First things first, you can build a deck out of most any material. The three most common are Douglas Fir (inexpensive), Redwood (expensive) and composite decking (very expensive). A very nice deck can be built out of Douglas Fir and with proper care it will last for many years.
To get the most life out of any wood decking, each board should be treated with a good deck stain before becoming a part of the deck. While on the subject of deck stain I will tell you right now do not use paint, do not use anything like poly-urethane, do not use any finish that only coats the surface then dries like a paint. Well, you can if you like using a mountain of sandpaper next time the deck needs refinishing. When you use a deck stain (available in lots of colors, tints and even solid colors), it soaks into the wood. Then in a few years (let's say 5+ years) just power-wash and retreat. That's it. Less than a weekend! Trust me, I once sanded a very large redwood deck. That's workin'!
That brings us to using redwood. In my opinion the most stunning, jaw dropping deck is the redwood deck I just mentioned. The owner chose a red cedar tinted stain that just made the redwood color jump out at you. I've included some pictures of it below, but they cannot do it justice.
Last of the three is the composite decking. My opinion (you are reading this for my opinion, right?): It's a lot of money for a plastic looking deck. They are for the most part zero maintenance, but do change color due to age and weather according to the Trex® website. I have also heard they can be very slippery when wet, and worse in snow.
Deck Design
The design of a deck will be dictated by the following factors:
1) Purpose/expected loads
2) Space/obstacles
3) House design
4) Budget of owner
5) Creativity of designer
6) Skill of builder
Deck designs can go from an old pallet that you put your BBQ on to a vast, multi-level, hot tub holding party palace that incorporates flowing patterns into the decking.
In most cases the deck will be built so you can step out of the house and onto the deck. If the house is a mobile home, the deck must be "free standing", meaning it is not attached to the home in any way. If it's a "site built" home, a ledger can be bolted directly into the home's framing (see fig. 1A and 1B below). These drawings show the decking running perpendicular to the house. If you are going to run the decking parallel to the house, see fig. 1C below.
The next place a deck will most always connect to is the dirt, though in some cases the posts will come down to an existing cement slab like a patio. Fig. 2A and 2B below are how I prefer to address both. Note: When going to dirt make sure to dig holes at least 12" in diameter and deep enough to reach "undisturbed" soil. For soil that is sandy or somewhat loose, make your holes up to 18" in diameter. When going into a cement slab, determine the exact location (as always) and mark the location for the two bolts. These holes can be drilled slightly oversize, but should be just tight enough to make a socket and ratchet necessary. Using a hammer drill and a concrete bit, drill holes, then blow out any debris from the holes. When all your holes, bolts and post anchors are ready, put enough concrete epoxy into the holes to force any air out when thew bolts are screwed in. Work quickly and only on one post at a time.
Run joists 16" on center and use blocking every 4" to keep them straight! Use center support and/or heavy beams if appropriate (such as with a really large deck). When laying out your deck it is critical that everything be kept perfectly square and level. Also, when designing your deck, don't forget that every deck board is 5 1/2" plus 1/8" for the gap. So 5 5/8" x the number of deck boards to get your target measurement, then add one more 1/8". For instance, let's say your target is 18'. 18' divided by 5 5/8" equals 38.4. 38 boards and 39 1/8" gaps equals 19' 9 7/8". Now, you still have a 2x8 at each side or end, each 1 1/2" wide (or another 3"). 17'9" + 3" = 18' 0 7/8". As you can see, the closest you can get is 7/8" over your target.
Most of the time it is not a problem as long as you did the math before you started to build. If this part of the deck is stuck between, say, the house and the garage, that 7/8" is still not a big problem. Sometimes you can squeeze the 1/8" gaps to get all 38 boards in whole, or one board will just need to be ripped down. Don't use nails to put down your decking! They sell screws for this! Deck screws come in different colors and don't come loose. Also, pre-drill and counter sink them, using two screws per board ay each joist 1" from the edge of the board and exact center of the joist.
