Winner: Dan Rediger - December 2007

Overview

This is a 20’ X 36’ deck, which is a little over 700 sq. ft.  I’m 24 years old and just bought my first house last January.  As soon as I bought the house I decided that I really wanted a deck.  I’m an engineer by trade so I decided that I was going to design and build the deck myself.  Having never done this before I relied heavily upon this website as well as some good books that I purchased.  Being that the deck I wanted to build was so large, I knew that I needed very detailed plans.  I drew everything in AutoCAD and worked up my own bill of materials.  This was a true-life saver because it saved me many trips back and forth to Lowe’s.  Even with these plans, I still made plenty of trips just because it was impossible to capture every detail.  I finally obtained all my approvals to move forward with the deck and started construction the last weekend in July.  I worked every weekend and most nights after work until dark to finish it (for those in the Midwest this was the time of year when it was 95 deg. every day).  I put the last coat of stain on the first weekend of November.  I was able to accomplish this with only the help of my lovely wife and 2 or 3 days of labor from family members.  As newly weds this was definitely going to be a true test of our relationship and I must say that we did quite well.  The deck has stood up very well to a few big storms including one that caused damage to my roof and siding.  We’re now a few months into winter and I haven’t seen any effects related to heaving either.  I’ve been very satisfied with the deck pier system.  The only negative is they weigh 50 lbs or so and I have to move 90 of them from my driveway to the back yard!

The Design
I had a few really unique challenges to overcome when I was laying the deck out.  First, the original owners of the house had a 10’X10’ patio poured just outside the sliding glass door.  I didn’t want to tear this out and there were only a few inches between the door and the patio so I had to design in a small landing that rested on the patio.  Secondly, the ground was sloped such that I was going to have to dig the first 2 rows of decking piers down into the ground a little bit to avoid having really short 4”x4” post.  Third, I wasn’t happy with just the idea of running the boards perpendicularly; rather I wanted to run them at a diagonal. Then with the size of the deck I didn’t want it to look too plain, so I added in a 3rd level for my grill and a serving table.  The biggest challenge was that I wanted to do something different with the rails.  That’s how I came up with the fanned out railing design.  This provided some unique challenges as to how to construct them so that they provided support yet still looked good.  There were some other considerations as well such as how to build the stairs, hiding the deck piers, etc.  A few key points about these items include:

• For the framing that was mounted to the concrete patio, I cut some small notches in the boards to allow water to run off.
• I used leveling gravel to level most of my deck piers.  This saved tons of time trying to level the ground itself. 
• Short 4”X4” post are subject to cracking so I tried to maintain at least an 8 to 10 inch post.  If necessary I dug the pier down a little to achieve this. 
• USE fasteners.  I used fasteners wherever I could.  This adds some cost to the deck but it increases the sturdiness and ease of build substantially.
• Since the deck was so wide, it often took 2 or 3 boards to stretch the deck diagonally, therefore I nailed 2”x4” nailers to my strings to screw the boards down to.  Notice I just butted the decking up against one another.  These but joints must land on a stringer so plan accordingly.  This is very difficult when the boards are run at a diagonal.  With treated lumber it would be very difficult to hold a straight seam.
• I used 12” overhangs from the deck piers to help conceal them and then I hung some short scraps on the back side and hung another row of rim joist to further conceal the under workings of the deck.
• Note that the spacing of the deck piers is closer because of the fact that the deck boards are run at a diagonal.  See the website for specific requirements depending on the thickness of your decking board. 
• I wasn’t sure what to do about the landing for the stairs but I ended up being very happy with the patio bricks that I bought.  I leveled the area with leveling stone and gravel and it made construction of the stairs much easier as well.
• The third level was built as a stacked frame with blocking and mending plates.  I wasn’t sure well this would work but it was actually one of the easier parts of the deck to construct. 
• Don’t be afraid to return bad boards.  The wood that is delivered to you will have some bad boards in it.  Don’t fight with them because you will just end up mad or you’re deck won’t look good.  Lowe’s took back everything that I wasn’t satisfied with without any problems.

Lighting
I used a low voltage lighting system for my deck.  Electrical work is definitely not my strong suit but the low voltage system was a breeze to set up and it really makes the deck stand out at night.  I get tons of compliments on these.  I used a 200W transformer with lights for both level changes and 6 floodlights around the perimeter.

Suggested Tools

• 24” quick grips – especially when working alone – these were like having 2 extra hands.  Also since most treated lumber isn’t perfect, they really helped to straighten boards out when necessary. 
• Miter Saw – Can’t do this project without one.
• Circular Saw – for use with the chalk line
• Chalk Line – Let decking hang over the edge and then snap lines and then cut off excess deck boards.  This provides a straighter line then trying to measure and cut boards individually. 
• Wood Chisel – very effective for straightening warped deck boards.  Simply tap into the stringer and then push deck board as needed.
• Jig Saw – If you do a railing, you’ll need this to cut notches for the railing post.
• Extra batteries for your tools – you’ll put in long days and the batteries will go faster then you think.  Nothing worse then wasting time because you’re waiting for a battery to charge.

More Tips

• You can often find a 10% off coupon for lowes or Home Depot on-line.  My wood purchase was a few thousand dollars so this coupons was a good chunk of change.
• I used star headed screws, they are much more expensive ($30 for 5lbs) but they don’t strip.  I thought that they were worth every penny. 
• I laid down landscaping tarp to keep weeds from coming up.  Some sunlight will make it through the cracks between the boards to it’s a good idea to make sure weeds don’t start growing underneath.
• Spend lots of time making sure everything is leveled perfectly.  If you use a bubble level, make sure the bubble is as close to center as possible.  Towards the end of long day you might be inclined to think that it’s close enough but that small distance its out on your level is projected over a long distance and can cause big problems when laying the decking and hanging the rim joist.  I got burned a few times so learn from my mistakes.