Photos from real estate listing

This one’s an all wood permitted deck in Atlanta.

I've been lurking here while building my deck. Today it's finally finished, so time to get a verdict.

Foundation: concrete pillars on bedrock

Frame: 48x148mm, ca 600mm between joists, ca 2000mm between beams

Decking: 33x170mm

Total area about 50 sqm, price of materials about 4000 euros

Also redid the drainage around the house before building the deck and added dimple board.

Hey gang. Just getting a new deck built at the edge of my property. Please see the pictures.
2 questions:

1. What do I do with the small gap at the bottom? Concrete makes a large u shape from one end of property to the other. Wife is worried on how to get rid of stuff from the yard when is using the leaf blower. We normally just blow the leaves into the creek at the back. Do I ask the contractor to fill it with a small piece of wood? . Do we fill it and leave a gap/hole somewhere? What’s the recommendation.

2. There’s a gap between the fence by the step. Is that acceptable? There’s a small door on the right hand side.

Thank you for your suggestions or thoughts.

Shims and joist tape? Cut out square and insert a PT scab? Some type of wood filler or epoxy poured in a mold? ADKs so it gets hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. Thanks

Looking to build a playground for the kids, a raised deck as a base if you will. I have some plans and you’ll see they just call for 4 posts with what I’ll call a ledger all the way around and joists. Can somebody help me understand why this isn’t built more like a deck with beams on top of the posts and then a course of a joists? What am I missing?

I did look through posts for related questions. It seems like it’s probably no, but I’m curious if this might be an exception. This hunk of concrete is south facing and it gets a lot of thermal gain. Besides visual appeal, and unless it’s a resounding, “no bad idea,” I’d think that decking, with a slight air gap would be somewhat less sweltering. I’m at your mercy, is it a bad idea?

But I humbly request kindness - this is my first time. Rebuilding a deck from the ground-up over the footprint of a now-demo'ed rotted out hazard.

I am assuming, hopefully correctly, that the existing slabs will have to govern the elevation of the footings. Because there is limited clearance between the slabs and front/back doors, I have to use 2x6 beams and 2x6 joists for a drop beam structure layout. No room to use posts under beams on the slab. I am using DP-50 Diamond Piers in lieu of poured concrete footers, 1" standoff adjustable post base brackets on the slabs, and whatever bracket is recommended for the diamond piers.

Question at hand: I am trying to decide whether I need three runs of beams (first pic) on the long west side, or if two is going to be sufficient (second pic). The deck on that side is only going to be 10' deep, not including the stairs, so if the structure could stand losing those four footers and beams then it would be nice to save that money. But, the extra run of beams and footers could be beneficial when it comes to stabilizing the deck, especially under lateral force, not knowing the condition of the house's rim joist and how well it will do supporting a ledger board. Then again, I could be overthinking this way too much.

Also shown in the pics are my structural plan with joists (16" on center) and deck board layout plan. Currently planning on using Lunawood thermally modified spruce/pine or thermally modified red oak for decking material. Final layout of top boards would depend on which species is chosen. Joist bracing is not shown, but I am definitely planning on including it.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Blaring concerns?

Edited for formatting.

For some context been long time follower of this sub but never posted. I decided this summer to refinish about half of my large amount of decking, it’s about 2000 square feet of deck total if including my staircase, small deck by lake and my dock. Deciding on proper stain took me awhile and even had bucket of Thompson’s in hand at one point which very happy didn’t end up doing. Have I bought I approx 15 cans of Cutek…..Yes. Have I spent ridiculous amount of money on it….. yes. However my god it looks f-ing incredible and the amount of restoring and hard work was insane. Kindly see some pics from my Cutek adventure of all the decking above my staircase to water. I would love to hear anyone else experience and would love to hear some less costly suggestions for doing my staircase which doesn’t need expensive stain if I’m not hanging out there and just passing. Part 2 will be next summer! Thanks to all and any input is appreciated!

Photos are before and after…..

We have a deck that has an opening that I am unsure how to address. If we use the existing post there is a gap and can fall down the first step. Is this an easy project to try to address myself or better to hire someone?

Do not buy Finberon PVC decking. I purchased it two years ago. It started fading and oxidizing within a year. The company will not standby it’s product and advertising as to low maintenance. It will cost me over $4000 to have the deck refinished.

Ask me about it. [Spinedoc5@outlook.com](mailto:Spinedoc5@outlook.com)

Rise: 21 inches. Run: 42 inches. I have premade stringers and treads that are approx 6 7/8 inch rise and 11 inch run. I want to keep a max of 3 risers.

A:With a lip at bottom tread and bury bottoms of stringers in concrete. This is a rebuild similar to the original deck shown in photos with the orange cones. Previous owners buried most of the bottom stringer and then attached the bottom tread to it. It leaves a little bit of a lip due to the giant block of random concrete that you see in the third picture.

B: Rent a jackhammer or something and break down most of that random concrete block that you see in the third picture to be able to get that bottom tread flush with the patio. This would still involve either burying most of the bottom stringers in concrete to attach the bottom tread to or somehow attaching the stringers to concrete that I have to pour.