The biggest mistake is not checking your measurements as you go to keep yourself from getting out of square (one end of your deck board closer to your destination than the other) or the number of boards that are down cover too much or too little distance. Check your measurements every five boards at both ends and every 8' if the decking runs longer lengthwise than 8'. For instance, a great way to keep yourself in check is to mark on both sides of the deck and snap a line across the joists at 28 1/8", 56 1/4", 84 3/8" and so on. Great little spacers for the 1/8" gap are just a few 16d nails, but you already knew that.
As for the ends of the deck boards, I always like to end a board on the full width of a 2x. You can end one on half of a 2x joist and another continuing off the other half, but it is not as strong or safe as each board on its own 2x (see fig. 3). If possible, avoid deck boards all ending on the same joist. Stagger them (also shown in fig. 3). Staggering the ends of your decking looks better and is far ore effective at tying the entire deck together as an assembly.
One thing that I really frown on are hand rails that feel loose and are just waiting for a victim to lean against them. Crack, thud! Call 911!
Here is the strongest way to build them with wood. Use the posts that come up from the ground where handrails are needed, they can be spaced every 5' and go right through the decking to the top of the handrail (see fig. 4). Never build a deck and then just try to bolt handrails to the side. When you bolt the end of a 4' 4x4 to another piece of wood, then put your weight on the other end, that 4' of leverage will end up tearing the bolts out. Crack, thud (again)!
Also note that in fig.4 I tossed in a piece under the deck at a 45˚ angle. Use lots of these in both directions. Short ones, long ones, however you want to do it as long a they are secure. Triangles are great, they don't allow movement and we don;t want Aunt Edna getting sea sick on your new deck after eating BBQ pork ribs!
Back to the handrails, there are lots of way to make them. Some good, some not. For this, only one rule applies: Make them strong. Okay, two rules. The bannisters must be spaced so Aunt Edna's little crumb cruncher can't fit his/her head through them. Please look up the spacing requirements in your County. That said, I'll draw you something to give you a direction to go in (see fig. 5). Pretty basic, but sturdy, and shouldn't consume a ton of time and money. From this basic design you can dress it up, make it cost more, even spend weeks on it if you want. Please use screws and pre-drill all the holes so you don't split or weaken anything!
Now things are starting to look sweet. Got your deck, got your handrails. You walk out the sliding glass door that was 8' off the ground right out onto your new deck and...say, sure would be nice to be able get down into the backyard from here!
Okay, I guess steps would work well but that means I have to write more. Just jump! Alright, fine. We can do stairs. I'll give you the two basic designs that are most common for decks. 1, open stringer and 2, closed stringer (see fig. 6A and fig. 6B). Now if anyone wants a spiral staircase, I'll draw a rope -- just coil it up. As far as laying out even a simple set of four or five steps, things get way simpler if you have access to a construction calculator!
I just put this in off the top of my head. A 10' run with an 8' rise, then hit "stair". Now I know that the riser height is 7 3/8", the tread width is 10", the number of risers is 13 and the number of treads is 12. The stringer length is 12' 5 1/8" with an incline of 36.41˚. To be perfectly honest, having one of these calculators while designing a deck will probably pay for itself in the time and materials you save. They cost around $50. Now, if you just want to wing it on the steps just keep the treads to 10" or 11" wide and the risers 7" maximum and you'll be fine...grin.
A whole lot more could be added to this post, but any more and it would turn into a book. Some of the things I glossed over could be a bit redundant, like handrails on the stairs -- just turn and point them downhill. On some of the other things I skipped over, I figure if you want to tackle building a deck you should be able to figure out some of the additional details by using the tips above and adapting them. If not, don't start building! The rest would be, for instance, building patterns into the decking or adding things like a hot tub. With those latter two, I think I'll just bore you with a more in depth post later on.
As always, I hope this was -- at best, a big time and money saver for somebody, or at least, a moment of educational entertainment.
~SJN
Images as referenced above:
Plus a couple of the beautiful refinished redwood deck I mentioned:
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