Building a Wood Deck - By: Tauqeer Hassan

A wood deck increases the beauty of backyard of a house providing space that can be used for many purposes like dining, sunbathing, parties, get-togethers and so on. A wooden deck generally improves a home and it can be built in just few days. Following is a step by step guideline for completing this task.

Step 1
First thing needed is to take measurements of the area where the deck has to be installed. After that, different designs of wooden deck have to be considered and the best one of them has to be selected. There are countless sources from where good designs can be found like home improvement magazines, internet, leaflets, brochures and other. It would be feasible to select an easy to make design.

Step 2
After selection the design and devising the deck building plan, the area has to be cleaned where the deck will be assembled. The grass has to be removed and the land has to be leveled. Then the cleared area has to be covered with landscaping cloth to prevent the grass and weeds from growing back.

Step 3
Now, the outer frame has to be built. 2x10 or 2x8 lumber should be used for this purpose. The size of all the sides should be 12 foot long. When the outer frame has been built, the footers have to be planted on the ground. The posts have to be fixed first that will be on the four corners of the frame. Cement and dirt have to be used for ensuring that the footers remain firmly fixed at their position. Pre-built posts are considered as the best forth deck but if they are not available, then 4x4 posts would have to be used. After the corner footers have been set, the other posts have to be installed. The distance between the posts should not be more than 4feet. If the footers are closer the deck will be stronger.

Step 4
When the posts have been fixed, start making the internal frame. The number of footers will decide how many boards will be needed for making the internal frame. The boards have to be first attached to the posts in the north-south direction. Using 4 inch screws will work for this purpose at the rate of 3 screws per board. For making the task easy, holes have to b e drilled on the board and post before tightening the screws.

In all the north-south boards, a notch has to be carved out with a size of 2 inches wide and 4 inches deep. In the east-west boards, a notch has to be made that can easily slide into the notch of the north-south boards. 4-inches screws have to be used again to attach both the boards. Now the internal frame will be ready.

Step 5
Now, the next step is to lay down the floor. For 12 foot long floor, 14 or 16 foot long boards have to be used. It has to be made sure that the overhang is only on one side of the deck. When the entire floor has been laid down, the overhanging has to be precisely cut out. Finally, readymade steps and railing can now be installed for finishing off the wood deck.

About the Author

Now you might want to learn how to build a wood deck and also how to build deck stairs.

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