Hi All
My partner and I have a customer with a home on a small lake. They would like cover the concrete dock with wood. We would appreciate any sugestions on how to attach the decking to the concrete dock surface. Also any ideas on decking material , our first choice is ipe, but cost may be too much. Thanks in advance.
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Replies
Welcome to Breaktime, Junior. It would have been good for you to give us location information so we could answer you with better accuracy.
If I were in a freshwater lake source, and I was given a request like yours, I would do the following.
First find out how high the tidal action will bring water over the concrete pier, if at all. If the pier is above tidal action, do sleepers; if I have to build up the height, I would find a locally available wood which water resistant and build up to the above high tide mark. You can do this by installing piers, perhaps on the side of the concrete pier. You will need an engineer to size and design the supports.
If water clearance is not an issue, I would install pressure treated 2x4 sleepers with stainless steel anchors and install wood over that for the deck surface.
Pictures of the pier would be nice.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
Hi Aron, We're a few miles south in Seattle. It is a small fresh water lake.
Pressure treated sleepers topped with Trex.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Ed, I've never used Trex on a project, but I'm courious. I was told it gets more slippery when it's wet than wood. How do you find it?Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
My first question is why would you cover a concrete dock with wood? Someone went to great expense to make it concrete.
Normally there is treated wood on each side of the concrete, is that the case here?
Trex would be better than IPE for a dock because it is not as slippery when wet.
You could use 2x4 Trex as sleepers and fasten them to the concrete with striker bolts.
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
We went to look at the job today , it turns out that they want to make the dock wider. I also theink they just like the looks of wood. The most important reason is to make a level entry where the dock meets the shore. The owner is disabled with MS. Thanks a lot for your input , we will advise trex or a similar product. junior