Split level deck with spa and pergola

[Michael Breen]

Thge other possibility, dear Busted, is to train thje missus to enjoy second hand timber or you may be making a rod for your own deck!
Cheers
Michaek

[BustedThumbs]

She's a real estate agent... she can afford it. I'd rather spend it on a boat though.

[Spelunx]

On the brighter side we have built a little room inside our machinery shed from the roofing oregon 4x2 and lined with white cedar wallboards, reversing the painted side. We used an old window frame, two door frames complete with fanlight and coating the whole with ripple iron over the insulation between the studs. We renovated the old bullnose awning for over the door and window. So I suppose we have not been total wastrels.

Wow, that sounds amazing...

Good luck with the deck!

[silentC]

Bearer and joists look OK according to my span tables.

You will need approximately 0.2 cubic metres of concrete per footing. Better get at least 10% more if you are ordering a truck.

Now that I've seen your design, I think you are right to use wet stirrups, especially as you are supporting a gazebo on it. In fact, I would be tempted to do away with the stirrups and drop the ends of the posts into the concrete. You're probably going to need to consider bracing as well.

[BustedThumbs]

UH OH! My memory led me down the garden path. I thought i had a lot more height to work with than 35cm. I've also been told to reduce the width of the deck by about 1m to reduce costs. This calls for a rethink...

The area around the spa will still be supported on posts, but i'm thinking the rest of the area can run the bearers straight off the stirrups. I've had a good look at Flats' deck (amongst others) and have got a few ideas.

I'm going to Mooloolaba for a week so now i don't expect to start work until next saturday. Off to a ripping start.

Have a good Christmas all,
Mike

[BustedThumbs]

I'm back from holidays that went on longer than i expected... but felt shorter than it was. I guess that's always the way. Anyhow, went out and bought $6100 of timber plus a couple of hundred dollars of conrete and cement. I've got 90x90 Kwila posts around the outside running up 1.2m above the deck level for a handrail which will be made from splits of the kwila. It's great timber!

All the post holes were done by hand in about half a day and we've started putting in some of the posts around the outside. The posts in the centre are just cheap and ugly treated hardwood but they won't be visible. I'm getting a lot of help from a friend of my fiance who works in soil stabilisation, so i figure he's fairly clued up.

We've had a disagreement about what spacings and timber to use for the bearers and joists. We've settled on 2m spacing between posts and bearers using 150x50 F5 treated pine. The joists are 100x50 treated pine and will be set at 450 intervals. I've also got 1000m of kwila decking to lay on top of it all. It should be fairly solid, but i'd have preferred 1.2m spacings between bearers. At the end of the day, we've got almost as much wood in the ground as we do above and it'll only be about a foot off the ground.

More pics tomorrow.

Cheers.

[BustedThumbs]

It's the end of day two and i'm hurting. All but one of the posts are concreted in. I found one pipe running from a grey water tank straight underneath where i wanted to put a post, and i struck an inch thick concrete pad that i had to break through in two post holes near the spa.

The ledgers have been bolted on along the side of the house and one edge of the spa.

I think it's time for pizza and beer.

Cheers,
Mike

[BustedThumbs]

It's been a few days and i seem to be going nowhere fast. The bearers are all done now and only 8 joists left to be put down. Still have to make the access hatches for the grease trap and grey water tank.

As you can see from the pictures, i've started pulling apart the pump and filter to be moved away from the deck. I made a silly mistake in forgetting to disconnect power to the pump before starting. I'd just cut off the pipe joining the pump to the filter when i had to go out the front to let a guy in to service the mower. I was having a chat with him about decking coz he's just about to start one too (poor chump) when i heard water splashing. I turned around and could see a jet of water rising about ten meters above the roof of the house. Not cool!

The day didn't get any better. I smacked my thumb real good with the hammer, cracked another fingernail with the hammer, then dropped a bearer on my ankle. I broke my last cutting blade on the angle grinder, a brand new power drill broke and bent a leg on a saw horse.

Stupid deck!

Mike

[BustedThumbs]

I've got 48 hours to have the decking finished for the engagement party we're meant to be having on saturday night. Nearly a third of it has been laid and i'm hating life. I have a new philosophy that i''ve borrowed from Yoda. Decking leads to pain, pain leads to suffering, suffering leads to anger, and anger leads to the dark side!

Cheers,
Mike

[Loki429]

Keep up the good work! Looking excellent so far, and it will all be worth it in the end.

Just one question though - how you going to mow the grass under the deck

[BustedThumbs]

Miniature horses... lot's of them!

[BustedThumbs]

Back at work now so i've only got every 4th weekend when i come back from Sydney to work on it. Here's a few pictures of the progress to date. I've got a few more planks to nail down on the lower deck, then sort out the pipes for the spa. Once that's done i can put the remaining joists in where the spa used to be and finish the decking on that level. I intent using Cabots natural decking oil to finish the decking off. Then i have to put the handrails on. I'll use some 90x90 kwila posts split in two. SWMBO has stipulated wire rope as well. We'll see...

[BustedThumbs]

I've been saying it for the last few months but this time i mean it... it's almost finished! I never expected to have to re-oil the deck before it's even finished but in my defence, i've been home for about 4 days since my last post.

In response to loki's query about the grass growing under the deck, the grass is well and truly dead now.

All that remains is about 20 linear metres of decking, the handrails, deck lights and steps. Hopefully my next post will contain pictures of the completed project. Hopefully.

One last comment. After looking at the other pictures of decks at their various stages of construction i've noticed that they generally seem to have very straight timber. My bearers and joists were all over the shop. The bearers weren't such a problem but I was forced to assault my joists with an electric planer. Not cool.

[Spelunx]

One last comment. After looking at the other pictures of decks at their various stages of construction i've noticed that they generally seem to have very straight timber. My bearers and joists were all over the shop. The bearers weren't such a problem but I was forced to assault my joists with an electric planer. Not cool.

My treated pine joists were all twisted or bowed to some extent. The bearers were all pretty good, except one which we didn't end up using. Nearly all of my joists needed straightening. I tied a clamp on the end, gave it a twist then nailed it down to a temporary board with a 3 inch nail. Once I got half-way along the deck, I removed the board, then gave it another twist and nailed them back into position.

[BustedThumbs]

Coming up to a year since i started this project. I've got the handrails up now and have laid all but a couple of metres of deck. All that remains to be done are the steps at one edge, facing on the step in the centre with a couple of feature lights, and some stainless steel rope run around the edges. Should be achievable if i can get leave to come home this Christmas.

Can anyone offer advice on running steel rope around the deck?

I have had one downer. My wife got some clown in to repair the spa pump/filter/blower. She was really impressed with how cheap he was, and having seen the quality of work he did, i'm not suprised he was cheap. He's moved the blower around the side of the house which necessitated installing a switch near the spa. He's put it in the deck next to the spa but hasn't used a waterproof switch. So he's made a cover for it - using a plastic pot plant drip tray turned upside down! Furthermore, he screwed the hinges on so they show rather than having them hidden under the cover, and the switch is loose in the deck! I was not impressed.