I am planning on building a 4 foot wide boardwalk through 70 feet of conifer swamp to get to our lake frontage on land we own in Upper Michigan. (if we’re lucky, we’ll retire up there someday). This is a glaciated area so the soil is sand and rock – past experience shows more rock than sand when putting in the electric service. I could use advice on 2 fronts:
1. Is there a way to put in a permanent boardwalk without digging a lot of 4 foot deep holes through tree roots and rocks? There is no way to get equipment bigger than a handheld power auger into the site and we are trying to do minimal damage to the wetland to protect its beauty and to stay within our wetland permit requirements.
2. We want to curve the walk through the trees. Cutting tapers on the deck boards will let me get the decking to follow the curves but what about the joists supporting the deck? Do I need to put in posts every few feet as the curve change direction? Is there any way to create curved joists?
thanks for any and all ideas
Don
Replies
Larger support beams mean that you can span farther between posts,depending on the curve that your looking for, if the footings are arranged in the proper places and the beams are the correct size you will be well on your way to getting from here to over there.That said you may be left with an exposed beam that you won`t be able to cover under the walk way, so now you have to come up with a plan ``b``and that is what will you do to conceal that beam from the weather.Heres what i`m thinking and i`m not an engineer but picture this lets use the clock for my example
beam 1 goes from 6 oclock to 3 oclock
beam two from 3 oclock to 12 oclock
beam 3 from 6oclock to 9 oclock
beam four 9 oclock to 12 oclock
beam 5 from 9oclock to 3 oclock
now you only have 4 footings if the beams are correct
now your floor joists will have to be substantial also
now getting back to plan ``b`` create a landing at 12 oclock and six oclock this way you can create a return walk way coming back the 9 oclock side of the clock that will conceal a good portion of the beams.This will mean 4 more footings (two additional at each landing)
I am sure somethings will need adjusting as you go along but thats part of the challenge of getting it done. good luck!!!! love to see a pic if you ever get it completed.....
Hi Don,
Float the entire system on the surface. No post holes except maybe on the ends. Where are you located? I know of one very nice boarwalk built this way in Northern Lower Michigan.
Supports are Re-cycled guard rail, with a frame floating over that. The joist are 2x6 run in straight sections over that and the decking is curved to follow the landscape.
Hard to explain, and I never would have used such a "simple" system I would have tried to straighten the landscape or curve the frame work and then deck that.
Sometime simple is best.
Garett
Garrett,
We're near Crystal Falls. When you say guard-rail, do you mean the metal stuff from along highways? A friend had suggested concrete parking lot bumpers. I was worried about how much seasonal changes would cause the boardwalk to flex if it was floating but apparantly its working for the one you saw. Where would I find it to take a look?
thanks,
Don
we alway jet them with a trash pump, but very very important, you better let the army corp of engineer know first. They will put you under the jail when it comes to wetlands. at very least keep them in the loop
The boardwalk is in Grayling, at Camp Ausable, it is a Seventh Day Adventist Camp. Ed is in charge of maintenance, I think he would show you the boardwalk if you gave him a call.
Yes, the guard rail from along the highway. I think they used 48"-60" sections. The section were donated to them I think.
Garett