Child Item

Deck upgrade, merbau seating with storage and privacy screen project

It's time for another project and after design after design after design, I'm finally ready to begin!

The goal: to increase the usable space outside, enhance the outdoor experience all while providing some privacy while we're outside, and have some hidden storage as well!

the design shows the alfresco and the house, and all the completed decking, with seat and privacy screen from a few different angles and how i intend to use it as storage, with 3 panels on hinges.

The following shows each part of the project, and the intended frame design. the privacy screen will be the specrite screen panels x4 as seen in this image from bunnings:

https://www.bunnings.com.au/specrite-1800-x-902mm-pre-oiled-merbau-alternating-slat-fence-panel_p8500281

this will save me some time and cost along the way

the deck supports will be 100x100 H4 treated pine,

deck frame will be 140x45 treated pine and merbau decking, with merbau seat.

the screen will be supported by 100x100 cypress posts (DAR) which I'll stain with merbau stain and the seat/storage box will be 90x45 treated pine lined with plywood for the inside to stop any spiders and protect the storage contents from the elements.

the only real challenge is there's a storm water pipe beneath the garden bed on the outside of the alfresco. i just need to avoid that while digging, and the removal of trees and stumps, which will be a mammoth task.

next post will be some progress of the project with some photos

Find more posts tagged with

Tools and Materials

Decking and Paving

Building and Construction

Landscaping

Fencing and Screening

Comments

TimGeo

The first step of the process was removing all of these trees, we had 5 Yucca's that had reached at least 3m tall, and 8 conifers along the fence, in hindsight we should have removed them years ago but at the time we had no plans to do anything out here, fast forward 7 years and these monsters took a few days to remove!

I had some assistance removing all of these bad boys, the trees were all cut down to stumps and vegetation taken away, then i spent the next few days removing the stumps one by one, the ultimate test were the yucca's, and after some fumbling around with the tools, i found the best way to remove them without breaking my back was to dig as much as i can underneath the root mass enough to get a trolley jack underneath and force the whole thing up, snapping all the feeder roots on the way out! I managed to get them all out in one piece, kind of important if you don't want any piece left behind to grow through the deck a few years later!. the same method kind of works for the conifers, but it's all about getting underneath at the right spot.

there's a huge improvement! so much light enters the livingroom now!

anyway this is all I have this week, I'm ordering all of my materials shortly as I have some time off to start preparing them for the build!, i hope to have some more progress soon

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/58678#Comment_58678

Your design looks great, @TimGeo. Congratulations on getting all those plants, and especially the yuccas, out. That sounds like a massive job, so managing to tackle it over a few days is an impressive effort. They can be incredibly tenacious, and removing the entire root ball is no small task. Well done!

We’re really looking forward to seeing your project come together, so please keep us updated as you make progress.

Mitchell

TimGeo

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/91704#Comment_91704

I had seen a few different approaches to removing them from youtube, so when the guy was cutting them down we tried cutting a deep cross in the middle of one, but the chainsaw ended up blunt and we were removing chunk after chunk, which seemed counter productive and I was concerned about pieces being left behind, so I recalled another time when I used the jack to force a garden bed post out previously and while it was a slower process, it was less taxing on the body and being able to remove the entire stump out was very rewarding!

TimGeo

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/111918#Comment_111918

I'm back with an update! it's been a few weeks since I've posted, but spending an hour or so between everything else has made for slow progression, anyway the first thing I did was to take care of the posts for the screen and seat, the petrol digger made light work of this, although still spent some time squaring up the holes and getting them nice and deep down to 1m. and lots of excess fill to get removed.

set up stringline and so much double and triple checking to make sure it's spot on with the location for concrete! thankfully you will see in the end it was pretty spot on.

trying to get clever with the bracing so it was straight

the framing up was easy, went up pretty quickly and not much messing around, although it might be hard to see but in the second image I secured a 90x45 to every joist with bugle screws, which meant I had to lift up 3 decking boards to access the frame, this allowed me to completely avoid needing any posts, i ran these 300mm under the alfresco deck to support the deck, and to maintain the line where the decking was attached, i just extended the joists and bugle screwed them to the tie-in joists, great for rigidity! and the other end i installed waling plats along the 75x200 garden bed and screwed it all down making sure the level was perfect

I partially assembled the bench in between tasks for rapid installation later

here it is almost assembled, i forgot to take a photo of it all done, kinda get swept up in getting the job done and forget to record some of the progress!

The screens were incredibly easy to install and so rewarding once it was up! it changed the atmosphere instantly. The lighting, the colour of the timber just changes the appearance so much! I just made sure that the two lower panels were perfectly centred and the rest was easy! the gaps between the slats are near perfect for trim head decking screws to fit in there to almost be invisible.

and a side angle with part of the decking already complete

further along and the lawn side is completed

I will most likely cover the bottom of the frame with another plank even though it's not super noticable. But I think it will make it even more clean looking, and down the road I would like to level the lawn and get rid of that horrible slope which will help.

But for now I've completely finished the decking portion now and the lower part of the bench seat except for 1 piece I need to scribe along the front of the seat as it pokes out about 30mm into the deck and that will finish it off, and the only other task I have left is to assemble the lid of the bench and install it with some piano hinges, I got some short screws which I intend on using on the underside so the screw heads are not visible (similar to how the screens were made) and i will put a sheet of coreflute on the inside of the box and lid for keeping the weather out, then line the box with ply so we can use it for storing heavy stuff.

I hope to have the rest finished in a couple days, get some trees planted and tidy it all up.

stay tuned for final update and then glam shots once the area is all "decked out"

EricL

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/123728#Comment_123728

Hello @TimGeo

Thank you so much for the update, the deck and surrounding area look great! Looking forward to seeing the glam shots!

Eric

TimGeo

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/131201#Comment_131201

Glam shots incomming!

quite satisfied of the final result, very happy with the blending of the old and new and the level of gloss and colour is on point!

the last step now is to get rid of the old dirt and replace with some quality soil and plant my hedging plants, I'm considering viburnum quick hedge for its growth habits, it's designed to grow only a little bit higher than what i need so maintenance should be hassle free, i love the leaf and the colour, and hopefully leaf drop is kept to a minimum. in the spaces either side of the seat i would like to put two ficus, cut topiary style. for the time being i'm just scouring marketplace for the right one to show up! i'll post an update in due time, might be a little tricky with Xmas around the corner but one can hope!

Here I just used the help of ChatGPT and some photo editing to visualise the hedge fully grown, I think it will look great!

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/135784#Comment_135784

What a fantastic job you have done @TimGeo! The whole space looks incredible, and you've created a really polished and inviting area that has a lot more interest now, and the finish you achieved looks superb. Well done on all your hard work; it has definitely paid off.

Thanks so much for sharing the results with us. It is always great to see projects come together so well.

Mitchell

TimGeo

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/138894#Comment_138894

Thanks for your encouraging words!

Once the space is completed ill post the final result here, I have been thinking about lighting the space up with some deck lighting or even back lighting behind the screens but these can wait till I've played around with some lights and worked out what looks the best, still lots more ideas to play with, but hopefully not overcrowd the space with too many plants 😀

Child Item