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I have an area 8m wide by 6m deep, boards to be laid along the 8m width. Do I:
1. Just stagger the joins, if so is there a ratio/pattern people follow?
2. Split the width down the middle with a board and lay boards 4m long either side with no joins?
Either way I planned on "Framing" the area with either 2x92mm boards or just a 140mm board so both options will suit this.
I only ask as I can pickup packs of 92x19 Merbau, all 3.9m or 4.2m lengths which would suit the job nicely.
Cheers
I think the board down the middle would look neat, although I've not tried it myself, You'll obviously need a double joist with some blocks between to nail it to and to take the ends of the boards.
I would avoid having all your joins staggered near the centre, it will look odd. If you're going to stagger the joins, I reckon you're better off buying random lengths so that you can spread them out. Then you can set up a repeating pattern over 5 or 6 boards, which makes it quicker to cut because you can cut 4 or 5 boards at once if they're all the same length. You could do that with the 4.2s but I would cut some down to spread the joins. Something like 4 + 4, 2 + 4 + 2, 3 + 2 + 3 you get the idea. It has to work to your joist spacing though and you want the shortest board to span at least 3 joists.
The way I would do it is to cut 12 runs first, all with the same joint pattern. Then using a chalk line to mark the position, fix these in position as the 1st, 5th, 11th, 15th and so on. Then I would cut another 4 repeating join patterns, making sure none of the joins line up and duplicate this 12 times. Then fill in the gaps between the boards already nailed down using wedges to space them. You throw all the boards down and then just move along each run nailing or screwing as you go. Ping a chalk line on each joist first if you want.
I definately would not have all the joins in the centre as it would be a mass of S/S screw heads, but as you stated, the 4 + 4, 2 + 4 + 2, 3 + 2 + 3 etc method was someting I was thinking of. Guess I can work out a ration based on the board lengths I can get.
I'm just unsure whether having no joins at all (Option 2) would look a little clinical?
I think it would look very neat, especially as you're planning to 'frame' the whole deck. My outdoor table is built that way. Butt joins are an ugly necessity. The more you can avoid them, the better.
The main thing would be to allow some room for the centre board to move, so don't butt them up hard against it. I would set it up so that the two middle joists were about 200mm apart or thereabouts and put a block between them every 450mm to screw the centre board to.
Another thing to keep in mind when you're framing the deck sub structure, I think it looks best if you use a fascia bearer all the way around the perimeter and hand your joists inside, either on a ledger or using joist hangers. With a perimeter board all the way round, I think it would look good.
Here is a small one I did recently to show what I mean:
I am facing the same scenario with a 3.8x3.8m Jarrah Deck. Harder to source good lengths of Jarrah here in Melb.
Am looking at running a boarder around the whole thing, then a centre board up the middle. Result would be be two half, each with 1.8m lengths.
Was a bit concerned about the 'clinical' look too, but I think I would prefer this over staggered joints. Particularly since it's not that big a deck.....