Advice (to make sure im on the right track)

With mine, I've run the bearers through at joist level all the way through and the joists all butt into the back of it. Mine is all steel but the same principle applies. You don't see the ends of any joists and you don't see any end grain on the decking (except in two places where it doesn't matter). All you see is the face of the bearer and the long grain edge of the decking.

I have a full board that runs the full length of the deck on the outside of the post, so all my posts are 'set back' from the edge of the deck by 90mm. I reckon it finished it off nicely with the balustrade. The bearers are 50mm, so there is an over hang of 40mm. I prefer that look to the blunt look.

Here's one I finished a few weeks ago.

That looks very neat. The mitred board gives it a touch of class. :2tsup:

back to drawing board for me!

I love that look silentc!

Just be warned, the mitres can and do open up a bit. I've got a couple that have been in for over a year now. They still look OK but if you look directly down from above, there is a slight gap. The secret there is to bevel the edges with a few swipes of a block plane (as I do with all the butt joints) and it makes it less obvious.

I've considered putting a horizontal cut through the mitred corners and gluing or pinning in a spline. So far none have gotten bad enough to warrant it, but it's still on the cards.

BTW you can see a bit of a dark line that runs down the face of the bearer just in front of the post, which might look like the mitred end of the bearer. In fact that is the tannin that leached out of the merbau after a couple of mm of rain fell on it. The stuff is like timber stain, so keep that in mind with anything you do, including painting the posts and bearers.

You might need to recount your posts, I count 10 + the 2 cypress.
Joists you have 10 at 450 centres. You will actually need 11. one at 0, then 10 every 450 = 4500.

Where are you in Melbourne?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bpj1968

You might need to recount your posts, I count 10 + the 2 cypress.
Joists you have 10 at 450 centres. You will actually need 11. one at 0, then 10 every 450 = 4500.

Where are you in Melbourne?

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Thanks for that, i was counting and recounting last night and discovered the additional joist.

Im over in Edithvale.

Ive decided to use joist hangers as we would like the deck lower than originally planned. Ive also decided on a corner step so we can support the pergola span a little better..

Heres an initial layout. Still a work in progress and pretty rough.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/milto...oughlayout.jpg

I'd drop the internal bearers below the joists if you have room. It saves all those joist hangars that you'd otherwise need. The structure would be more solid with the joists continuous over the bearers as well. 4.8m is a standard length for your joist timbers from timber suppliers.

Also, if you're taking silent's suggestion of a mitred perimeter board, then you'll need double joists (with a packer in between) running out perpendicular to the house, and not on the outer edge, parallel with it.