Decking Fascia - how to join and finish?

[Davy]

I have built a 3m x 2m piece of decking by my pond. To finish it I need to add a fascia all round.

Can anybody advise on this - particularly whether to use butt joins or mitres? Mitres would look nice but as the deck dries/expands I suspect that the joints might open and look naff. Also I don't think I have any equipment to cut accurate mitres in board 22cm wide; although both my circular and jigs saws can be canted over 45 degrees.

I intend to use decking for the fascia; is this sensible?

cheers

Davy

[Lurch]

On Sun, 6 May 2007 18:59:12 +0100, "Davy" mused:

On the couple of deckings I've laid I've used a couple of lengths of decking mitred for finishing off round edges, all mitred on the chop saw. Bearing in mind it's all going to move and expand I don't worry too much about perfect mitres and gaps, I'm not doing final fix on a load of skirting and architrave round the house. ;)

[Andy Hall]

First point is that most expansion and shrinkage takes place across the grain of the wood rather than along it, although there is some.

Whether you use a mitre or a butt joint you have the risk of some amount of gap opening and closing.

How much overhang of the deck do you have with respect to the framing? Is it more than one depth of decking material?

One way around the problem is to make the facia with butt or mitre joints as suggested, but then on the corners make an overlaying trim component the same width as the facia, or perhaps a touch wider but of about 250-300mm long. Cut two pieces of material and mitre the join. This can then be fixed to the main facia with screws - use elongated holes to allow the facia to move underneath.

You could use more deck material to make this, or anything else suitable. You might want to use a thinner material for the trim.

[The Medway Handyman]

I finish the fascia of a deck by using off cuts of decking fixed vertically, not horizontally.

Several benifits - you get to use up all the offcuts, you can adjust the length of each one to cope with uneven ground, no problem with joints at the ends. You need to overhang the deck boards in width & length by the thickness of a board.

Check out

[Lurch]

On Sun, 6 May 2007 23:05:37 +0100, "The Medway Handyman" mused:

[Andy Hall]

[The Medway Handyman]

Posts in 18" min Postcrete, frame fixed 'outside' the posts. Postcrete finished with a slope on three sides, flush 'outside'. Hope that makes sense.

[Andy Hall]

OK. I''ve wondered if there's a way to do this without embedding wood into the ground at all.

In the U.S. I have seen concrete foundations made using a cardboard tube of about 250mm diameter as a former. About 80% of it goes into a hole dug into the ground and then it's filled to the top with concrete. A galvanised steel fixing with spiral spikes is fitted into each of these and they are leveled. The wooden superstructure is then built onto that, clear of the ground. I've never seen it here, although I suppose that one could make square formers from ply and fill those.

[Lurch]

On Mon, 7 May 2007 00:33:47 +0100, Andy Hall mused:

I've seen decking built onto concrete blocks placed onto a flat area of ground with the turf removed. No idea about how long it lasts, but after just being installed it didn't fall over.

[The Medway Handyman]

I've seen that idea in several American decking manuals and it appears to be the regulations in some states. The system isn't widely available over here, although I've just found a supplier - haven't read the literature yet though. It does need to be clear of the ground though.

I'm not over keen on that despite Tommy Walsh's recommendations on the telly. On a free standing deck (e.g. not bolted to a building on at least one edge) I think you need posts at the corners embedded in the ground to keep the frame square and to stop it shifting.

Even with a deck attached to a wall on one or more edges, I prefer to embed the corner posts to stop any 'wobble' & keep things square..

I do use it for extra internal supports though. Council style 24 x 24 x 2 paving slabs are excellent and cheap. Cut end of timber treated with end grain preserver & a piece of DPC underneath.

Overkill is the way to go with decks IMO. Everyone I've built - first thing they do is have a party to show it off - then you have dozens of friends & relatives standing on it.

[Andy Hall]

Please could you post details

[The Medway Handyman]

What kind of post? :-)

[Andy Hall]

The supplier....

BTW. It looks like you have competition. One of the photos of Nicolas Sarkozy over the weekend looked just as though he was performing magic. Mind you, given the French economy, he probably will be.

[Andy Hall]

Ho, Ho.

Who's the supplier?

[The Medway Handyman]

Just read the literature & they don't do the footings. Some useful info on the web site though

[Mathew Newton]

I used mitres, purely because they were a doddle with my mitre saw. I really wouldn't worry about any gap opening up - this is an outdoor piece of equipment hence you're really not going notice, or rather be bothered by, any gap that may develop.

Given the non-critical aspect of a perfect mitre joint (and believe me I'm a stickler for such detail indoors) you should be able to cut them by hand using a suitable jig or mitre box.

It's what I did. In fact I went for some decking boards that were smooth on one side (my 'main' boards were grooved both sides with a different pattern). I also put spacers behind the boards to put them

3-4mm away from the decking to allow easy water run off. The 3-4mm is the same gap as per between the decking boards so it makes a nicely- matched framed effect.

There are some photos of the finished article at:

another six months on and there's still no gap (or at least not one you'd notice):

[Andy Hall]

a few others.

It seems that the tubes are standard, with the most popular being 8 inch (larger for grander structures.

In the U.S. deck construction is subject to "code" i.e. building regulations, including submission of plans and calculations for loading, inspection, the works.

Depending on the location, soil and climate, there are different rules for depth of footing and mounting method for the wooden frames.

Apparently a lot of contractors still build square shutterings from ply and pour the concrete, but pretty universally, some form of galvanised fittings are used to keep the wood away from the concrete.

When using the fibre forms, contractors normally use a gas auger to make the holes. Basically this is a very large petrol engine driven auger which generally requires two people to hold it. Sounds like great fun.

[The Medway Handyman]

[Tony]

[Mathew Newton]

Thank you.

I used Ronseal Decking Oil. I didn't want too much of a colour change (the green tanalith was fading leaving behind a nice 'wood' colour) and so went for the 'Light Oak' version as it was described as a 'light colouring' and appeared, on the can, to be quite 'woody'.

Upon first application I was rather disappointed how it turned out as it was very yellow and rather bright... However in only a few days the glossy finish had turned matt and the colouring mellowed and became the natural wood colour I wanted. Panic over!

Perhaps next time I'd probably just use the clear stuff from the off, assuming it's available in the range.

There was a recent thread about decking oils - did you see it?

Mathew