decking ball park costs

[WA_decker]

I have got a 72sq metre deck I am wanting to build nearly on the ground about 35 cm from the ground to the top of the deck. Read in a few posts that decking costs 2-3 as much as paving. Is this true?

I was budgeting $4-5000 for my 72sq metre deck - am I absolutely dreaming?!?! Good to know upfront rather than find out after all the costs start coming in...

[manoftalent]

it all depends on the materials used .....the cheaper version (treated pine) would give you plenty of change left over .........merbu , or jarra may go up too your limit .....it depends on where you buy your materials from, source some suppliers out on pricing ..ordering merbu or jarra and saying random lengths is ok may leave you with several small bits left over if you dont plan it properly when laying it down ....ordering x amount at this length, and x amount at that lenght etc will cost you more ...but you will know that what you buy you will use .....every mtr left over is wasted money ........

plan the area .....mark it out with chalk .....and recheck measurements

work out what posts your going to use to fix your joists too ,concrete, treated pine,redgum,etc ... rule of thumb is 700mm below ground .....and solidified with either cement and dirt ....or concreted ...then comes the joists ....hardwood or treated pine?.....in my opinion hardwood grips better, its just more work to use ..........

then the top goes on ...and finally depending on what you use .....the finish ........the frame could cost $1500......so that leaves $2500-$3000 for the top including nails/screws/finish .......

my advise is draw it all out and price it in stages .....

clear block .....

drill post holes (or dig by hand)

fit posts

fix joists and barers

fix top

apply finish

sit back and wonder why the hell you thought it would be easy over several tinnies and admire your work

[Shedhand]

I had a visit from a mate last night who builds decks. I have about 70sqm average 600mm from ground. Galv steel posts in concrete. 140 x 45 T/P Joists. 160 x 84 nail laminated Tas Oak kiln dried bearers. 70 x 19 Masara decking, pre-drilled and nailed off by hand with stainless steel domehead nails. He reckons to have it built would have cost me $135 a sqm materials and labour included. Did it myself for probably less than 4k. Took my time though. :-

[Spelunx]

Sorry, unless you make it out of pine decking, you are dreaming.

I got my Jarrah decking for $4 a linear metre, which is roughly $48 a square metre. 72 metres, plus around 5% wastage, means you need around 76 sqm, which is $3648, just in decking alone.

I think you can get pine for about half that.

The bearers and joists are easily costed out, just do a really detailed plan, and then head off to Bunnings with a pen and paper. You can do the same for finishing.

Nuts and bolts are an added cost, if you live near an industrial area, there is probably a cheaper place to buy fixing than a hardware shop. I bought all my stuff from a place in Bunbury called Heatleys, they were awesome. A bloke walked around the shop with me, collecting exactly the nuts and bolts I needed for the job. Compare that with the mess that is the nuts and bolts section in the hardware shop!

The only way I can see you doing it any cheaper is by using recycled materials. In the Quokka each week there are any number of pergolas that are going free or cheap. Over a good few weeks/months, you may just get enough material to do the bearers/joists, it will complicate the job though, because they will be not too straight. Then again, most of the pine I used on my deck was twisted or bent!

A few months before I started my deck, I began to collect hardware cataloges, and now have a collection of a dozen. This is a pretty good ready-reckoner if you need a quick price on something. They are like gold with a reno like mine.

[Shedhand]

Treated pine decking should be your absolute last choice. In fact you'd be better off not building a deck than using that rubbish. Jarrah is a Cat 3 decking material (the higher the number the less resilient) Masara and some other imported hardwoods are Cat 1 (extremely resiliant). These Cat 1 hardwoods generally need to be predrilled prior to nailing or screwing down. If screwing, drill slightly oversize to prevent splitting. Make sure that you use screws or nails(ribbed) that will be twice the thickness in length of the decking in the frame. (ie, 19mm thick decking requires 55-60mm nails (ribbed) or screws). When calculating quantity don't allow for spacing in the boards as they will shrink and develop an even gap over about a month or so depending on the climate you have. Most of the imported stuff is around 2.90/3.40 incl GST a metre. Bargain with the outlets as they buy it cheap. Hunt around for a local importer (being way out West it probably lands cheaper than on the Eastern seaboard). When its been laid let it weather for about 6 weeks then scrub it down with a proprietry Oxalic acid wash and give it a coat of deck finish (Intergrain is good) If you do that it allows the timber to stabilise and you should only need to scrub and recoat every two years. Use hot dipped Galvanised nuts bolts and washers for joining the Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ) treated pine deck frame as bright zinc/cadmium plating reacts with the treating chemical. Stainless steel nails or screws are preferable for fixing the deck boards to the treated pine frame. I used SS coil nails (a bugger pulling them off the plastic coil) or if you can get them locally there is product called No-cor-ode screws for use in exotics and ACQ pine. Because I built my deck myself (saving labour costs) I spent more on over-spec with materials. Its a solid, safe and good looking deck. There are plenty of sites that have good advice and some of the timber outlets have really expert people who've been suppling the deck builders for years and know their stuff.
Good luck with it.
Cheers
Mike

[UteMad]

Hi WAdecker

@72m2 your looking at with 15% waste 82m2 using 90mm boards 11m / m2 thats 900Lm a decent hardwood is 4 -6$ per metre so i'd have to say your a tad shy on funds....

Treated pine would be more up your alley I'd say
T pine Decking and deck nails $2500 @ 30/m2 inc fixings
Joists Assuming a 7.2 x 10m deck 180 Lm 4x2 T pine @ $ 5 / m $900
bearer t pine 90 x 70 50 Lm @ $13 / M $650
Footings 40 @ $20 ea $ 800

Plus extras Ballpark cost for treated pine using 4x2 and 4x3 $4858

These prices are only a guide as i have no real idea of what retail costs would be in your area but i have included the Lm so you can modify it to see for yourself... Obviously shape will play a big part i assumed 7.2 x 10 rectangular... And didn't factor posts from footing to bearer or framing fixings and other things that your situation might require

cheers Utemad

[WA_decker]

Thanks for the tips there. I looked into using steel substructure - wow for a 72m2 area I was quoted 5-7k from Bluescope. I think treated pine will be the way to go now. I don't want to compromise on the top though so I am thinking I will have to save up for the 3.5-4.5k batu/balau decking. Jarrah would be nice but it is even more expensive!