WOODWORKING QUIZ for 5 Nov 04

[Ralph Jones]

Good Morning Friends,
Running late this morning.
Now for the quiz; You are going to use Tongue and groove becking material to lay a deck and the amount of wood need will be figured by the face width of each board. The tongue is 3/8" While the groove is 1.2" to allow for expansion. the boards are 1 x 6 x 16' and we will need to find how many we will need to cover a deck 16' x 24'. Don't forget that the dimensions are based on the face width.

Respectfully,

[Wood Borer]

I am an amateur woodworker so here is an opportunity for all you builders have a giggle at my expense due to my lack of experience.

My answer is 52 boards.

My reasoning is as follows:

The boards are 6 inches wide with a 3/8 tongue so only 5 5/8” is available.

24’ has to be covered so number of boards = (24X12) / (5 5/58) = 51.2 so 52 boards.

[Ralph Jones]

Good Evening Wood Borer,
Well at least you made the effort to try to solve the problem, and I applaud you for that.

If you will re read the post or quiz you will notice that I stated the deck is to be 16' x 24'. Now as for the deck board, the tongue is 3/8" (.375), while the board over all width is 5.5" - .375 = 5.125 (5 1/8") now convert the length of the board into inches 16' x 12" =192 x 5.125 = 984 square inches/ 144 sq in = 6.8333 or round off to 6.9'.
Now figure the square feet of the deck 16' x 24 ' = 384 sq. ft. / 6.9 sq. ft. = 56 boards + about 10% for waste or buy 60 boards, and you will have enough to cover the deck.

Thank you for your support.

Respectfully,

[Sturdee]

Ralph,

Ever since we Aussies have seen the light and went metric I refuse to work with imperial measurements.

However I could follow Woodborer's answer and to me that made sense, but your answer is confusing. In your question you said the boards are 6" wide yet somehow we are supposed to know that your tongue and grove boards are actually 5 1/2 inch wide. Further wouldn't it be easier to calculate the boards needed using WB method ? ie. divide the width of the deck by the width of the board.

BTW why use T & G boards for a deck ? What about water runof ?

Peter who is also ready to be giggled at by experts.

[Ralph Jones]

Hello Jig Builder,
I know where you are coming from on the measurements as I was taught in feet and inches , most likely you were taught in metric as this is your method of measurement. Personally I can't stand the metric system because I was not taught how to use it fluently.
Now for the deck portion of this post, any flooring placed on a framing structure is known as a deck until the different things happen such as building walls , or even a roof over a porch, which both allow T&G decking materials, whether it be plywood or single boards. The reason I stated the board was over all 6" wide, was because it also included the tongue. Now with the tongue placed inside the groove the face measurement of the board, ( the portion that is exposed) was 5 1/8" wide, and this is what is known as the face measurement. Since the tongue is hidden in the groove it can not be figured in the width measurement, or you will be short of material.

You are right that a recreational deck for BBQs and the like will not be decked with T&G boards.

Respectfully,

[Sturdee]

Thanks Ralph for the explanation.

I was born in a country that used metric and then on migrating to Oz I had to learn the imperial system and then relearn the metric system. I found the imperial system with its fractions much more difficult to use then metric.

Part of my confusion also arose from the term deck. Here a deck is outside and inside we call it a floor.

Peter.