Bracing a deck

[stuey]

Hiya , looking to get a bit of advice on how to brace the posts of a deck . I have recently slightly extended a deck where the decking boards are just over 2m off the ground . Problem is the original posts and the new ones dont align due to the terrain ( infact the old posts dont align either ) . When i say align i mean they are not able to be braced with a piece of wood as they are offset from each other . Is there any other way that I could brace the posts ? a friend did suggest metal straps , the ones with a ll the holes in , not sure what they are called..any help more than welcome please

[TermiMonster]

How about a wire (stainless or otherwise) similar to that shown here: I can't help thinking flat strapping will look fairly mediocre.

[pawnhead]

For a heavier brace than sugested above, you could use M16 Rod (http://www.biggee.com.au/SPECIAL-BRACING.htm) from Big Gee (http://www.biggee.com.au/StrappingBracing.html).
Or perhaps you can just nail some speedbrace (http://www.pryda.com.au/catalog.php?sectionid=20&type=Bracing&conn=SDB31) to the underside of the joists. This may stiffen the structure without bracing the posts, depending on your circumstances.