Timber or Metal Frame...HELP!!!

[samchuang33]

Hi ALL.

1ST of all, I would just like to say this a great site everyone, very informative.

Here is my scenario. I have trying to get a plan together and do up my deck for my townhouse. The area is very small at 2.9M X 1.67M but the problem that I have is that it is quite shallow. The Depth that I am working with is only 20cms (see pic).

I am a bit concern using timber would be a problem due to the timber been to close to ground plus also there will not be a lot of air circulation underneath the deck since it is kinda built into a ditch. Therefore I was thinking maybe a metal framework from Stratco would be more suitable, in terms of durability, then wood in my instance.

What you think guys, timber or metal frame????

[UteMad]

No matter what you do if its surrounded by walls on all sides ventilation will suffer.... You can increase the board gaps from 3mm to 5mm which will help...

below is a photo of the same thing as yours and we used less than 20cm







This deck was only fixed to the perimeter walls... If you are looking through other posts you will see these photo's elsewhere also

cheers utemad

[samchuang33]

thx UteMad

So what gaps did you leave with your deck (3 or 5mm)and how did you work out the distance or how many dynabolts you need to fix ledgers on the walls?

Cheers