How to Build a Ground Level Deck

in today's video we're gonna have a look how to build ground level deck using some 2x6 and some deck blocks and how to get from this to this this deck will be a floating deck which means it's not going to be attached for the side of the house and doesn't really have to it's going to be freestanding deck and it's going to be very stable because it will be sitting on some deck blocks under the weight of all this Lumber and for this deck lumber we're gonna use this 2x6 you can use two by eight as well it's a great lumber for building any deck and for deck block you can use concrete deck block but we're going to use this tough Block it's kind of a new thing it's made from recycled plastic and they're saying it can withstand the pressure of 11 000 pounds so we want to give it a try as well this is the lowest deck block that I could find and as we want to keep this deck as low as possible as we can get this is what I'm gonna use and when I'm saying that we are building ground level deck it's not really gonna be sitting on the ground it's going to be sitting on this deck block and then we're gonna have this 2x6 then another deck board that's two by six as well so the height of Our Deck will basically be nine inches from the ground floor to the top of Our Deck board will be nine inches and that's the lowest that I can go this is the area where we're going to build our deck half of it is a concrete and half of it is a top soil and you don't really want to put your deck block on the top soil as topsoil might get washed off over time and your deck block might become loose and unstable so the best thing is to lay the paver on your topsoil and then you're gonna put your deck block on the paver itself and when you're setting up a paver you don't really again want to put a paver on the top so only and you want to have your paper sitting on crushed rock like this one or mix of sand and the crushed rock as this is not going to get that slushy and it's not going to get washed away in the case of heavy rain I have five pavers in this little area and before I actually start building a deck frame I want to make sure they're all in level between two lines that's the best I'm ever gonna get this is going to be a custom deck more than a simple Square deck because we have this basement window wells and we want to build our deck frame around window wells instead of covering them and block all the lights to the basement so this is going to be my setup I'm basically going to build a frame from two by four to round it and then start laying some 2x6 joists in it okay [Music] as this board is sitting crooked I'm gonna do the same thing to straighten it out I'm gonna add a screw here and pull the board with my hammer just like that hold the board straight again now as I have my frame done these three main boxes it's time to reinforce with some joists and some blocking I'm gonna have two main blockings here in between these two boxes in these two boxes and then a bunch of joists in between on every 16 inches and then again several blockings in between I Rejoice just to have this Frame super reinforced foreign 16 inch because that's how much you should spread out your joists not more not less thank you [Music] [Music] birthday [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] and in the meantime I added this duck blocks under the duck frame and it looks fantastic and plus on top of that I'm gonna reinforce this deck frame by adding a few hangers and Corner ties hangers and ties are fairly cheap they sell for 1.50 to 250 each and they're very useful especially here on the end of my joist where you might not be able to add a screws to the back of the joist and put a few screws [Music] foreign I'll be adding some blockings blockings are basically short pieces of wood lumper blocks cut off from joistible leftovers and attached in between the joists for reinforcement of your deck Framing and you can add them anywhere basically wherever you think uh is going to support the stability of your deck frame as you can see how I have done them in zigzag pattern you can follow the same way you want to level the height of your blockings with the height of your joist [Music] all the blocking is done now we really gave an extra strength to this deck Framing and the black thing that you see it's actually something to protect your joists on your round lumber from rotting there is a joist guard tape the name is a joist guard that you can use to cover your joist but I actually use the duct tape duct Tech tape will be totally fine and if you use a pressure treated lumber it's not necessarily needed it might be an Overkill but if you want to invest in your deck more and protect your investment then this is a great idea because over time all the water is draining over your deck board will be sitting here and this is the first thing it's gonna rot so if you want to protect your joists from rotting and give your deck frame life as much as it can get you should protect it with a joist guard or a duct tape both options will work great laying out some deck boards and I could basically lay them out horizontally one by one simple as that but as I don't really like those rough deck ends and this is a custom deck so what I'm gonna make here I'm gonna make picture frame border amps and the way how to do that you basically take your deck person lay them out all around your deck frame and and use your 45 degrees angle cut in the corner and get all the pieces together [Music] and this is what you get another thing I want to show you is this deck is 10 by 20 feet long and that's way bigger than the boards I have so but I basically need 20 feet long boards and I don't have them I only have 12 feet long border deck boards so what I'm gonna do I'm gonna split this deck in half so I can use smaller deck boards on each side and the way I'm gonna do this basically going to have to add a split the deck board just in the middle it's like that in between these two ends so now I can use my 10-12 feet boards on each side now I'm finally laying out the deck boards and again I'm using my camo tool guide again here it really has a great feature give me the option to hide the screws on the edge of the board and leaving that important gap for expansion contraction and drainage [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] section of my deck is entirely done we have these deck boards laid out as far as they get because this is 10 by 20 feet long deck and I don't really have this 20 feet long deck board so I'm gonna have to divide this deck the way I'm gonna do that I'm gonna Place one deck board right in the middle of my deck so now I'm gonna make a long line just like that now I'm gonna take a skill saw and make a cut along this line and that way I'm gonna create a perfect space for this two by eight just to fit it in between these two sections let's go have a look [Music] so this is how you split your deck now we're gonna do the same thing for the other side [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] and this is our custom deck completed so basically it always comes down to level your surface build your box from Joyce get them together Square it up and cover it with the deck ports thank you very much for watching the video If you like this video please give us a thumbs up and subscribe

Channel: The Handy Neighbor

Views: 189,502

Keywords: how to build a deck, building a deck, deck building, build a deck, build a ground level deck, build a fence, carpentry work, deck blocks, floating deck, how to build a floating deck, deck lumber, pressure treated lumber, low deck, ground level deck, deck permit, hight deck, deck

Id: _rQBy4IHsEs

Length: 12min 21sec (741 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2023