Easter long week-end project - backyard deck

Hi all,

I planned on building a deck earlier this year and came across this forum about 3 months ago. It has been of tremendous help in understanding what would be required for this to happen. In a bid to share my experience and gather some comments on how to better finish off the project, here are my specs and photos.

First of all, some acknowledgement for their contribution to this forum: UteMad, oldbloss aka Old Chippy, Raff, Dan aka Buggermedumplings, BrissyBrew and all the others that I forgot.

Alright, here we go

Specs:

Area to deck: 7.3m x 3.5m

Restrictions:

170mm to 190mm clearance,
Concreted area, 1.5m x 5.3m, which also happened to be unlevel!

Bearers: 90x90 H4 F7 Treated Pine
Joists: 90x45 H3 F5 Treated Pine
Decking: 90x19 Merbau

Spacing between bearer stirrups: 1300mm
Spacing between bearers - FLW: 975mm
Joist spacing: 450mm

I decided that the deck should be free standing therefore, no ledger here, just bearers and joists, and the deck would stand 5mm away from the house. The spacing between the 90x19 merbau would also be 5mm – Will use some tile spacers for that – thanks for the tip Raff. :2tsup:

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2102.jpg

Because of the height restriction and the unevenness of the concreted area, I had to swap the 1st 2 bearers for something else. I decided to sit the joists in some Pryda bolt-down post stirrup - pictures further down.

That left me with 22 holes to dig, which took me the better part of the day. I fenced off the area so that the dogs wouldn’t be of a burden while digging, then measured and spray painted the positions for the holes.

22 holes later, the bearers were drilled and bolted to their stirrups - used Pryda Full Post Stirrups - and laid in their respective holes.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2122.jpg



The following day I assembled the 1st and last joists so that I could level them off and set in the concrete for the bearer stirrups. That was a very delicate job.

The best way I found to adjust bearer/joist height to the millimetre was a car jack. Unusual some may say but it worked a treat for me! I kept the spirit level close by and measured every step of the way to make sure I was level at each end.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2151.jpg


Next day was for the joists so I cleared up the area and started levelling the first and last joists and bearers and drilled the holes in the concreted area so that I could dyna-bolt the Pryda bolt-down post stirrups. Here’s the finished job.


http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2170.jpg

I took the opportunity of putting some bearer protector before laying down the joists. Was a bit dear but worth it. I spent the remaining of the day cutting the joists to their required lengths and assembling them in their positions. Following Raff’s trick, we painted the top of the joists black so they couldn’t be seen between the deck’s gap, here’s the result.


http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2220.jpg


This is what the joists look like when bolted to the Pryda Bolt-down post stirrup. The stirrup is 90mm x 90mm and the joist is 90mm x 45mm, so I filled in the remaining 45mm with a piece of 45mm TP, drilled holes in alignment with the joist and bolted both of them to the stirrup. I am pretty happy with the result.

Question: Do you think I need to pack the space between the bottom of the joists and plate of the bolt-down stirrup with some timber in case the joists or bolts give way?


http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2223.jpg


We strapped to joists down to the bearers and cleared the area and that was it.


http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/DSC_2244.jpg

We are now ready to lay down the merbau. I’m planning to it this week-end. I’ll pre-drill using a smart-bit, followed by 10g T17 Countersunk Stainless Steel Decking Screws.

I’ll wait a bit before staining the deck - planning to use F&W Decking Oil - any comment/advise is welcome.

Cheers,

Jerome


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