How to build a deck

for now let's take a look at the deck we're going to build this is a medium sized deck it's large enough to accommodate outdoor furniture yet small enough to keep the construction costs reasonable it has two staircases to quickly access both sides of the yard the decking railing and trim materials are synthetic products that will provide years of virtually maintenance-free enjoyment a decorative double border accents the decks perimeter the decks framing is pressure treated lumber a ledger supports the deck at the house two beams support the joists and a total of eight concrete piers centered under 4x4 posts carry the weight of the deck before we get started we'd like to say a word about safety both your safety as you build a deck and the safety of those who will enjoy the fruits of your labor decks are often subjected to considerable loads during a party so make sure that yours is built properly in most areas of the country decks do require a building permit to ensure that they sit on an adequate foundation are built properly with rot resistant materials and are attached securely to the house as you watch this video you'll see this icon pop-out this simply identifies a critical point where you should check that your deck conforms to local Building Code as for personal safety be sure to use safety glasses when cutting and nailing wear hearing protection when called for and be careful when working from ladders or framing from an unfinished deck with no railing in preparation for the new debt we removed the old debt and the old deck ledger you always inspect beneath the ledger of an old deck because nine times out of 10 you're going to run into some sort of rot or moisture problem that occurred with the old deck flashing and this was no exception we pulled this apart the sheathing was a little bit rotted so we cut the sheathing off and underneath we have a nice rotted section here in the corner the most important thing to do is to identify the source of the moisture infiltration and correct it repairing rotted or damaged house framing is beyond the scope of what we can explain in this DVD however when building a new deck we often get the opportunity to peek under the hood of our house most of the time we can spend a little time to repair the damage and then move on if you do find significant damage then you may have to address that before continuing to build your deck after repairing the rotten section we used 1/2 inch construction grade plywood to match the sheathing on the rest of the wall the new sheathing buts into the old cheatin at the top and hangs down about two inches over the cinder block foundation along the bottom edge to prevent moisture migration from the foundation to the sheathing I make sure that the sheathing doesn't actually come into contact with the foundation check with your local building department to ensure that the replaced sheathing and nailing schedule conform to the structural requirements in your area I'm marking the sill and I'm marking the bottom plate of the wall because I want to make sure that any nails that go through don't hit into any plumbing or any wiring and if I hit the bottom plate and I hit the sill I know I'm going to go into solid wood where's I'm going through the band there's always a chance of a wire being right up against the band there and the nail poking through just enough to short it out so I just want to make sure that the surface underneath the ledger is flat and tight to the framing after the plywood goes up we want to shift gears and get our pier forms installed so we can get concrete poured as soon as possible to establish the pier locations we first need to mark out the perimeter of the finished deck and work back to mark and dig the pier holes which are centered under the deck beams from the inside corner I measure and Mark the 20 foot length of the deck on the side of the house from there I plumb down to mark the location on the foundation at the ground we measure out from the wall 20 feet and then drive a state we measure out 20 feet to represent the other side of the deck and drive another state next I adjust those two outer stakes until they are exactly 20 feet apart to make sure the deck perimeter layout is square I measure diagonally in both directions if one diagonal measurement is longer than the other I the corner locations until the diagonals are equal and then the perimeter is square using the location of each end of the ledger that will connect to the house and at the stakes we just pound it into the ground we can string the decks outside perimeter I'd like to use the bright string that is easy to see in the grass it's far too easy to trip over the string and move the stakes on doing all the measuring work I just did I'm stringing up a reference line so I can locate the post which sit directly beneath the beam the reference line is going to go exactly in the center of the beam and therefore exactly in the center of the posts as well I'm going to use the outside perimeter of the debt to measure back to locate the beam beam is exactly three feet six inches so I can slide this line back and forth until I hit three feet six inches the metal batter boards we are using for this project were purchased at my local tools supplier however it's easy to build a batter board assembly using some scrap lumber on-site the benefit of using a batter board over a stake is adjustability I can fine-tune the string placement without having to relocate my stakes a batter board also enables me to reposition the string exactly to the same spot to check my pier locations once the holes are dug all right hold that back and Mark the pier locations with surveyors paint that you can buy at most home centers I mark the center first then roughly locate the perimeter of the hole so now we remove the strings and dig the hole and I say we this is the easiest way for me to dig a hole there we go okay rest is for the post hole digger cylindrical pier forms come in diameters ranging from 8 inches up to 24 inches or larger they are widely available in cardboard but if you think your forms will be exposed to the elements before the concrete is poured plastic forms can be special ordered the forms can easily be cut with a