Thread: deck bearers with no space

Hi all
I am building a deck which is at floor level which is only 200mm above the footing beam. The houose is on a pad which slopes off fairly steeply (900mm in 4 metres) away from the house.

I can't use a ledger attached to the house because the ledger would be only a few mm above soil level, and if I dig away the soil to give the the required clearance, the footing beam would be almost undermined.

We also live in a termite area.

I understand that if i separate the deck from the house by 40 mm, I can use systems other than a ledger to mount the joists.

The second and third bearer line will be well above groundlevel, so it's only the house end that is a problem.

One idea is to sit a bearer directly on the surface with plastic beneath it to reduce termite issues. Perhaps with a layer of termite gravel beneath.

Another possibility is to use a steel I beam as bearer with an ant cap on top; the beam sitting on some concrete pads.

Any ideas or sources of info?
cheers
Richard