xr3-keith

Im thinking of doing some decking in my garden, just wondered if anyone on here has done it them selfs

If so how easy/hard was it

any tips

and whats the cost like, i gunna do about 3 mtrs x 4.5 mtrs

Thanks very much for any help

woodz77

its what i do for a living mate. easy mate . just prepare well and think ever thing through be for cutting etc.

roughly be about £300-£350 depending on fixings and where you get the wood . wickes is cheap but crap wood in my opinion . shrinks and moves alot . not cut that well either . some where like a BuildBase is half decent . 4x2 is fine for the frame if supported well .

where abouts are you based mate ..... mite be able to sort you out

this was the basic frame before i put legs to support it


this was after


this was one in a school pond




after i clad it


basically if i was doing yours id make a frame that was slightly smaller than the wanted area, then space the rafters at 18" centres , then you lad the other way . if you cant get one piece of decking all the way across and have to join . then mirror the join as if you were doing a laminate floor , if you get my drift. just pm me if you get stuck

xr3-keith

thanks for your help mate, im in kent

Im looking at it and dont think it will be to much hassle,


heres where im thinking of doing it



as i say its about 3000 out from the house and 4400 across

was thinking to run the decking planks across so would i gat a 4.4mtr plank

xr3-keith

Im certin im gunna do this now i think it looks great

top work chaps

Crowder

I'm looking to do this almost identical size to yours Keith, be intrested to see how u get on. Keep us posted!

Andreas

Amazing transformation.

woodz77

most boards are 3.6m , 4.2m and 4.8m. you could get 4.2m boards and leave a 100mm gap each side of the deck and fill white coloured shingle etc ?? saves buying 4.8 and wasting the off cuts plus the edges will look like a nice feature

Lee Reynolds

Howarth timber do deck boards up to 5.2m iirc so your ok with width.

Remember that its whats beneath that counts. Make it strong. You dont want it sinking when you have a big party. Or, are you planning on a hot tub? Some weight there! All things to consider.

We never just stake decking. It is always sat on concrete pads......no matter how high.

woodz77

agree with lee . always got to be on concrete cos the force of the deck will want to go down

Crowder

i'm looking at a 3x3.75m area. obviously wooden posts sank in a decent way with contrete couple of decorative posts with rope estimating about 300-400 that sound reasonable? then i gott dig a soakaway and turf the garden

xr3-keith

what width are the deck boards or does this vaery

matts1

I have been quoted 2500 for an area 6.5m x 4m, ground slopes down around 1 foot.

This included lights in the decking floor, double handrail covering 10m? turned spindles and one step.

That sound right?

Smiggy

I've just did mine. Done it all myself, best thing you can buy it a decent mitre saw, saved me god knows how long. Will put pics up in a min when I get them on photobucket.

As long as preperation is good, boards should go down no problem.

SMG

xr3-keith

good stuff

get them pics up please

have just done a search and found that there are loads of different width boards

what screws would anyone suggest

woodz77

depends. i reckon theres £900 -£1200 of materials . take 2 men 2 days ? depends on how many lights and quality of them . how they are wiring the lights in etc . i reckon £2000 would have been a more reasonable price . the problem with deckings is there is so many people that do them and different suppliers of the materials etc so you get different quality stuff and a different quality of work etc. same as the lights . because the finished product looks such a change in the garden etc people think they are going to have to pay alot to get theirs done and companys know this thats why some times you can get ripped off with out realising . if the materials is top end and so are the lights etc then they mite end up with a £2500 figure. best thing to do is ask for some previous pictures of the companys work etc . plus some companys have lots of overheads to pay for and this puts the price up aswell like new flashy trucks like "warriors" and "navara's" or my bosses £27,000 Animal !

Smiggy

Heres my effort!!

When we moved into this house we had to dismantle an existing conservatory as it was too close to the boundary and didn't have a fire retardant wall. I was going to take out one side and brick it up but the thing was best part of 15 years old and was showing it's age so we just took it down. Until we get a new one (after the wedding) I decided just to deck the area and re ruffcast the wall. as it was in a bit of a mess after taking the conservatory down.

Anyway here are pics, got some blue LED uplighters and put them in as well.