circular saw or a handsaw all right we've got concrete it's going to be here in about 20 minutes big concrete chalk coming it's off by about three inches four inches just like that one concrete piers transfer the decks weight to solid ground to do so effectively they need to extend below the frost line and any backfill that may have been introduced the typical pier consists of a cardboard form concrete and an anchor bolt the size of the pier will be determined by the decks engineering [Music] there's concrete [Music] we fake it you know just drop the edge and right on the top yeah and then I think we have to go that way it's just that hump there okay you want to backfill around this one I'll hold it in place when it comes to pouring the concrete for the piers I can either mix it myself from bags or I can order and concrete company and pour it from one of their trucks if they're only a half a dozen or so piers and the landing pads I generally have the lumberyard send ready mix concrete bags to the jobsite and then when I'm ready I'll just add water and pull it appears you can take a lot less than that this is my wife's wheelbarrow we ruined the others why don't we just just bring it over here I'll spoon it in look back up a little yep but when the volume of the concrete needed approaches or exceeds one cubic yard which is usually about a dozen piers then I call a concrete company most concrete companies have a three to four yard minimum this means I get charged a minimum even though I might only order a yard or so but I can usually get a break on that minimum charge by putting in the order first thing in the morning that lets them come by when they have extra concrete left over from another job there's plenty of other work that needs to get done before I need the footings anyway the top of the pier is only need to be roughly the same height later will make up any height differences by cutting all the posts to the same elevation using a laser level you really don't care too much all you have to do is float it till the cream comes to the top now aggregate settles something like that it's a footing as long as the center the basic framing we need to construct first consists of peers posts and beams as well as the ledger that's attached to the house we'll install the joists in the next chapter right now we'll start by installing the ledger against a house then we'll cut the post to the right height and attach them to the piers with the hardware that we drill into the concrete finally we'll assemble a beams that carry the deck joists the first task is to apply the self-adhesive flashing against the sheathing we installed yesterday this flashing protects the house against any moisture that might migrate through the support ledger and potentially caused right there are several different brands of self-adhesive flashing this particular product called grace comes in twelve and eighteen inch widths it readily sticks to the wall it is easy to work with I like to use the roofing detail membrane when flashing the wall because it is thicker and has a less aggressive adhesive later when we flashed the top of the joists we'll switch to the decking membrane as with any flashing the top edge of the membrane should lap under any flashing or house wrap above it after the first layer of flashing is applied we are ready to locate install the ledger board okay we're stepping down the deck four inches here to prevent any ice and snow that builds up through the winter time from going up underneath the sliding glass door I've set up a laser transit over there which emits a level laser beam this receiver measures it until I get it right dead center on the level and I tighten it at that spot and now I know wherever I go I'll have the correct elevation I marked the top of the ledger height at the furthest point along the wall that the ledger extends and at the inside corner of the house I snap lines in between these two points to indicate where to install the top of the ledger board we locate the ledger board and tack it in place with a few nails once positioned we can secure it permanently using three and 1/2 inch by one quarter inch ledger lock screws that can be driven home with a common impact driver the deck ledger must be secured with screws or bolts simply nailing a ledger in place is insufficient as you can see the ledger that runs underneath the sliding door extends beyond the corner of the house a considerable distance for now we'll let that end run long and cut it to length later yep just makes it work in the corner over the top edge of the ledger we apply another layer of self-adhesive flashing membrane over that we install copper flashing that we purchase from our local roofing contractor who bent it to fit our ledger detail this can also commonly be ordered from your local sheet metal fabrication shop again to ensure that the moisture is directed away from the house the top edge of the copper flashing laps under the house wrap and siding above it this detail cannot be overemphasized once we flash the ledger we can move on to assembling the beams the top of the concrete piers can provide a handy work surface so before install the support post I strip the cardboard off the forms and assemble the beams right on top of the piers once assembled I can set them aside until the posts are installed and the beams can be set on top these beams as call-out on the plans are too long to be assembled with lumber to span the whole length by assembling the beams on the piers I can locate my joints directly over the posts without having to use a tape measure if you are using three and a half inch framing nails like we are here be sure to angle them so the sharp end doesn't protrude from the other side also driving a few nails in the opposite direction locks the framing lumber together better than simply driving them straight through at the ends where the name is close to the edge of the deck I clipped a lower corner to reduce the chance of giving myself or one of the crew members a headache I snapped lines across the tops of the piers to locate the center of the post basis to secure the post base I drill a hole for the concrete hold down screwed I'm using Titan HDS here instead of anchor bolts the difference