Building a deck

[droid]

ah no worries, also when you look at the house from the side where will your joists be positioned around your pillars? if you keep the gaps of your joists even, meaning your screw head lines will be evenly spaced aswell then how are you navigating the pillars and where does the deck extend to? flush with the edge of the pillar?

 

[Blind Dog]

I'm assuming your beating yourself up because 2 of the stirrups are too low. Why not just pack them with either wood or metal plates, or a combination, rather then try to dig them up and reset?

 

[Dave70]

I'm assuming your beating yourself up because 2 of the stirrups are too low. Why not just pack them with either wood or metal plates, or a combination, rather then try to dig them up and reset?

Yep. I've dragged myself under enough houses over time to conclude that bits of fibro packed between the ant cap and bearer must be standard industry practice..

 

[TheWiggman]

ah no worries, also when you look at the house from the side where will your joists be positioned around your pillars? if you keep the gaps of your joists even, meaning your screw head lines will be evenly spaced aswell then how are you navigating the pillars and where does the deck extend to? flush with the edge of the pillar?

Joists are running to the pillars and will rest on a ledger anchored to the pillar. They will meet flush with the outer edge. There will be some uneven spacing with the screws but it's not an issue because the pillars are 350mm wide, thus no 'in between' ledger and screws on the edge as they would along any edge. I'll try to space the other joists evenly between the house ensuring I don't exceed 450mm.

Blind Dog, the problem isn't obvious but note that the position of the single bearers to the stirrups. The second stirrup is fixed on the wrong side. It's basically like this, the arrows showing where I took measurements.



As far as being too low, nah they're fine how could I stuff that up? <_< There's supposed to be 5-25mm clearance between the bearer and post anyway to allow for termite inspection.

 

[droid]

Joists are running to the pillars and will rest on a ledger anchored to the pillar. They will meet flush with the outer edge. There will be some uneven spacing with the screws but it's not an issue because the pillars are 350mm wide. I'll try to space the other joists evenly between the house ensuring I don't exceed 450mm.

Blind Dog, the problem isn't obvious but note that the position of the single bearers to the stirrups. The second stirrup is fixed on the wrong side. It's basically like this, the arrows showing where I took measurements.

Untitled.jpg

As far as being too low, nah they're fine how could I stuff that up? <_< There's supposed to be 5-25mm clearance between the bearer and post anyway to allow for termite inspection.

Cool. If you are going to have a facia then running them past the outer edge for some overhang will be better but if no facia then not needed.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Cant you cut, extend and weld, how far out of alignment are the saddles?

 

[TheWiggman]

Could do but not a done thing with hot dipped galvanised. We intend to be here a long time and I'd rather do it once and properly.

 

[TheWiggman]

Easier than I thought.

 

[Dave70]

Ha ha!
When I see shit like that it reminds me how often I have attempted DIY vastly outside my extremely narrow skillset. Followed by multiple trips to the hardware store amidst a blizzard of foul language.
Its a great way to lean!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Yep. I've dragged myself under enough houses over time to conclude that bits of fibro packed between the ant cap and bearer must be standard industry practice..

I thought it was mandatory


As the builders say...the different between a room that is square and not is some quad and no-more-gaps

 

[TheWiggman]

I found it amusing that at work when I described the stuffup some of the responses were:
"It's only out by 45mm, aren't you being a bit pedantic?"
"Won't it be covered by the boards? It'll be right"
"5mm won't kill you - just dig up one post. Don't be so anal"
"Just cut it and re-weld it"
"Nice one dickhead, hahahaha"
"It's a double bearer yeah? Why don't you just split the bearers and bolt it to one side?"

It's shitty so I'm starting again and getting it right. On a positive the rest of the framework is so level you could play pool on it. Decided not to go for fall just because.

 

[Airgead]

Perfect is the enemy of done.

 

[Dave70]

I thought it was mandatory


As the builders say...the different between a room that is square and not is some quad and no-more-gaps

I admire Wiggmans resolution to see a job well done.
But I remember back at TAFE in the roof plumbing module, you had to be able to acrually fabricate various sheet metal and gutter components to more or less push fit tolerances, then soft solder the lot together. It was an actual motor skill transferable to many other things. An elegantly crafted down pipe on a heritage home or church is a thing of beauty.

Then...everything changed, and gappy joints and in-precise angles were dealt with by the squeeze of the trigger. Guess it got you to the pub sooner..

 

[Killer Brew]

I'm getting all handy this weekend and building a sandpit for the little guy and a small deck adjacent. Wish I could be brewing instead. I'm fortunate though that there is an old 2x3m shed slab I can use to build my deck so will just bolt some joists straight into the slab.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I admire Wiggmans resolution to see a job well done.
But I remember back at TAFE in the roof plumbing module, you had to be able to acrually fabricate various sheet metal and gutter components to more or less push fit tolerances, then soft solder the lot together. It was an actual motor skill transferable to many other things. An elegantly crafted down pipe on a heritage home or church is a thing of beauty.

Then...everything changed, and gappy joints and in-precise angles were dealt with by the squeeze of the trigger. Guess it got you to the pub sooner..

Yep. Those hand crafting techniques are no longer taught. I spent the first 3 months of my apprenticeship cutting, drilling and filing blocks of metal to insane tolerences


As for the silicon

I was in Reece a while back and in the showroom the had your run of the mill household pressure pump with a soccer ball size blob of silicon around where pressure switch T's off.. Old mate just kept throwing silicon at it to stop it leaking. God knows how many tunes he went thru It was epic

 

[droid]

hey wiggy here's a pic for (to inspire?) your mrs!

 

[Yob]

Could do but not a done thing with hot dipped galvanised. We intend to be here a long time and I'd rather do it once and properly.

Twice

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Ha ha!
When I see shit like that it reminds me how often I have attempted DIY vastly outside my extremely narrow skillset. Followed by multiple trips to the hardware store amidst a blizzard of foul language.
Its a great way to lean!

the quality of a DIY project is directly proportional to the number of swears. it's science.

 

[Feldon]

Cross-bracing - consider installing a bit of cross-bracing on the frame before the boards go on and close everything up.

Even if the frame looks rock solid and is a fairly small deck held together by metal brackets, it might eventually want to slide one way or another (think of a dance party with 20+ throbbing teenagers moving to the beat of some atrocious future hit). Once it shifts even a little it can all get a little loose and boards can start popping up.

Strongest way is to form equilatoral trinagles with the cross-bracing pieces of timber (eg across the corners). But anything is better than nothing. Off-cut timber is good (maybe put a lick of paint on the end grain too). And the cross bracing should be done both vertically and horizontally. For fasteners, through bolts are better than coach bolts; coach bolts are better than screws; and screws are better than nails - and don't use nails.

Also, if you can do it without having to install more posts, think about some double joisting in areas that are going to get some lateral stress (eg where foot-fall happens at a doorway from the house, and areas when people concentrate on a deck such as around the BBQ). If you don't want to buy extra timber for this you can use off-cuts of joist timber to locally strengthen stressed areas. Double joisting can also prevent springiness underfoot in high load areas if the distance between joists is at the max recommended (depending on thickness and type of timber boards being used - pine can be very springy).

 

[spog]

hey wiggy here's a pic for (to inspire?) your mrs!

Imagine sitting back with a beer or twelve and watching the better half build a deck... I wish!