query about the way decking runs

G'day there folks,

To those in the know:
Is there a reason (apart from aestetics) for timber decking to run parallel to the house as opposed to perpendicular? Is it to do with fall? I would be putting up a pergola as well so no rain on deck (and I would make sure there was still some fall away from the house just in case.

My Dad and I were discussing me building a new front deck which will probably be curved (if we decide to deck instead of pave) and the easiest way to get the curve correct, would be to run the decking perpendicular to the house, but we both decided that neither of us had ever seen a deck layed down this way.

Is there something in that statistic??

Thanks for your help.

It's because your joists usually radiate out from the house. I don't know of any reason why it HAS to be done that way though.

To do it the way you propose, your bearers will need to be short runs from the house out to the edge of the deck and your joists will run parallel to the house.

I think it would look pretty ordinary running perpendicular and you'd have more end grain bits to seal as well.

Yup - gumby and silent are right (damn, I hate saying that :D ).

No reason at all, except for aethetics. You could run your board parallel and then cut it with a jigsaw. That would give you the best of both wolrds.

Trav

I build a lot of decks and prefer to run decking perpendicular (thats a big word for me) if it is possible.

People don't do it because of the reason SilentC said but I believe it is usually better.

Long decking runs with the quality of material used these days do not look good long term IMO

Perpendicular means no joins in long runs and you can't look down a long run and see the inevitable waves as it gets older.

Just because it's done to save in subfloor work, make up your own mind and don't follow the crowd:)

Greolt

No need for fall with a timber floor only concrete will need fall. Just leave 1/8" gaps between boards.

Cheers guys,

Will keep it all in mind when and if the time comes. Might do some designing on paper etc to get a feel for the aestetics.
Good to know that there isn't a structural problem though.

Cheerio.

Ive got decking all the way round my house, 2.3 wide and I ran it straight out from the house. I got all my decking in intervals of 2.4m, actually most were 2.4m long.