is we can put them in after the concrete has cured snap the lines locate the holes and then drill where we need to rather than with anchor bolts where you have to locate them exactly while the concrete is wet and put them in place this gives us a lot of play with where we can place these on top of the footing I've set the transit back up so that we can determine at what height to cut the posts to do that is very simple simply slide this up to the bottom of the ledger which is also the bottom of the joists slide the receiver up until I get the single pitch now once I have that pitch I lock it in place now I know that's the bottom of the joist beneath the joist we have a 10 inch 2 by 10 beam which is 9 and 3/8 of an inch so to get the top of the post which is also the bottom of the beam I slide this up 9 and 3/8 of an inch and now when I move this into position and I get the steady signal that's the point at which I cut the post in wet climates the copper and common pressure-treated lumber will corrode metal to protect the decks connecting Hardware I apply a layer flashing membrane between metal and wood connections yep to ensure the posts are fully seated in the bases i plumb them before driving any nails this pneumatic nailer has a tip specifically designed to locate nail holes and connecting Hardware do not use a standard nailer when connecting Hardware can you lift your end up yep good that's where it goes let me get this set up down beautiful as the support framing goes up we check it for plum novel and square grab hold of the bean the post and move it then we brace it temporarily with wildlife scrap lumber [Music] with the post beams and ledger in place we'll start by installing the rim joists on either side of the deck then we'll mark the joist layout on the beams and ledger next we'll attach hangars to the joists then fasten the hangers to the ledgers we'll snap a line and cut the ends of the joists to install the outer rim joists we'll nail in the ladder blocking that will support the picture frame border around the decking then we'll bolt newel posts in place we string a line two inches off the first choice that doubles as the ledger against the house we can then measure back to the board along the string to ensure the board is set straight once straight we tacked in place to protect the joist hanger from corrosion we wrapped the end of the joist with a flashing membrane I like to attach the hanger to the joist first then make the connection to the ledger I find there's more room to maneuver the nailer if I'm working off the lumber stack or set of sawhorses again I use a pneumatic nailer specifically designed for hardware such as joist hangers before I install the joist I need to mark the joist layout on the ledger and have it match the layout on the beams to do this I establish the deck center point on the ledger and beam father's away from the house I can then snap a reference line and pull my layout from that this method ensures that the layout marks on the ledger in both beams match exactly the deck plans call for joists laid out at 16 inches on center this is typical but if you're using a composite decking material check the manufacturer to make sure that the span rating matches your deck plans also if you're going to put something heavy on the deck like a hot tub you want the deck framing to be engineered or at the very least checked over by an architect using straight or slightly crowned choice is crucial to building a flat deck because the last thing I want is to have the deck tables and chairs wobbling on a very expensive brand new deck it's a good idea to double check the crown of the joists as you're installing them because occasionally a bad one can slip through I see the crown in this one oh my god it matches this one I checked the joist by siding along the top edge I call out the ones that have more than quarter inch crown the ones I call can be used for shorter runs but if they are really bad I just send them back move your hand that one's okay nope that's out it's got a big dip in the middle to make sure I don't run short of good choice I usually order about 20% more than I need I can send the bad ones back to the lumberyard after the job is done and get a refund are they having every once in a while I'll get a load that contains too many unusable joists which puts a stop to the project until I can get new lumber [Music] the other reason why I fasten the hangers to the joists first is that it's easier to align the tops of the joist flush to the top of the ledger where the stairs interrupt the joists layout we simply head her across the top of the stairs and continue the layout the rest of the joists attached to a rim that runs parallel to the ledger there's a little trick for when you need a third hand to hold the end of the board simply pound a nail halfway into the top bend it over the nail catches on the adjacent joist and keeps the top flush and all right we have the joist all the way up from the house all the way out they're not fastened to the beam yet before we fasten them permanently to the beam we're going to fine-tune the posts to make sure they're exactly plumb make a mark and now I can fasten the joist to the beam which holds the post plumb now I'm going to run a string line all the way down to straighten the beam before we nail the rest of the joists on I use 3/4 inch blocks to hold the string off the beam at each end then I check the beam for straight using a third block that's right where we want to be to attach the joist to the beam we simply secure them with right angle brackets now that the joists are in place we can cut them to length to do this I snap a chalk line across the joists I want to cut and then square that line down along the side of the joist you get a straighter line for our rim joist by marking and cutting joists after they've been installed rather than trying to measure and cut each one while still on the sawhorses now you're going to lift it way up AJ lifts it up to slide it up it's going to go way up all right let me nail the top in alright lift it up up up up a little more right there hold it can you tell this one's racked a little okay down bring it down down hold it back up right there way down way down up up