About 15 years ago we had a wooden deck installed. It is about 25 sq metres. The decking which was some sort of hardwood was actually in good shape but the supports were rotted.
The last time I did any woodwork was over 50 years ago and applying the principle of “I’m not a gynaecologist but I’ll take a look anyway” which worked for my bi-fold gate welding project, I thought I’d try it again.
Predictably when you rip everything up and get into the mind of the original builder problems emerge. When I tried to replicate how he had started off with battens bolted into brickwork I had problems with some dodgy bricks and mortar ( which date from 1919). So I whacked in some stirrups and away we went. I used 90 mm Merbau and LVL beams and pine H3. I also put in damp coursing. I put a false area under the tap so a plumber can get access to the inspection point. I oiled the deck with 50/50 boiled linseed oil and turps. I painted all the bearers. I used stainless steel screws to locate the Merbau. Material cost and removal of old decking came to $4,800 in total. I have no idea what this would have cost to get done in the current construction frenzy. I did it all on my own from demolition to moving materials (including 6 m lengths of LVL ) in and out.
