Thread: The World's Slowest Construction of a Merbau Deck/Pergola

Originally Posted by Blu_Rock

Robo, on the Forum, when you are seeking advice that falls outside the scope of the thread you are currently reading, it is best to start a new thread and this will give you the greatest chance of someone seeing your question and responding to it. I suggest you start a new thread for this question.



I am not sure how you would go about making end caps or whether your proposed fix would last.

OOOOOOOOh play nice people

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cheers utemad

Originally Posted by ComboSquare

Interesting, I have 2 references that say twice the riser plus the going should equal between 585 - 625 mm. One reference is in 'The Australian Carpenter and Joiner' pg 541:
Riser = 115 min, 190 max
Going = 225 min, 395 max
2R + G = 585 min, 625 max

This is for external timber stairs.

Dont lose too much sleep .. the guys 10 doors up are building a set of stairs and landing up to a front door ... 4 guys to build it and the treads are 190 x 45 with a negative nosing of about 50mm ie the tread below is 50 short of making it to the front of the tread above... Definately not safe especially for pets and kids but it happens every day...
The list of things that dont conform to Aust standards on theis deck goes down to nearly every member size and connection method... I might even post it for all to see how not to do a deck

cheers utemad

Originally Posted by tim120977

Hi UteMad,

I have just had my decking plans approved from the local council. Before they would approve it they wanted some additional information eg step riser heights and tread widths. Since I'm using 90mm by 19mm Merbau my riser height was going to be two boards =180mm plus 3-4mm for the spacing. Tread width 4 boards = 360mm + 10mm for spacing and top of the riser board + 19mm. = roughly 390mm. Then the council made me aware that there is max tread width of 355mm. This kinda screwed up my nice wide step idea. I know there is a min tread width of i think 260mm but i was unaware of the max limit. Has anyone else heard of this? Just after reding your last post UteMad you mentioned that you have used 6 to 8 boards for the tread. Is this using 90mm or 70mm?
Also a little bit off topic but my deck at the highest point is 650mm off the ground and i have 90mm by 90mm Merbau handrail post and wire balastrading basically just for looks. I had the wire spaced on the plan at 200mm spacings to reduce costs a little but the council have come back saying that i must have them spaced at max 100mm width and certain tensions etc. Is this accurate if the deck is not higher than 1mt???. Any information would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Tim.

Never had a prob with the treads being too wide before and yes we use 90mm boards ... If you want 180mm rise with 90mm boards you'll have to run the riser boards under the front of the tread boards and behind the last board on the tread below or you'll end up with 205mm approx riser..
Draw yourself a diagram before you start to save confusion..
Handrails are a funny thing.. In sydney we don't need a handrail generally below 900mm to pass council.. I don't know if once you put one though whether it then has to comply to handrail rules.. The current stainless cable regs are about 4 pages chocker with specs and tensions so too much to spell out here..

Heres an example

Post distance 900mm
height 1000mm
cable centres 80mm
tension req 670 newtons
cables required 11
wire size 3mm
construction 1 x 19

Post distance 1500mm
height 1000mm
cable centres 60mm
tension req 790 newtons
cables required 15
wire size 3mm
construction 1 x 19



they are making it harder every day


cheers Utemad

Had a bit of a busy weekend but I finally managed to finish off the deck's cypress screen that I have been working on for a few weeks. No more looking into my mess of a shed from the deck. I used slightly wider 5mm gaps between the Cypress, rather than the 3mm gaps between the merbau decking.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out and it is stained with Feast Watson Decking Oil, natural tint. The lighter timber looks a tad yellowish so the majority of the lighter stuff is facing out toward the drive. As per the deck, I used stainless screws. The screen still needs another merbau rail across the top, so I suppose it's still not finished.

Next weekend, I will probably try and finish off the handrail and (hopefully, make a start on the other set of stairs leading down to the drive. These stairs will conform with the 2R + G formula that seems to have generated so much discussion.

Nice deck Blu_Rock, looks good

How high is that cypress screen?

Originally Posted by roba

How high is that cypress screen?

The screen is 1620mm to the top of the cypress slats and 1900mm to the top of the top merbau rail, yet to be added. It is 4.5m wide.