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I've read through your site, and it really is quite complete. I've drawn up a set of plans, and I'm planning on submitting them to my local building inspector. We'll see what happens.
Despite the completeness of your site, I have a couple of questions. Please bear with me!
1) the majority of my deck will be at your minimum height -- 13", because my entry is 19" above grade and several people have suggested a 6 inch height differential to avoid snow and water leaking in the doorway. If I do this, I could imagine having to cut a 0.5 or 1 inch piece of 4x4 to put in the Dek-Blocks to level my deck. Is this correct? There's no way to toe-screw into that, and I would think that it wood could rot/split/fall apart because it's thin.
2) the major part of my deck will be 30' by 14' or so. In your instructions for leveling, you mention placing, leveling, and squaring the corners of the deck using a 2x6. Since there's no such thing as a 2x6x30ft, there's clear way to do this. Joining two 16 ft boards will give me a 32' board, but will it be straight enough to act as a level? Or should I square one half of the deck first, and then the second half? Or some other plan?
3) You mention that a floating deck is similar to a patio (one that is not frost protected), in that it rises and falls with the frost heave. Here in New Hampshire, I watch people's patios, driveways, etc fall apart -- the stones shift, mortar cracks, etc. What makes a floating deck any different? (in preparation for my building inspector being concerned)
4) I'm planning on running the joists of my deck perpendicular to the wall of my house, so that the decking will be parallel to the house. You suggest face screwing the joists to the rim joist. Since one of my rim joists is going to be close to the wall, that would be difficult. Should I use joist hangers, or toe screw the joists to the rim?
5) If I need to run power to my deck, either for low voltage lighting or for a spa, how do I do that? Since the deck is not physically connected to the house, how would I run conduit from an electrical box on the house to the deck without creating a problem? For low voltage, I guess I can attach the transformer to the house, then run the 12V wire to the deck (which doesn't need conduit). Ideas?
Thanks in advance!
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