Thread: basic deck laying question

I'm also interested to hear from the pro's of this forum.

I've built have a dozen decks and I always butt join the boards. Some say that you should double joist where the joins will be but that's not always practicle especially with the random lengths you get in a large delivery of decking.
Regarding the joins, they won't always be perfect because board width (not thickness) can vary up to 5mm. Care should be taken to try and match board sizes as close as possible. I pre-drill before slightly skew nailing on the joins or screwing. Regarding thickness, of course you want the deck to be smooth and even. You shouldn't have anything that is sitting up and glaringly obvious.
Just remebember it is a deck and I'm as fussy as anyone. You should be able to walk on it without snagging your foot on any edges. Some go to the extra expense of sanding the deck down. Of course it will improve the look of it but do you really want to.
Post some pics so that the forum can better help.

I also have a question regarding laying boards with a 'perimeter border'.
Do you lay the border and 'fill in' so to speak or do you lay the boards with excess overhang and then trim them with a circular saw set 3mm deeper than the thickness of board?

Cheers,
Dr - 307.

Originally Posted by dmh

Hi, newbie question, when laying the merbau deck, what are the options for laying multiple pieces of decking in a row and what are the pros and cons of each?

Should the deck just be butted up end to end and then screwed or are there other options?

I've just had a deck done and they have cut each end on an angle, overlapped the pieces and screwed through both pieces. I'm concerned about expansion and contraction, is this a problem? The wood is thinner due to the cut and may be more likely to crack split etc.

I also have a problem with the how flush some of these joins are. It's seems much more difficult to get the join flush this way.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

When I did my deck, I butt-joined then nailed each peice.

I guess it may depend on the size of the joists used, ie if the joist was thin, it may be better to use the method you described.

I'm no "pro," but I've built a few.

I've always butt-joined, but I don't see any real practical difference between the two methods... I would recommend a small expansion gap between board ends in either case though!

Originally Posted by Dr - 307

Do you lay the border and 'fill in' so to speak or do you lay the boards with excess overhang and then trim them with a circular saw set 3mm deeper than the thickness of board?

IMHO, trimming with a CS afterwards is the only way to get a crisp straight edge.

Sometimes, however, there's no choice but to cut each board individually to fit. eg. if the deck is bordered by brick-work on several sides and the CS just doesn't fit. (as on this deck)

I've seen a sabre-saw used in this situation, but to my eye the end result looked worse than the slightly staggered ends the bloke was trying to fix... it takes a real master to cut straight lines with a sabre-saw and this bloke definitely wasn't a master. Me, I wouldn't even try!

What I did for the pictured deck was cut the boards a fews mm longer (the extra length still being less than the deck spacing) and lay the boards so the outside edge was as straight as possible but the "staggered ends" were in the deck spacing. Then used a fence with the CS, set to cut about 0.5mm more than the deck thickness, to trim 'em straight. A good, sharp chisel was needed for the ends of the run where the CS blade wouldn't cut w/out marring boards I didn't want cut!

AFA the perimeter border goes, some install blocking between the posts on the outside (to nail the perimeter to) and then a wider board for the perimeter board, notched around the posts. So the deck itself just runs to the edge.

Hey Skew,

That is awesome work.
1. I see you angle butt joined you straight lengths. Reason for this?
2. I quite like the way you left a 'decking gap' between the diagonals and the perimeter board. I thought about doing this but didn't have the guts.

I've printed off one of the pictures as a future reference.

Once again, top stuff. And all with a GMC. Too good.

Cheers brother,
Dr - 307.

Originally Posted by Dr - 307

1. I see you angle butt joined you straight lengths. Reason for this?

??

The long lengths in the central section were simply butt joined as that area of the deck is "square," I'd used 45mm joists so there was plenty of support and as I didn't want to introduce diagonals there.

The only angled joints are where the diagonals meet (in the 'V' above the steps) and while I could've alternated the ends as square butt joints in a herring-bone pattern I wanted to keep it visually simple.

Ain't it funny how keeping things looking simple often means more work?

Once again, top stuff. And all with a GMC. Too good.

I bought that GMC a few years ago to frame out that very same house. The site's a fair distance from home and I didn't want to lug an SCMS back'n'forth but I also didn't want to leave my exxy one there... It may not be much chop [groan] for fine cabinetry but I'm very happy with it for the work it has done, it's already paid for itself several times over.

Cheers brother,
Dr - 307.[/QUOTE]