Pictures were taken after some rain so don't really do it justice. but you get the picture.

I've still to put on handrails and build a step.

SMG

Lee Reynolds

matts1

sounds right to me, but as woodz says it does vary a lot, as a lot of companies are setting up as decking specialists, like its some sort of art when in reality its basic joinery.

Keith the deck boards we use are 110mm in width and 30mm thick.
We lay with a 5mm gap between.

woodz77

not the crap ones from wickes you want some decent ones with a Torque head (T25) better than the usual cross head ones . you can put these in and out loads and they are still good . £12-£15 a box of 250 but if you buy cheap ones you will be swearing a lot at findgnf 40ish of them with crap , blocked heads and then them shearing etc. Do it right and do it once

Lee Reynolds

Smiggy

Good effort. Always better with a border deck board so that it limits the visible cut ends Nice one

Lee Reynolds

Ill be honest here and say we use ones from b and q. They are about 6 quid for 250, 50mm screws with a free pozi bit and ive not had trouble with them at all

woodz77

you do want to leave a littl gap due to the wood expanding and shrinking . butt it all up and you mite get rising boards etc also some of the boards you get mite not be 100% straight and you will be fighting them to bend them straight to butt them up and then straight away your are putting a strain on the board and it will be wanting to move if you know what i mean.

Smiggy

Yip, I made up a couple of thin spacers and did it that way. also left about a half inch gap between house and first board so's let any rainwater through and not lie against brickwork and getting into house under patio door.

I just used the screws that the timber supplier gave me. never wasted one all went in no problem. Had a square hole on the head of the screw and got a wee drill bit free in box.

woodz77

heres one with a pergola over it and some handrails

woodz77

SMIGGY sound like the Timberlock brand of screws , very good .

xr3-keith

Smiggy


Very nice mate, how much did the mattierals come to if you dont mind me asking

woodz77


Liking the sound of t25 mate


have now worked out the timbers i need for the frame

so far i got

3of 50x100x4400
11of 50x100x3000
2 of 6ft posts
? bags of post mix
? deck boards
screws
wall fixinings

how that look

Thanks for all the help and advice so far

matts1

That's the back of my place.



The price is my sisters fella's uncle who is a landscape gardener, not sure what the lights are

xr3-keith

this looks sweet as mate

woodz77

i think the boards we use are 120mm wide and as a rough guess its 8 boards to a meter to id guess 24 and then 1 for the front to cover the frame .

as for fixing to the house theres always any arguement weather it creates problems with damp and water traps against the house . but its up to you . it give a perfect and strong fixing

to fix to the wall i would use a thing called a magic nail or better known as "express nail". best thing ive ever come across. you drill a 8mm hole through the wood and then into the wall 2.5 inchs. then hammer the magic nail through the wood and into the wall . they are 4" long so 2" sits in the 2" wood frame against the wall and the other 2" sits in the wall . believe me , they dont come out . no screwing or lining up rawplugs, just hammer in and then as if by magic it grips like a nothing else !

i will get a pic 2moro of one . if you fancy them pm me and i could post you a couple

Smiggy

I know a mate who has a mate that could get me discount and I didn't pay VAT either as it was all cash. I got 29 boards and also 11 6x2 joists to make up frame underneath, all came to just over £300. That included 2 boxes of screws, a few boxes of nails as well for the joists and delivery.

The uplighters were extra, got them from CEF at a discount as well knew a guy who worked there. They worked out just over £20 each. Normally retail at £22 for the fixing and about £7.50 for the LED bulb. I bought 7 so saved a wee bit.

Also bought a Mitre Saw from B&Q in their 1/3 off sale. Picked that up for about £64 and now that I'm done with it I'll sell it on. Would seriously recommend getting your hands on one of these as it saves ages of time and also I got all my angles spot on.

xr3-keith

good good so im looking at about 300 notes then

xr3-keith

anyone else

xr3-keith

got my quote from timer yard

3x 4.8mtrs 50x100
11x3 mtrs 50x100
2 8ft posts
10 bags of rapid set post mix
21 deck boards 4.8 mtrs

£340 all in

not bad me thinks

timb551

Hi woodz77

Do you do any of your work in Essex at all?

Tim

timb551

bttt