Difficulty: Moderate to hard Digging holes and pouring concrete piers is hard work, but building the frame and laying the decking is straightforward, even enjoyable.
If you’ve always dreamed of building your own deck, but were hesitant to tackle such a large, complicated construction project, we’ve got some good news. We asked This Old House general contractor Tom Silva to demonstrate the proper techniques for building a small, simple on-grade deck. All you need are some basic carpentry tools and the desire to invest a little sweat equity.
The deck shown here features a pressure-treated floor frame that’s supported by a ledger board and concrete piers, and topped with 5/4-inch decking. And because the deck is only a one step high, no railing was required. Now just follow Tom’s tips and build your own backyard oasis. It’s a great way to make your neighbors jealous.
ANATOMY
An on-grade deck—one built just above the ground—doesn’t require posts, steps, or railings. But it has the same structural elements as any deck—ledger, joists, beams and piers. Building one begins with determining the sizes of the framing material. Tom Silva uses these rules fo thumb: for rim joists or beams made of doubled-up 2x lumber, the boards’ nominal width (in inches) should match the span (in feet). So a rim joist spanning 10 feet requires two 2x10s. The ledger is made from a single board of the same width. For interior joists, Tom halves the span then adds two—a joist spanning 8 feet warrants a 2×6. (In all cases, round up odd numbers or fractions to the next even number.)
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