I live in minnesota and have used the pier system to build a 10 x 20 deck on my son's trailer and it looks great and is very sturdy. I am replacing an old deck around my 21 x 41 above ground pool and I plan to use the pier system again. When I built the old deck 27 years ago I buried the posts a few inches in the ground and built the deck. It held up fine for the years except for some unknown reason I cemented a few of the posts and the deck did not move evenly over the years and I ended up reparing the deck using the pier system. It worked fine. Now I am repalcing the deck and I have some questions. The deck will be 3 feet wide on three sides and the fourth side will have a 16 x 30 rectangle deck. It will not be attached to the house but some of my neighbors think I should put down frost footings rather than the floating piers. I disagree. What are your thoughts. The questions I have are:

1. Do you have any plans for the deck I am building?

2. Would it be helpful to partially bury the piers?

3. I am using 2 x 8 for my beams and joists but is it worth it to use 2 x 10 to reduce the number of piers?

4. Should I use 4 x4 post and set the beams on top or 4 X 6 posts and notch the posts?

5. Should I screw the joists and beams to allow me to adjust the decks if I have severe movement over the winter? I have not had severe movement in the past.

6. How close should I put the piers to the pool keeping in mind my wife wants me to run the 5/4 cedar decking over the old pool top?

7. How much space should I allow between the pool top and the deck boards if I extend the decking over the pool top?

8. I see in some of your other plans you use daigonal bracing should I plan on doing the same?

I am sure I will have other questions but any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Its been my experience that once the floating system is explained people are generally surprised and relieved. Surprised about the number of blocks required and relieved that that they did not build wrong.

To answer your questions -

1. We do not have plans for your particular deck but we do have plans for a 21x42 pool deck that you can modify for your needs. You will need to add some extra material to frames in order to use the 5/4 cedar decking. The following link will take you to that plan.

forums.deckplans.com/plans/PSW21X42L3.pdf

2. don't bury the piers. Burying the piers can lead to frost damage to your deck.

3. Never build with post and beam construction using the blocks. This can concentrate to much weight on one block causing it sink. These decks have also been reported to be wobbly. Also, it can be hard to get a building permit using this building method.

4. Never build with post and beam construction using the blocks.

5. Follow our building instructions the best you can. Put the frame of the deck right on top of the posts. You should never have big problems with frost heave. the deck will rise and settle with the frost but always end up in the same spot every summer.

6. This information is in the plans and instructions.

7. We don't recommend putting the decking over the top of the pool.

8. yes

Deckman