measure noggin spacing for example, just 'we need 4 in there' & space them by eye.

Nice job.

[Michael Murray (HotM)]

I was limited by the exit door from the house to a total height of

240mm. 20-odd for the deck boards and then 2 layers of 2x4's (@90mm each) left me with 40mm for the rubber upstands.

mates.

I manged to get 5.4m boards locally (Rembrandt Timber for those near Edinburgh), which meant I had a single board across the width.

Not just me then !

re: Your pics - Very nice - mine is much less exciting

in progress:

as to finishing yet.

M.

[Michael Murray (HotM)]

I bought them from decksupply.co.uk - a pack of 25 was =A335+Vat. They sell packs of 200 x 3mm shims. So you set up the height you want the high end at, then simply shim as you go as the ground falls away. The come in 10 and 30mm heights; packable to another 25mm or so. So they really only help if your variance on an individial beam/joist is <

60ish mm.

One layer of 2x4's running 'along' where the old steps ran; then a further layer laid across these. The Rubber upstands were used over every 'node' where the two layers crossed. The lower layer ran parallel to the long edge (and the house, see pics), the upper layer was at 500-600 centres (5@500 by the door, then 600's for the rest).

in progress:

> Drill driver v Impact Driver

Interesting consideration !

I have a kids party this weekend, so time was pretty pressing - there wasn't much tea or coffee drunk during this one!

(aside: thanks esp to Dave, but also those who raise all the questions he and others have asked, prompting all who answer on here. I was wondering at the weekend - has anyone ever asked a question of uk.d-i- y that no-one could answer?)

[Jules]

A common difference between DIY and professional, I think, which possibly just comes down to time vs. money...

(I built some new shelving / workbenches the other day, and the framework was a complete work of art - it was frustrating to cover it all up so that nobody would ever see any of it! :-)

[The Medway Handyman]