a little good hold it now I'm ready to cut a 45 degree corner off the end of the deck all I have to do is draw a line across these two inside points and snap it on the intermediate joist draw the line down then cut the joist with the saw set at a 45 degree bevel then put the band joist in place to complete the corner let's see if this puppy fits before we do anything stupid huh I have to push it that way pull the bottom in all right let me see how well it fits perfect right let it in a little bit yep don't worry I haven't shot anybody else yet except for myself to keep the deck from racking overtime we need to secure it permanently with knee braces between the support beams and the posts the knee brace is simply a length of 4x4 post material with 45-degree cuts on both ends the overall length is just over 2 feet I use long quarter-inch timber lock screws to secure the knee braces ro no just put the one up against here we've installed the post temporarily plumb to make them permanent I'm going to use this metal connector this is going to bolt right through the post to the outside band the reason we need this bracket in here is because there's so much leverage at the top of the post it will prevent the post from being pushed out and racking the outside band the areas with ladder blocking I use the same hardware but I add in another bracket to lock in the adjacent choice [Music] that's it for this deck we're using a five quarter by six PVC deck light it has a wood texture on the top grooved edges on both sides the grooved edges are used in this case for a hidden fastening system their number concealed fastening systems out there this is one that's proprietary to this particular deck style the clip slips into the groove right over the joist location the stainless steel screw fastens it to the joist and then the next plank clips on to this little extension here and continues a process there are times that you can't or don't want to use a concealed system the part without the grooved edges just for exposed parts like the outside of the debt the edges of the stairs or any other part where you don't want to see the groove in that case we use stainless steel fasteners with colored heads we establish our first decking layout by pulling a straight line off the edge of the stair opening this enables us to have a full board without proper one inch overhang along the highly visible edge we then measure back to the house and rip that first board to the layout under the sliding glass door we decided to install the border deck boards first to allow ourselves enough room to scribe the first one to the wall of the house this doubled up border runs all the way around the deck like a picture frame next we install the field decking letting the ends to the border with the appropriate gap when installing the field decking we let one end run wild we can cut it to length in place then we install the border pieces finally we'll install the border and the checking for the 45 degree clip corners describing the border around the newel posts the last thing we need to do before we start fastening the decking down is to apply strips of adhesive membrane to the tops of the joists this helps to keep the moisture from migrating through into the wood through the fastener hole which could cause rot snapping a long chalk line like the one at the edge of the stairs that establishes our decking layout I'll hold down the line in the middle and snap both sides this generally gives me a straighter line than if I try to snap the whole length at once measured under the sliding glass door we decided to install the border deck boards first to allow ourselves enough room to scribe the first one to the wall of the house let's all let's all you know AJ keeps ahead of us we're all set so we don't have to bang the whole thing all at once we can work the way down or we can Spang it in let's get a good sweat going no I have the handle we're looking for the head flying at me Moe Larry Moe yeah yeah I got it you don't have to pull push it up I got it there you go I'm cutting the decking back to allow for the double border we snap a line the appropriate distance back from the edge of the deck and cut along that line with a circular so be sure to adjust the saw blade depth so that doesn't cut into the frame we've had to alter the framing a little bit by putting ladder blocking in between the last joist and the band joist down here we cut a 45 degree angle off the corner of the deck double band is going to come down make the first cut here it's going to be a 22 and a half degree angle when we get to the other corner of the 45 degree angle that'll be another 22 and a half degree angle then the band will continue parallel with the rest of the decking describing the border band around the newel post slows things down a bit but luckily we have some allowance the white sleeve over the newel post will cover up to a half-inch gap around the base how about we measure so not waiting I'm burning an inch this is too long I'm going to scream that's right ah you can't take a blade off of this here done this before good with the last of the decking in place we can install the railing system but first we need to build some stairs the most common style of deck stairs is a short straight run of open stairs using knotch stringers this is also probably the simplest kind to build and what we're going to build for this debt project to lay out and cut the stringers we need to calculate the rise and the run for our stairs level over from the top of the deck and measure down to where the stairs will land this is the total rise divide the total rise by a comfortable height for each riser in this case seven and 1/2 inches a result is nine risers plus a little we'll deal with the remainder in a second multiply that 9 by the run in this case 10 inches we determined that stairs will lay on 90 inches from the edge of the deck now take the remainder we got a second ago and spread it out evenly among our steps that adds a sixteenth to each step we now know that we have nine steps that are seven and nine sixteenths inches tall at the top we'll attach our stairs to the band joist with 4x4 blocking we'll land our stairs on the temporary paver blocks that will eventually