I have to deck a 6 foot by 23 foot space. The deck boards are running the 23 foot length. The boards come in 16 and 20 foot lengths (Trex).
I cannot decide what length to order insofar as how the joints will layout. Is one length better than the other in this case? Or should I mix it up? I am aware that joints should not line up and should be staggered.
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Replies
23-16=7
start the next run at 80" with a 4" drop/waste..then a whatever it takes to finish and still land on three at least joists. Use the drop from that to start the next run and so on.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
design the deck to runa the decking perendicular to the house so the deck bords lead water away from the foundation
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Is trex available in 12's?
I've been on a kick lately where we split the length with a perpendicular "threshold" basically a board running the opposite way so the decking can be installed with only one "seam" or joint. You could cut into different patterns for that matter.
Cost maybe a joist or two more but not much and makes installation cleaner looking and easier IMO.
Picture below in case my words don't make sense... (High Probability)
That's a nice looking idea Neil.
What kind of material is that?
That is just 2x4 cedar.
I have another one we are doing sometime in March with a synthetic that is going to have a cross cut into it.
In my opinion it really cleaned up the look over what was there orginally.
The job was a repair job, off to the side, what you can't see in the picture is screened room that had dropped ~4" because the post were set in the ground and they finally rotted.
We jacked the whole thing up, leveled it, put footings and post base on it. The orginial builders were not so smart and framed everything in Cedar. Everything we touched was bad, so what started as a small project of leveling up the screened room ended up much larger with new framing, decking etc, plus a set of stairs. Fortunetly the home owner's are great people and were completely understanding, they're the kind of clients you dream of working for.
Nice - I like that approach. Did a big triangular deck that way a while ago - need to get some pix of it.
Forrest
Nice work Neil
I have used that approach several times myself
On larger areas you might try "picture framing" equal squares. Staight runs inside the picture frame are one option with little waste. Doing diagonals will create more waste, but can look like herringbone whem finished.
We have one coming up that is going to have cross cut into it, I think the minor extra labor to set it up is made up easily in the fact that the remaining boards will all end up the same size plus not having to "randomly" splice it together.
Found it - I put in some transverse pieces like this to deal with the 12' limitation - product is Eon; railing is Fairway.
View Image
Forrest
Edited 3/20/2008 8:12 pm ET by McDesign
so much better looking then random splices.
Was the gate a pre-fab from the manufacturer or did you construct it?
I made it from normal railing bits, just to do it differently.
Forrest
That's a great idea. Looks "pissa"