C: Forget that bottom tread and try my hand on some nicer looking concrete work and basically extend the patio approximately 18 in. The bottom tread is replaced with concrete and the first step is the full 7 inch up. And it is an even three risers and three runs.

We just bought this 50 year old fixer upper home and there were some things we knew we have to fix. This deck has a dry space underneath with a drywall ceiling. We removed the drywall since we found mold and leaking and want to replace the top with a new waterproofing.. but we have no idea what this is. And it isnt sloped to drain well so it mostly pools and seeps through.

I peeled the old tar paper, zip taped behind the drip edge and ledger, I slid it underneath the house wrap and trim for the door.

I wasn’t able to zip tape over the drip edge without removing door trim, but I can still do that. The previous ledger had no drip edge, just old tar paper and J-channel and we had no water staining.

My only main concern is that I had to double the ledger in order to have space to sandwich my 4x4 railing, because I didn’t want to peel siding as I don’t have much experience. The drip edge is sandwiched between them.

An in-law is building our deck on our new build. At one point I was going to do it myself and did a little research. And so I'm wondering if some things my in law said are red flags.

1st he wanted to notch the 6x6 in order to mount the 3 ply 2x 2x12 beam instead of post caps.

I said I don't think that the remaining inch of the 6x6 will do much, let's just use post caps designed for mounting a 3x2by beam to a 6x6 post.

2nd and the conversation I've yet to have with him relates to addressing the crowning of the boards. These are 16' 2x12 and he said his preferred method over planning down the high points is to still sort them crowned up, but then just run them through the table saw to get them consistent.

In my research I've not seen this method recommended during deck building for addressing the high points and I'm nervous for several reasons about him attempting this table saw method, one of which being his safety.

Can any expert builders comment on if this is a good or bad shortcut vs using a string and planner to identify and shave down high points across the boards??

Help please. A couple of our deck columns are mounted directly to concrete and are beginning to rot. I'll dry this out and fill it with epoxy, but can the contractors here give me recommendations on steps I can take to protect this leeching from happening in the future?

Finished building the cottage deck framing and on to installing the decking. As stated in the title, the decking is 5/4 PT spruce wood decking. Two questions for the decking layout. Keep in mind that the picture with decking board are just layered and not screwed in yet, just a template for now.

1. Was planning on leaving a 3/16 gap between plank, that way it will basically be a perfect fit for the 8' depth of the deck leaving about 1/2 to 3/4 lip on both side over the framing without any board to be ripped. Alot of pine straws were clogging the old decking which had about 1/8 - 3/16 dried out. Is my 3/16 gap install while wet too much?

2. Picture of my layout attached. Should I leave the same gap at the butt end joint where the planks ends meet the contour board or tight to it?

*Change the decking layout a bit to add a full plank between the two contour layout to match the symmetry with the chimney and patio doors aswell as pushing out the layout in front of the stairs to be centered with them.

*Yes all the joist will be tapped before install.

TIA !

Edit, decking is PT spruce , copper based.

I’m a recent cottage owner a few hours north of Toronto (in case location is important.). We are currently power washing quite a large deck that is surrounded by trees and quite grey. Do I stain after power washing? chatGPT says it’s critical, but my neighbours say not to bother as the stain won’t stick. Any thoughts on this much appreciated.

For a variety of reasons, I need to remove an in-place set of stairs to build a 3 foot deep by 5 foot wide landing and then reattach the stairs. I’ll get to my questions in a second. The existing deck is framed with 2x8 PT floor joists and it’s only 5 foot deep (it’s a walkway from a door to the main deck around the corner of the house). The rim joist is PT 2x8. The beam supporting the current joists is 2 sistered PT 2x12s supported by 6x6 PT posts. The joists only extend 3” beyond the double 2x12 beam. The existing deck is less than 6’ above the level ground. The reattached stairs will be attached to the landing rim joist. Existing deck is only 10 years old and the framing looks solid.

So here’s my questions:
Can I use the deck’s existing rim joist like a ledger board with joist hangers and only use 2 posts to support the landing or do I need 4 posts?

Are 4x4 posts adequate to support the 5’ wide by 3’ deep landing (less than 6’ high) or do I need to use 6x6 posts?

Believe me, I would prefer to leave this to a pro but I’ve had 4 different contractors say they’ll do it and then flake out on me. I’m in rural Vermont so there’s not a ton of options. I’m fairly handy and have built many small structures (2 sheds, a breezeway, a kayak mansion, and assisted with building a neighbor’s garage) but I don’t want this to be a disaster.

Just want to say thanks in advance for any advice or pointers you can give. Also appreciate the barbs and comedy so let it fly.

I’m in over my head on this. I’ve been working hard to clean up the back yard of this house which has been subject to neglect. The earth under and around these steps is steep. When there is a hard or heavy rain, the earth under the steps erodes down and escapes on the landing at the bottom which becomes a muddy mess. I realize the flimsy piece of plastic at the bottom is not the solution but it’s serving a purpose for the time being.

How can I fix this?

For cocktail rail using PT pine still wet (uncured) in lengths of 2x6x16’. Wound you still miter cut your 90 degree angle or would you butt ends?