The poll to divide a universe ... Decking timber ... grooves up or down?

[RETIRED]

Also if you lay them on edge at 100MM spacings it would act like a cattle grid and keep all wildlife out.

[derekcohen]

Why stop there? Dig them deep on end, sharpen to a fine point, and use them to keep your mother-in-law from the beer fridge.

Taking cover in Perth

Derek

[Eastie]

Definitely grooves down – that way when you overindulge just a little on the brandy and barbituates and nod off on the deck when you wake up in the morning you haven’t got the grooves imprinted on your head Also spew doesn’t pool, it just runs through the cracks – except for the chunky bits of course. If JimmyH had have passed out on a deck with the reeds down he might have rocked on!

These alone are the three main reasons for laying the decking with reeds down.

(PS. as has been said above prime and seal bearers, joists and the underside of the deck + use malthoid of similar & use suitable timbers = long hassle free life. You could skip this and do a half arsed job in half the time though )

[arose62]

I thought the idea was similar to the Incra fences, and allowed you to have variable spacing between the decking.

Lay the first layer grooves up, and the second layer grooves down. The grooves serve to interlock the two layers.

If you want the decking spaced out a bit more, just shift it over one groove. No more of this mucking about with using a nail as a spacer.

[Geoff Sims]

I built a deck about a year ago out of treated pine screwed to steel joists. Ignored all the advice and put the decking on grooved side up. Looked good and was nice to walk on until the first rains came.

Every single board cupped, the edges of some of the boards lifting as much as 5mm. Not so nice to walk on after that as the boards rocked as you stepped on them (only one screw in the middle of each board at each joist). It looked like crap too.

Had to replace the worst of the boards and turned all the others over and screwed then down again. Have had more rain since and the deck is still nice and flat and looking good.

This experience tells me that treated pine decking is specifically milled to be placed grooved side down. Won't make that mistake again.

Cheers

[journeyman Mick]

I notice that none of the 5 people that voted for laying the decking grooves up have posted a response in this discussion. C'mon, let's hear it now, and we'll have a bit of "universal division" (apologies to Stinky)

Mick

[Wood Borer]

Mick,

You are way out of touch. Don't you understand the new untrained/unqualified customer focussed corporate approach?

You see the likes of you think that before you answer a question, you think you should know what you are talking about or perhaps have experience on the subject or be qualified before answering the question. Old hat son.

Nah the new way is to give an qualified confident sounding opinion even if you don't understand the question. The answer of course must have an angle that will suit you or your corporate employer - ie $$$$$$$$.

It must work because all the big corporates in Australia employ such people and pay them very well. Their salaries are subsidised by the savings made on discontinued training. That is why we are all satisfied happy little consumers.

So stop having a go at the people who gave answers about something they knew nothing about. They were trying to be helpful, it was only their advice that was a in error. Anyone taking their advice won't find out in the near future - give them a go.


- Wood Borer

[Sir Stinkalot]

I voted for grooves up because I think that they look better.

When I was living in Ballarat they were installed grooves up there and slippage wasn't a concern. There were large gum tress in the backyard and they didn't seem to make the mess spoken about. Even with Ballarats high rainfall there is no sign of rot after about 15 years. The joists were covered with a tar like membrane before the decking was laid. When walking across the deck you do go perpendicular to the grooves rather than parallel so perhaps this reduced the slipping.

[DaveInOz]

Originally posted by Wood Borer
Mick,

You are way out of touch. Don't you understand the new untrained/unqualified customer focussed corporate approach?

You see the likes of you think that before you answer a question, you think you should know what you are talking about or perhaps have experience on the subject or be qualified before answering the question. Old hat son.

Nah the new way is to give an qualified confident sounding opinion even if you don't understand the question. The answer of course must have an angle that will suit you or your corporate employer - ie $$$$$$$$.

It must work because all the big corporates in Australia employ such people and pay them very well. Their salaries are subsidised by the savings made on discontinued training. That is why we are all satisfied happy little consumers.

So stop having a go at the people who gave answers about something they knew nothing about. They were trying to be helpful, it was only their advice that was a in error. Anyone taking their advice won't find out in the near future - give them a go.


- Wood Borer

They were asked for their opinion, not for their expert advice. The natural assumption for people is that the grooves go up for grip. Thats how it works on their stairs. If it was for air flow/ drainage then wouldn't the joists, bearers etc have the same? Based on knowing these things the logical answer is up.
Incidently I never gave it a second thought until reading a post ages ago on this forum, that is the only reason I knew to vote down.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Originally posted by DaveInOz
They were asked for their opinion, not for their expert advice.

True .... I don't really care if they are experts or not. I was interested in knowing which way people would put their decking timber if given the choice. I know that the grooves should go down but I prefer up.

I am sure if you go into any timber yard and ask 5 salespeople which way the deck goes 3 will say down and 2 will say up or down or whatever. I have seen on the crappy DIY shows on tv that they say it doesn't matter which way they go.

If its such a problem having the flat face down .... why is there decking timber flat on both sides???? Oh my God it must rot in front of your eyes.

As for opinion vs expert advice ... come on .... its bloody decking timber. If it goes the wrong way who cares ..... its not like I am asking advice on how to rewire a house and some monkey is jumping in and saying that it is best done outside in the rain.

Just more food for thought.

Stinky

[echnidna]

I'm flabbergasted at how many of you have got it all wrong.

WHO CARES if it lasts a bit longer with the grooves down

THE REAL REASON for having yer grooves up is ter catch yer beer if yer slips. It'll lay in the grooves long enough to get down and lick it all up.

[Wood Borer]

Dave,

I had not given it any thought either until I read the thread. If you had asked me prior to the thread I probably would have opted for grooves facing upwards. I would have been wrong though and perhaps tilted the scales so that poor old Stinky would have done the job incorrectly and had rotted out decking when he returned from his honeymoon.

Because I didn’t know, I didn’t vote until I had researched the subject. I am grateful to those who have enlightened me on one of the many subjects that I am ignorant about.

That’s what this BB is all about learning and helping plus a bit of fun and humour.

I reckon this BB has the potential to turn ignorant grumpy people into informed happy people. Well perhaps in most cases!!!

Echidna, spilling beer is highly irresponsible. Someone at work once suggested a stubby holder with a built in gyroscope so the stubby/can would always remain upright. There was the problem of tilting it to drink out of though.

- Wood Borer

[bitingmidge]

If its such a problem having the flat face down .... why is there decking timber flat on both sides????

Hmmm... but, on the other hand if it's not a problem having the groove side up, why isn't there decking timber grooved on both sides????

Maybe you could avoid all this lovely debate by using CFC sheet and tiling over it?

P

[journeyman Mick]

Woodborer,
how do I get myself one of those jobs? I know absolutely nothing about lots and lots of things and would quite happily make erroneous statements if someone was willing to pay me to do so, hell if they paid me enough I'd be quite happy to make erroneous statements about subjects I did know something about.

Mick

[Wood Borer]

Mick,

Look for ads from a really big telecommunications company, a really big airline company, a large hardware chain, government jobs …….. they employ heaps of people like that – gee I almost forgot the banks.

I won’t go on because this BB is for woodwork – an activity where those types are very thin on the ground which is another reason woodwork is so great.

Stick to your woodwork and building Mick, at least you can lie straight in bed and have the satisfaction doing something useful and helping people.

Or were you after one of those jobs where the gyroscopic stubby holder was discussed? Qualified, experienced and half mad are the pre-requisites there but not ignorance.

- Wood Borer