Decks
 

Thought I'd start a deck thread!

We have a 10ft square (approx) deck on the main floor of our walkout which was built with the original house. It is quite ricketty and some of the boards are rotting, so we're planning to replace and extend it, by adding a slightly lower 12x10 ft extension along the back of the house.

We are now lost in a mire of options, regarding footer depths and types, how to hang ledger boards, what are the best materials to use, what sort of railings to install, etc etc etc .... I've been researching for a while and it all seems doable on our own (Canadian neighbours and friends are offering to help!! :unsure:)

So any experiences or advice you'd like to share would be welcome! Let's see pictures of decks you have built or had built. :thumbsup:

I feel that once we have built our deck and sworn our citizenship oath (hopefully some time this year!) we will be PROPER Canadians! :p:rofl:

Re: Decks
 

We had our deck built 3 years ago as an extension to the one already built - the existing one had no direct access to the garden :confused:. We used pressure treated lumber from Home Hardware/Proudfoots, and used their sub-contractor to build it. We drew the plans up ourselves and the deck was a whole lot bigger than I had visualized it :eek:

Our decking has no visible nail holes because it is screwed from underneath. It is also all picture framed, with some areas chevroned for a really nice look.

Best of all we used glass panels for all railings looking down onto our above ground pool. I had seen the clever use of glass panels on a TV programme. We love it :thumbsup:

Re: Decks
 

Remember to call the City before you start digging.

We've been reducing our deck. It came with the house and, at about 550 square feet, was way too big for what is quite a small garden. I've been hacking bits off it.

Re: Decks
 

Definitely going to be screwing ours from below when it comes time to replace.

Probably go for the glass/ plexiglasss panel railing too as the current rails really obscure the view over the river for us.

If its a tall deck then those concrete tube footings or even the mushroom shaped ones seem the obvious way to go.

Re: Decks
 

wow, that's impressive and would look nice in our garden :-) If you don't mind me asking, how much was it?

Re: Decks
 

If you have a south facing yard, then I would recommend composite decking - it lasts way longer than regular wood and is worth the extra cost as it will save you in the long term. No splinters either for barefooted users - I've seen one or two really nasty 'sliver' incidents on decks that weren't even that old with neighbours kids....ouch!

Re: Decks
 

We had a deck built last year, it's rather sturdy - the guy we got to build it did a phenominal job, it cost under $3K including all building materials and labour. He told us to get pressure treated cedar from Totem (all their lumber is stored outside so it's better seasoned with less chance of shrinking and warping). If you look on the link of our house for sale you can see it (I would post a seperate pic but they're on the other computer).

Re: Decks
 

Back in the summer of 2007 the deck, including all parts and labour, cost us $21,000 (fixed price quote) and the pool around $6000 all in. At the exchange rate of $2.24 at that time the whole jing bang cost us around 12,000 GBP. We were so lucky in the timing of our move. :)

Re: Decks
 

Doesnt it get REALLY hot to walk on though?

I would have considered it, but they built a deck out of it at the beach and it gets absolutely 3rd degree burn hot. Wood seems a lot more comfortable to my bare feet, and our south facing deck gets insanely hot in the summer until we put the sun shades up, often the thermometer dial is pushing 50+!

Maybe its a colour thing though... although I thought the smooth finish contributed to the problem.

Re: Decks
 

nice exchange rate....if only

Looks really nice :thumbup:

Re: Decks
 

I would recommend composite for decks too but it's really expensive and for the size of our deck it would not be affordable. The exterior of our house is composite and has a long lifespan. :)

Re: Decks
 

Our house get boiling hot towards the end of the day. Our composite siding soaks in all the heat :eek:

Re: Decks
 

Does anyone have any experience with those wind out awnings?

I've never seen one more than a few years old that still works, I suspect that they are a bit fragile, and that if you dont wind them back in in a big hurry when a thunderstorm arrives that the wind will do horrible things to them, but dont have and first hand experience.

Re: Decks
 

I would second this. Not only no chance of slivers but virtually maintenance free

We have three decks and only one is composite (actually it's a grey plastic) all it needs is washing every now and again. The other two I have left natural wood because they are a pain to be staining every year or so.

Also if you go for the metal type railings go for the 36" high rather than the 42" we found the top rail of a 42" railing is right in your line of vision when sitting.

Re: Decks
 

You can apparently get them with sensors so that when the wind goes above a preset limit they automatically roll back in.

Obviously a wee bit more money than the manual jobbies.;)