be replaced with a concrete landing pad incorporate a kicker board at the bottom to attach the stringers to the landing pad this prevents the stair stringers from kicking out now that all the hard work is done let's build some stairs the first step when building deck stairs is to take a rough measurement from the top of the deck down to about where I think the stairs will land to do this I need a long level or a level with a long stick once I know where the stairs will land I can install a landing now we'll use some concrete blocks to temporarily support the stairs until a permanent landing is constructed it's important to try to figure out exactly where the landscaping will come up it rises up a few inches over there so I'm figuring this block will be the height of the finished landscaping once I get an exact measurement to the landing I can calculate and cut my stringers now I'm going to cut the stringers to the stairs or do that I have to mark them out we've already established that our tread length is going to be 10 inches so I'm setting this piece of wood the outside edge of the piece of wood on the 10 inch mark of the framing square and our rise is seven and nine sixteenths start down at the bottom of an end of the stairs and just work our way up now there's one last adjustment I have to make before cutting the string okay this is our first step and like all the others it measures seven and nine sixteenths rise now if I cut it like this we'll have our decking sitting here for the tread that's where our foot goes what I have to adjust is cutting one inch off the bottom of the stringer so now all I have to do is this is my original line slide this up until I have the one-inch mark right here I'm going to cut the bottom of the stringer right along that one inch mark measures six and 9/16 when I put the tread on it'll be 7 and 9/16 exactly what we want I'm cutting the stringers I'll cut all the stairs in one direction first being careful not to over cut the inside corner then I'll cut all the stairs in the other direction finally I'll use a reciprocating saw to finish the cuts when I get the first stringer cut I trace the outline to the second and third stringers this will keep them as consistent as possible finally I'll cut the bottom of the stringer to accept the kicker board kicker can simply be nailed in place at the top we'll use adjustable metal connectors to attach all three stringers to a length of 2-bike then we'll secure that two four by four blocking behind the deck band joist are they finished framing the stairs putting the stringers together and securing them at the top and the bottom next step is to trim the stairs before we put the treads or risers in this deck is getting a piece of trim all the way around the band and then down the sides of the stringers so rather than cut the profile of the risers and the treads out like you see on interior stairs we're just going to leave it housed in like this so that the treads and risers will fit inside of the two pieces of trim this gives a nice clean look on the outside which continues down the sides of the stairs with a skirt board in place I can cut the treads to fit and screw them down building deck stairs doesn't have to be complicated I've seen pre-cut stringers at the Home Center but to me they are more trouble than our with just a few measurements I can cut stair stringers on-site and have them up in the time it would take for me to go to the store and buy some like the decking the trim elements of this deck are made of synthetic materials we used 1 by 10 trim boards to cover the band joists and a manufactured composite railing system that is assembled on-site most of the proprietary systems are already incremented at 4 inches just like this one because that's that's the code and most of them that I've seen also do the same thing you start from the middle you measure out and you have your your um offset on either end it's not going to be exactly 4 inches but that's equally divided on either end this has a top rail as a bottom rail that will go on here and that's what this is so AJ is screwing on the balusters onto the bottom rail at this time so don't let me stop you the railing system we chose consists of sleeves that fit over the structural pressure-treated posts that we installed during the framing process a decorative collar slips over the sleeves to dress up the base to install the railing we fit the sleeves over the posts and shim them plumb then we attach brackets to accept the bottom rail that the balusters assembly clips over boy I'm really cleaning up on this job because they are pre-painted it's a good idea to take a little extra time while marketing cutting & fitting the pieces to ensure the finish isn't damaged putting the band around the outside perimeter here we have to deal with these 45-degree angles on both corners of the deck and one little trick for getting the measurement of this corner and cutting it precisely is to first cut a couple of extra pieces of trim to pieces four inches i beveled it at 22 and a half degrees on both edges to find out the location of where it exactly comes together then I just draw a line on one side and then the other now I simply measure from my last piece to that line which is exactly 59 inches and I add the four inches which gives me 63 inches from the flat part of the cut to the long point of the 22 and a half degree bevel to make a straight cut without a miter saw I use my speed square as a saw guide we're just tacking it up right now with the gun later on we'll use stainless steel screws to put it in permanently at the miter joints we apply a bonding glue to help hold the PVC pieces together the balusters assembly spit over the bottom rail that we installed at the top they attach with a bracket the fastens to the post sleeve at the 45 degree corners the ends of the balusters assemblies are cut so they fit centered on the post sleeve yup slide it down yeah slide it hey there we go alright we finish

Channel: How to Build a Shed

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Keywords: build a deck, How to build, yourself, deck, build, How to

Id: nIIA16GGAHc

Length: 38min 50sec (2330 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 17 2016