Trouble with decking

[SIMONLEWIS]

Hi there everyone,

Just looking for some help with a decking question (probably a dumb question again).

I will be building a deck using the joist hangers method (as it is a low level deck). The Bearers will run parellel with my house. The predicament I have is.... I cannot join the deck to the house as I don't want to cover the weep holes with timber. So the deck will be freestanding. I will be using 100x75 for bearers and 100x150 for joists.
I dont want a gap between the house and the deck so I'm looking for ideas to get the deck as close to the house as possible.
I'm using steel stippups in place of paosts.
Can I join 2 pieces of 100x75 together to gain some distance, or is their an easier way. (I have a termite chemical line underground which comes out from the hose approx 90mm, so I cant put the stirriups much closer than 150mm and have a decent footing.

Any help would be muchly appreciated... sorry about all the dribble..hope its easy enough to understand.

[mic-d]

Just wondering why your bearers are smaller than the joists? If you do it by laminating another bearer inboard of the one on stirrups closest to the house, this might put the stirrup max 200mm from the house, but the hole you dig is still likely to disturb the termite barrier. How about run a number of heftier bearers perpendicular to the house with the stirrups no closer than say 500mm from the house. These bearers run right up to the house and the bearers parallel to the house can be cantilevered off them as close as you like. Then then joists are fitted with joist hangers as per your original thoughts. Don't know how you will go for height, and I would be fitting an easily removable panel of decking along the house for termite inspections.
Just another idea.

Cheers

Michael

[SIMONLEWIS]

Hi Michael,

Cheers for the advice. The bearers are actually 100x75 and joist 100x50 (my typing skills are not that flash)

I will have a problem with clearance (you would hit me if I told you how close to the ground this thing will be)

If I had the stirrups say 500mm away from the house (every 1500mm) and made the Bearer on that side larger, would the 500 be too far to support hanging the ledger board (with pieces of bearer inbetween the bearer and ledger board and supported by the stirrups at say 1500 centres)

does that make sense?

[mic-d]

Sorry you lost me on that:confused: Do you mean you want to have a ledger flying in the breeze, connected to the bearer by what amounts to a series of very short joists or trimmers nailed to the bearer? If so, sounds like a bit of a weak spot to me.
Back to the earlier idea, you could partially checkout the bearers to reduce the height, would that give you enough clearance? You'd need about 250-270mm to the top fo the decking.

Cheers
Michael

[SIMONLEWIS]

Thanks mate,

Yes I think I lost myself on that one as well. You have fixed my problem.
Just one more thing.
I'm using hardwood, and that particular bearer will be prety close to the ground. Is there anything special I have to do to protect it from termites (spray it with something) or should I just dig a slight trench along the ground underneath to keep it up off the ground a bit more???

Cheers
simon

[mic-d]

Glad you sorted it out! If you can get ground clearance that is always best, but try and get a durability class 1 timber such as ironbark if not. All endgrain and fresh cuts should be either primed with paint or painted with something like CN Timber oil. Use the rubber joist strips to add longevity - available at say Bunnings, also you can get them in sizes for bearers. Also either handnail or use a coil nailer and nail diagonally in each board, not in a line.

Cheers
Michael
P.s. remember to allow access for termite inspections along the house!