🖼️
The project:
Marrying a new outdoor entertaining area with our old verandah was a great project.
Working hard at perfecting gaps and mitre joints for my first time.
I fear I over-engineered this one, with more stumps, concrete and bracing then the existing house.
- Materials:
Here's a high-level list of the materials I used.
I already had a big bucket of stainless deck screws. I used stainless as I'm near the ocean and it destroys all metal.
- Tools:
- Step 1:
First job of any D.I.Y. build is to consult with your manager.
We had to measure up, prepare to remove the clothesline and the old garden bed.
- Step 2:
The trickiest part of a build like this when you're not a pro is marrying the existing structure to the new structure. So I did a lot of "measure twice, cut once…"
The stump digging revealed a pipe that needed to be moved.
- Step 3:
Post holes dug, roughly 800 deep, 400 out the top as the existing structure was quite close to the ground. I used a little gravel in the bottom of the post holes and I painted the ends of the posts where they would be in contact with soil. I also coated any surface that I'd cut to help with the H4 treatment protection.
After all of the posts were in place, I rolled out and pinned down weed mat to help stop weeds and grass growing up under the deck.
- Step 4:
Bearers bolted into the stumps, I cut out little shelves for the bearers to sit in and used galvinised bolts to secure them. Then I set the joists in their rough positions to make sure everything was in its right place and that my levels were looking ok.
I found some handy tips in this article on the Bunnings website.
And another tip: The knee protectors are gold!
- Step 5:
After my bearers were fixed in place, I laid in all of my decking boards and used 4mm deck spacers to make sure they were all equally spaced.
- Step 6:
After getting the deck all screwed down, we enjoyed a coffee in the morning sun and started work on the step.
I'd chosen a corner step and am triggered by mitred corners that aren't level - it took lots of measuring to get everything in the right place. It's not 100% perfect, but close enough that I don't see the pieces out of line.
The forewoman checking level on my custom-length level!
Having the step deck boards line up with the picture-framed mitred corner was a challenge. YouTube and the Bunnings website were great resources.
- Step 7:
All done and with one coat of finish. It will take a couple of sands and coats before the new Pine starts to more closely match the older decking boards.
- Help and inspiration:
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More inspiration for your deck build
Bunnings Workshop member danieltheman built a new deck for an outdoor entertaining area after fire destroyed his old patio.
Community member Tara86 built a huge D.I.Y. Merbau deck for outdoor entertaining with family and friends.
Get more inspiration from our Top 10 most popular deck projects.
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