Deck with second floor ?

[masterblaster]

How are you guys.
First up , are you suppose to get permits to build a deck ?
Second thing is , we wanna do a deck with two floors . The lower level would be of ground around 450 or so , 6mts x 4 mtrs give or take and join side of house , can't see any dramas there . But what we'd love to do is have stairs up the side to a smaller second level say 2.5 mtrs x 2.5 mtrs which would be roof top level for views .
The second level we'd like to do later but l'm thinking how would l support it . We love the pole look so l'm thinking l'd have to put in say 4 poles for the second deck during the making of the lower deck or two poles and use the side of house walls to support the rest.
Could l use the house walls at top to bolt it or even set it above spouting level and use the roof trussess top of roof to hold up the inside edge ?
The house framing is all very good quality hardwood !
lf l did it that way that would give the top deck two 200 ml poles as outer edge support and then the roof trussess or wall tops supporting the inner edge for a 2.5 mtr square deck . Enough or ?
Cheers.
M.B.

[ThePope]

First up , are you suppose to get permits to build a deck ?

For the ground level deck, it depends entirely on your location. Some areas you will, some you won't need approval.
For the upper level deck, definately yes.

There are two ways I see of doing the upper level using two posts as against four.

Drop two or three short steel posts down through the tiles and supported directly onto the top of the house wall (top plate) you'd need to flash around those with lead or similar to make it waterproof.

If you have enough height from the top of the bottom deck you could also go under the eave, this would be the easiest method.

[masterblaster]

Thankyou very much Pope .
Glad you found yourself a new line of work after Popehood to by the way.
Great diagram thanks very much for that l had no idea what the brackets / bolting on or whatever would look like and it really helped .
Turns out the chimney will be in the middle of the views we hoped to get so l decided to move the top level deck over a mtr and the new spot would use two roof sections supporting a second edge as well as the first - bonus , so it should be even better after seeing the diagram .
Thanks again.
MB

[ThePope]

no problem mb...

The little diagram was just to give you an idea of what can be done. Exactly what you can do in your particular circumstance would need to be done onsite by someone qualified.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Get council advice before going too far.
In Victoria you need to comply with ResCode. One biggie of ResCode is the overlooking clause.
If you are within 9m of a neighbours private open space or habitable room window then you need to provide screening to a minimum of 1700mm above the finished floor level, which will kill your views.

[masterblaster]

Yep will do Pope and thanks again . lf it was only one floor l'd probably just do it but with the second l'll get it drawn up and enquire whatever permits if needed . Be a damn shame if we're up there having a beer and it fell down wouldn't it so l better get it right .
Thanks Sir stinky , think we'll be right in that department our place is 7 ac's so we're pretty right for other yards . Funny you mention that though l saw my brother inlaws new place just out of Geelong the other day . lt's a wopping 2 story number , reminds you of bloody Graceland or something it must be 70 sq '. Well that'd be fine except every other house for miles in this new estate is single story and 1/3 the size so their 2nd floor looks into about twenty different backyards - all over them . Amazed it got permitted , l said why didn't you go into a two story estate , dunno but he didn't seem to like that question !
Cheers.
MB

[Sir Stinkalot]

Thats lucky there are no neighbours.

Your brother most likely got away with it as in a new estate all the buildings are going up at the same time. As the neighbouring properties aren't complete and don't have a certificate of occupancy they are considered not to be there, therefore there is nothing to overlook even if you know you can see directly into their bathroom while they are building.

It is funny that when new dwellings are going up in established areas I have seen situations where every window in the upper floor is obscure to prevent overlooking ..... not my cup of tea.