How to build a low to the ground deck part 2

Hello again...

Part two: How to build a low to the ground deck.

 So we are working on a low to the ground level deck project in Macomb Township MI. Where the clients had a failed stamped concrete patio that we are building a deck over.

 Let finish up the framing details. Here is the framing plan see below. There was a small modification to the deck plan during construction where we cut the corners on the deck. The homeowner wanted the corners cut but the existed concrete patio only allowed 1'6" cut corner. Because we had the room enough without having to remove anymore concrete.

 Macomb Township deck framing plan.

Another point with framing of this project is the location of the beam closest to the house. On a low deck like this it is a challenge if the house has brick we cannot attached to the house. Normally in a free standing deck design you would have the inside beam/posts a couple of feet of the house, but here if we do it that close to house the posts would be in the 5' basement back-fill zone.  Where the post hole footing have to go down to virgin soil and about as deep as the basement footing height. So on this deck the four posts would be 8' -  9' deep.

So we had a an engineer design a typical ledger connection through a brick veneer on short spans of 6' or less to avoid this type of scenario as in this project. The one post by the fireplace we had to do extra deep because we cannot attached a ledger where there is a fireplace.

Basically we have to drill 1 1/2" holes through the brick so the 3/4" lag bolts don't bear on the brick and crack the brick from the deck load. Than we install 3/4" x 8" galvanized lag bolts into the house rim joist to support the short spanned ledger.

Here are some final pictures of this deck project.

Here in the picture above you see why we had the 12" on center joist spacing, because the Timber Tech Legacy decking is running on a 45 degree angle the framing has to be 12" on center. Also you can see why we had all the blocking installed around the perimeter and up the middle of the deck. For the picture frame border and center seam board.

We usually always picture frame our decks so the fascia cladding is protected. If you looking at the pictures from part one you can see why it costs more or is a big up grade from the way most guys build a deck without the picture frame border over the deck rim and fascia cladding.

Above we are working on building a built in bench, which is kind of built like a mini deck on rail posts. 

Thanks for reading our blog. I hope we inspired you with a new outdoor living project !

Michigan deck builders. 

Romeo MI composite deck

It has been to long since we have updated our blog .. I have to apologize !
 It has been hard to find time we have been busy building decks.

Today we are going to review a project we started last November.

We framed the deck last year and the job was put on hold until early this spring when we finished up. We were originally hired to only design the deck. Then we were hired to frame the deck, and the customer was going to finish the deck. After further considering the scope of the project we were then hired to finish the deck this March.

Here is the design that was revised some this spring.

The deck was designed to be a temporary access to the above ground pool which will eventually be removed. So the deck will have to look good when the pool is removed.

The design also has a unique center section with a dodecogan triple picture frame border. 

Here we had to build a jig out of wood decking to get the proper layout of the dodecogan (12 sided octagon) This was a challenge to keep everything square and all the mitres tight ! Originally the deck was only going to have a double picture frame border, so we had to add more blocking.

The decking is the new Timber Tech Evolutions rosewood (cap composite) with Timber Tech XLM sandridge borders, fascia, and railings. Here we are installing the decking and borders.

We tried tying in the colors of the decking, fascia, and railings with trim and brick colors of the house.

From the outside, the deck looks all the sandridge color like the color of the house trim and once you are on the deck surface we tried to pick up the brick color with the rosewood decking.

A picture of the triple center seam board and triple border dodecogan.

The railings are Timber Tech Radiance rail in sandridge with bronze Deckorators balusters. The two rail sections over the pool are removable to access the pool.

Here are few more final pictures

 Michigan deck builders

Monarch Prestige (Granite color) with Monarch Charleston railings (Slate color)

Here is what we have been working on for the last few weeks. Remove and replace a existing treated deck with Monarch Prestige. Prestige is there newest line which is a cap layer composite.

Top View

3D

Before

This was a bear of a project, the tear out went very easy we had the old deck down and loaded in a dumpster in about 2 1/2 hours. From there everything seemed to take longer than what we had thought.

The footings took some extra work because of large stones in the ground.

The framing took longer because of the building department, Rochester Hills requires a 1/2" through bolt connection for the ledger, and even the railing posts had to have 2)  1/2" carriage bolts per post and none of the 4x4 rail posts could be notched, and we had a double picture frame border to frame for and a two tiered fascia, and two levels.

Here we just installed the decking with hidden fasteners

Post sleeves just installed (Monarch Charleston Slate)

Here we just installed the railings and working into the homestretch

A few final pictures

Thanks for reading

New products for the 2010 deck and patio season

We are looking forward to spring and getting out and building some new decks, porches and patios. I personally love designing and building outdoor living areas.

This year there has not been allot of changes in Composite/PVC products on the decking market. Trex and Fiberon have come out with both of their cap layer composite deck boards, Trex Transcends and Fiberon Horizons We wrote about the Trex Transcend product earlier this year and we are going to monitor the new Trex line and see how it preforms. The Fiberon Horizon composite cap layer product is interesting. The Horizon Tropics line came out at the end of last year. We did get a chance to build two decks from the Horizon line and I was really impressed. Here is a link to their site.

http://www.fiberondecking.com/

FIBERON HORIZON TROPICS

Fiberon Horizons Rosewood deck we built last year

The center of the triple border is Correct Deck CX pebble color. The rest of the decking is the Fiberon Horizons Rosewood. You can see the dramatic dark streaking in the red colored Rosewood board which mimics the look of a natural Brazilian hardwood. The Horizon Tropics line has two different colors Rosewood and Ipe and there is actually seven different colors used to make up the colors in the Rosewood and Ipe deck boards

The Fiberon Horizon Line has a twenty year fade and stain warranty which guarantees against any fading or staining. This was the first warranty of this kind for a composite decking product.

Here is a link to a composite/pvc comparison chart put out by Fiberon

http://www.fiberondecking.com/products/compareHorizon

In the link you can see the core of the Horizon deck board is first generation composite and the outer cap layer is what they call "PermaTech" which is the cap layer. Another good point about the Horizon line; is the deck board is two sided, so the "PermaTech cap layer is on both side so it is reversible which is completely unique in that no other manufacture that I am aware of has a two sided cap layer.

There is four solid colors in the Horizon line also

Sand, Brick, Bronze and Slate

The railing system is called Horizon Plus which comes in six colors: white, black, sand, brick, bronze, and slate. The Mission profile is a flat top and standard bottom rail in all six colors, and the Provencal which is a bread loaf rounded top style, it only comes in white.

The Brick is the base color for the Ipe and the Bronze is the base color for the Rosewood. So if you wanted to have matching railings to the tropical colors you would choose the brick or the bronze colors, or you would go with a contrasting white or black colored railings.

We like the Fiberon Horizon Tropics because the price point is close to the basic first generation composite. But it has the durability of the more expensive PVC products and it looks the best of any other Composite/PVC products on the markets.

The Fiberon Horizon Tropics should be a big hit, and in my opinion it is the best looking composite/pvc product on the market.

Thank You .... For Reading Our Blog