Getting The Right Decking Timber

When it comes to the finished product when building your deck, you have a range of looks to choose from. You can either go with a traditional pine look, imported hardwood, painted timber, fiber cement boarding or even synthetic decking planks.

Put consideration into the look you're trying to achieve as well weather affects in your area, the upkeep and the functionality of your deck. While building your deck yourself

can save money on paying someone to do it for you, you will want to set yourself a clear budget at before beginning he project. This may be the deciding factor in the cladding

you decide to go with. (imported timber can cost up to four times the price of traditional pine.)

If your budget is tight, a little planning can literally save you hundreds of dollars. While I never recommend using lower grade timber (as this contains more knots, is often buckled and weaker), keep an eye out on local timber prices. Catering to the home DIY'er is a fierce market, you can often take advantage of "1 day only" timber specials or pick up excess timber lots at for a cheap price.

Framework

Start by putting together a clear plan of what you features you want your deck to have. Is it going to be a standard rectangular deck, a hexagonal deck, split level..... is it going to have handrails or bench seats around the outside? This is also the time to be checking with your local council or builder as you may need to get building consent or have regulations in your area that need to be followed.

Now it's time to get started on construction. Setup your string-line from the house to guide you on the dimensions and height of your deck. Dig your post holes in the corners and at 1800 millimeter centers, setup pegs to hold the posts in place and pour in 1-2 bags of 20KG ready mix concrete into each hole (see pack for instructions). Ensure the posts are in position with your string-line and flush by using a spirit level.

While you are leaving your concrete to dry you can attach your ledger-board to run along the length of your house. This entails either securing a length of treated timber to your house (see your local building guidelines as specifications vary) or setting up an extra bearer and line of posts if you're unable to nail or bolt into your exterior cladding.

After the concrete has dried, remove the stabilizing pegs and secure your treated timber bearers by sitting them on top of your posts and nailing down or to the side of each post with galvanized bolts.

Cut to size your treated timber joists and secure into position with joist hangers. The joists should be no more than 350 - 400 millimeters apart.

Laying The Surface Of Your Deck

Two things to think about before getting started are:

Rather than pre-cutting your timber to the exact millimeter, cut the outside lengths a little longer than required. This way you can simply trim along the outside when complete, ensure the edges are perfectly even.

Staggering your decking timber will avoid untidy looking rows of joins.

You should start laying the along the house side of your deck, leaving a 5 - 6 millimeter gap for rain to drain off. Between each length use a nail or pencil head to keep a consistent 2mm gap. Position your lengths to meet over a joist so you can nail the ends of your timber down (pre-drilling will stop the timber from splitting, particularly if you're using hardwood.) A good way to ensure consistency in the gaps between each length, is to smack a nail into the joist beside each length of timber. Once you've laid your first length, hammer in a thin nail (remember you're trying to keep a 2mm gap) hard against the outside of the length, push the next length hard against the nail, hammer in another nail, then hammer in down your decking timber. This may be a little extra work, but is worth-while to avoid inconsistent gaps.

Now you've finished the structural side of building your deck, all that is left is the finishing touches. You may want to paint or oil your deck to fit in with the look of your house and to protect the timber from the elements.

Add some outdoor furniture or a barbecue, and get ready to enjoy your DIY outdoor entertaining.