I am a cabinet guru and want advice from
I need advice from a decking guru. I want to wooden deck my patio. It is now concrete and I want to go wood (treated or trex) over the existing concrete. Would you put 2X4’s on the concrete deck ? The sill is 5 inched above the concrete deck now. What about rot with the 2X4 in contact with the concrete?
Thanks in advance…
Larry Siders Woodworking
Replies
Tell us more...where are you (climate)? is there any slope to the concrete? Theoretically, you could scribe 2x4's to fit the slope, align them so they allow the rain to drain, and screw deck boards on top. You would want to use presure treated joists.
Illinois is the climate and there is about 1/8" slope. I do plan on treated joists. I will probably build it all out of treated.. Wife wants to have a stable for her horses.. So I want to keep the price down for resale.
Larry,
You can't call yourself a guru.
Treated sleepers on the concrete, decking on top of that. I thing treated decking is only cost effective in the short term. I wouldn't worry about minor improvements as they relate to resale unless your selling real soon, then I wouldn't do this project at all.
I bet you've already overimproved your cabinetry being a guru and all.Tom
I'll accept his guru status, even tho it is normally applied by others rather than by one's self.
Please don't confuse cabinet Larry here with the other larry m whom I have promised to not say anything negative about on this forum..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
>> Please don't confuse cabinet Larry here with the other larry m whom I have promised
>> to not say anything negative about on this forum.
What'll you bet he construes this as a negative statement?
I really don't care. That'd be his problem, not mine..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
I didn't expect you to _care_. My question was more in the vein of wouldn't it be amusing if ...
Well me wife mate wants a place in the country. The day my youngerst moved out she went out and bought a horse.. Now she would like to move to the country so she can have he own stable. So she wants a deck (woodwn) in case she changes her mind and we stay here.. Does that make sence?
Yes-yes-yes. My house is a real doll house inside and out. (however there are a couple pieces if Sauder stuff here that my wife bought because she became impatient waiting for me to build her something she wanted.) and I haven't been able to match the patina of old antique furniture either. besides my wife has a eye for excellence and she is my worst critic.. My toughest client so to speak. I need to build her a barrister cabinet and a stand alone free standing cupboard to replace the Sauder stuff. (I hope she finds antiques to replace them) I figure that any cabinets I build for her costs me double what it cost others. Time lost towards building something for myself while I could be making money make stuff I build very expensive.
Who is this other Larry? I had someone crawl over my butt thinking I was him...
Guru? Aren't we all guru's here at this forum?
Edited 12/29/2002 1:01:51 AM ET by Larry
It makes as much sense as possible when talking about women. She does have good taste - look who she picked for a mate - and Sauder is one of the better ones if you have to go with dept store type cabinetry. The desk I am sitting at is a Sauder right now.
I can't tell you anything about Larry M because he promised to go away and leave this forum forever if we said nothing negative about him ever again. And since everyone is wanting him gone...
I mentioned once before that you might want to consider changing your name in your profile to Cabinet Larry or anything else you might choose to avoid misunderstandings over that name. It's unfortunate that Prospero allows more than one person to use the same nickname..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Ok Larry- I'm a little confused- - Are you building a deck or a stable? Or are you trying to keep the costs down so you can afford to build a stable? Why don't you build the stable and if there's any money left over build the deck? :-)
5 1/2" doesn't allow much room for leveling a deck seeing as how that is the width of a 2x6 joist.
Most patios slope away from the house, so if you are 5 1/2 at the sill that doesn't allow any space for the decking to go under the sill.
You may have to lay ground contact incised pressure treated 2x4's flat every 4' perpendicular to the house and use 2x4's on edge as joist. If you do this, make sure all your shimming is done 4' o.c. with treated shims, toe nail each shim in place with a small galvanized box nail so it won't move. Shim between the flat 2x4 and the patio 4' o.c.
Build a hitching post 4' from the deck to keep horse slobber off of the benches. :-)
Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
If you want a half-decent wood surface to walk out onto......PT sleepers over concrete would work.
If you want a nice deck...with maybe some benches and rails to show off you talent and increase the resale value......tear out the concrete...excavate/slope/drain....then build yourself a nice deck you can be proud of while you are there.
Personally..I don't like the sleeper option. Always strikes me as a compromise. I'd go either deck done right....or a nice concrete pad with benches/planters.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite