Clueless deckbuilder -help please
Hi everyone,
I've just joined but have been using the forum over the past few months to get advice on my deck building issues, so thanks for all the info provided. Without the forum I would have made a couple of huge mistakes.
I am finally at the timber buying stage. The deck is 8m x 7m . I am in Sydney, the engineer has specified F7 timber, some people are telling me that the joists should be hardwood to nail tighter with the hardwood decking. The deck will be braced, I'm not sure if that affects how it behaves. Is hardwood more susceptible to termites, in one section it will be very close to the ground. What is more durable? For the decking, around here merbau and spotted gum seem to be the most available, which is better?
Any contributions would be greatly appreciated.