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#1
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Base for decking
Hi - I am looking to install some decking to replace old unsightly concrete and part of my lawn. I have removed the concrete and turf for the intended area but am finding that the ground beneath is a little soft and not draining particularly well.
I never had any problems with the previous concrete so am a little concerned about how to achieve a firm base for the decking. My plan is to put down a layer of pea gravel as a base and also mount the decking on paving slabs (400mm square). However, is there anything else anyone can recommend to give my decking a solid foundation. Thanks in anticipation |
#2
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Base for decking
On Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:25:06 +0000, Spennomort
wrote: Hi - I am looking to install some decking to replace old unsightly concrete and part of my lawn. I have removed the concrete and turf for the intended area but am finding that the ground beneath is a little soft and not draining particularly well. I never had any problems with the previous concrete so am a little concerned about how to achieve a firm base for the decking. My plan is to put down a layer of pea gravel as a base and also mount the decking on paving slabs (400mm square). However, is there anything else anyone can recommend to give my decking a solid foundation. Thanks in anticipation Decking supports are typically mounted to concrete piers... you can make your own but it's far easier to buy them ready made. I prefer the floating construction rather than having a deck bolted to a house. Pea gravel under a deck will retain moisure and present a mosquito problem... gravel should be illegal as a landscape material anyway, it migrates everywhere. http://www.lowes.com/pd_19070-1662-D...13 302&rpp=24 http://www.deckplans.com/how-it-works |
#3
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Base for decking
Spennomort writes:
Hi - I am looking to install some decking to replace old unsightly concrete and part of my lawn. I have removed the concrete and turf for the intended area but am finding that the ground beneath is a little soft and not draining particularly well. I never had any problems with the previous concrete so am a little concerned about how to achieve a firm base for the decking. My plan is to put down a layer of pea gravel as a base and also mount the decking on paving slabs (400mm square). However, is there anything else anyone can recommend to give my decking a solid foundation. Thanks in anticipation Where are you? If your ground freezes you need to dig holes below the frost line and pour cement into sonotubes. -- Dan Espen |
#4
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Base for decking
On Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:18:11 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote: Spennomort writes: Hi - I am looking to install some decking to replace old unsightly concrete and part of my lawn. I have removed the concrete and turf for the intended area but am finding that the ground beneath is a little soft and not draining particularly well. I never had any problems with the previous concrete so am a little concerned about how to achieve a firm base for the decking. My plan is to put down a layer of pea gravel as a base and also mount the decking on paving slabs (400mm square). However, is there anything else anyone can recommend to give my decking a solid foundation. Thanks in anticipation Where are you? If your ground freezes you need to dig holes below the frost line and pour cement into sonotubes. By using floating pier construction that's no longer true. |
#5
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Base for decking
"Brooklyn1" Gravesend1 wrote in message
... On Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:18:11 -0400, Dan Espen wrote: Spennomort writes: Hi - I am looking to install some decking to replace old unsightly concrete and part of my lawn. I have removed the concrete and turf for the intended area but am finding that the ground beneath is a little soft and not draining particularly well. I never had any problems with the previous concrete so am a little concerned about how to achieve a firm base for the decking. My plan is to put down a layer of pea gravel as a base and also mount the decking on paving slabs (400mm square). However, is there anything else anyone can recommend to give my decking a solid foundation. Thanks in anticipation Where are you? If your ground freezes you need to dig holes below the frost line and pour cement into sonotubes. By using floating pier construction that's no longer true. In most jurisdictions, building a deck requires a building permit: and the local permits office can usually advise free about alternative foundation methods (e.g. deck blocks or sonotubes. The former are preferred here on sand and Leda clay, despite frost a yard deep in winter.) -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
#6
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Base for decking
On Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:41:58 -0400, "Don Phillipson"
wrote: "Brooklyn1" Gravesend1 wrote in message .. . On Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:18:11 -0400, Dan Espen wrote: Spennomort writes: Hi - I am looking to install some decking to replace old unsightly concrete and part of my lawn. I have removed the concrete and turf for the intended area but am finding that the ground beneath is a little soft and not draining particularly well. I never had any problems with the previous concrete so am a little concerned about how to achieve a firm base for the decking. My plan is to put down a layer of pea gravel as a base and also mount the decking on paving slabs (400mm square). However, is there anything else anyone can recommend to give my decking a solid foundation. Thanks in anticipation Where are you? He's obviously in the UK. If your ground freezes you need to dig holes below the frost line and pour cement into sonotubes. By using floating pier construction that's no longer true. In most jurisdictions, building a deck requires a building permit: and the local permits office can usually advise free about alternative foundation methods (e.g. deck blocks or sonotubes. The former are preferred here on sand and Leda clay, despite frost a yard deep in winter.) The OP is in the UK. There are few places in the UK that receive hard frosts let alone heaving freezes. And were there zoning laws there about how one must fabricate deck post anchoring he'd not be asking here.... he's merely asking for DIYer recomendastions based on folk's direct experience. In the US a permit for adding a deck is for property tax purposes unless it involves swimming pools/hot tubs, etc., typically no one from the building department comes out to inspect deck fabrication unless it's physically connected to the house (one of the main reasons floating piers were developed), only occasionally do they manually measure square footage, but usually additions/area is determined from periodic aerial photography. I doubt many if any municipalites in the US have general deck code per se, only in special circumstances such as set backs from property lines, and as most DIYers don't apply for permits the zoning officer will catch you later, usually a couple three years later and then the town will reassess your property and make it a bit to the high side so as to collect for the years you cheated. They'll rarely fine the DIYer but they certainly will a contractor. |
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