How to build an indoor deck?

[Burnings]

What I am trying to do is to create an elevated space inside the house. One of the areas has a corner that is unused, and I would like to put an indoor deck - something like this: 

 

apologies for the partial photo - but hopefully it describes what am looking to do.

The size of the area is roughly L:250 W:180 H:241

My questions: 

1) How do I go about it and plan for this? What sort of timber should I be after (I am thinking H4 - because this platform will sort of have a water feature (eg., water flowing over a Buddha statue)), being inside the house will be exposed to liquid spills etc. Is there a project page/link/video I could look at?

2) Instead of separated deck slats,  is it possible to get a flat wooden finish (as seen in the photo) - what is such a thing called? 

3) Because its indoors, what sort of shims should I consider for supporting the deck? Dont want the tiles/skirting to be damaged.

4) I am also planning to put some wall panelling to go with it. The wall is gyprock - am assuming most wall panel offerings can either be liquid nailed to the plasterboard or nailed into studs. When I search for such wall panels I only get results for sound proofing options - which end up being expensive for what I need. Any products I could look at which are just for aesthetics? 

I am not quite sure if there is another way to describe what I am after - it feels right to call it an indoor deck. 

[JacobZ]

Hi @Burnings,

I'd probably call it a stage rather than a deck, but realistically, they are more or less the same thing. A deck is just a subfloor frame with some decking boards over the top, which is basically the same as what you are doing, so we would use the same principles for deck building for this deck.

Can you start by confirming the dimensions? Assuming everything is in centimetres, the length and width make sense, but the height, not so much. Should the height be in millimetres, perhaps?

In terms of timber, you would be fine using H2-treated pine and above, but the most readily available materials for deck building are usually H3 framing pine. There may be water present, but it's not really in the same way as if it were outdoors, because it would be splashes that hit the top surface, not water that sits against the framing, so there is no need to use H4. 

For planning purposes, you would need to follow the principles of deck building, so it would be worth checking out the series on How To Build A Deck, How to understand deck span tables and How to understand deck components for some guidance. Once we can confirm dimensions, I'd be happy to help you with a basic design for your frame. 

Instead of decking boards, you could use YELLOWtongue Flooring with a flooring material, such as hybrid planks or engineered timber flooring over the top.
 

Assuming the existing floor surface is stable and level, you could use pedestal feet in whichever size works best with your timber and the desired height of the deck. It is likely worth adding some floor protection, such as Ramboard, just to give the tiles a bit more protection.

All sheet products will have an installation guide that outlines the requirements for that specific product. Most will involve an adhesive of some kind and either nails or screws. For a decorative wall finish on gyprock, you could use Easycraft’s EasyVJ range, pine lining boards (tongue-and-groove timber), or PVC wall panels. Another option would be to install some heavy pleated curtains like you would see in a movie theatre.

Allow me to tag @Dave-1, @Noyade and @AlanM52 to see if they have any ideas.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @Burnings 

A plinth would be a the description I am thinking of.  Definently doable  

@JacobZ has described it well on how to build one inside. But here is a basis of my outside bench (Cull the backing and see just the base itself)

Outside timber lounge with wheels The height and width plus length can be changed, Draw it up with your own dimenions and it will help you visulise it.

I like @JacobZ 's suggestion about the yellowtongue and then the boards on top. The engineered flooring would be a good idea as well.

Once you draw up the plans, post them up here and we can give you an opinion on it if you like

Dave

[Burnings]

Thanks for responding. I will start reading up more on the links you gave. It gives a great starting point.

The living area is fairly big - the size of the corner that I want staged/decked is is roughly L:250 W:180 H:241 - all in centimetres. The height is also in centimetres - I thought it would be helpful to mention in case it influences recommendations for the wall panels. For the height of the deck itself - as long as getting on it is one comfortable 'step' up - it should be fine - dont want it to be uncomfortable, but I dont know at what height a step starts getting uncomfortable.

[Dave-1]

Good Morning @Burnings 

When I have been trying to figure out a comfortable height for a step I take along a tape measure with me and go for a walk around somewhere that has steps. Your body tells you very fast what feels like an effort or a trip hazzard

Dave

[Burnings]

I have read the links suggested thus far. I have come up with 2 options as in the attached layout. 

A few questions and how I propose to go ahead. 

1) Ramboard on the tiles - I have only got 4.5 sq meters to cover - so open to other ideas as well. 

2) 5 mm Packing shims - Feel this might be a better option - but no idea how slippery it will be on the Ramboard sheet. Challenge with pedestal feet is that since this will be indoors, the pedestal feet on the outermost beams will "butt out" and is bound to be something I will stub my toes on. I keep arguing with myself that its probably not going to be worser than my beds feet - I feel 5 mm packing shims  under every joint should suffice?

2) H3 framing pine 145 x 45 (45 because it might be able to take more weight - just future proofing) for the bearer and the joists

3) Screws  for pine - I dont have a countersink drillbit - would drilling pilot holes with a regular drill bit and then putting the screws in be ok? Or should I just go for one of the wood self tapping screws?

4) For option 1 below, Joist hangers 

5) Yellow tongue for "decking" - the instruction manual for yellow tongue says a gap of 450mm between joists should be fine. 

6) If I am unable to paint the yellow tongue to my liking, I will research on the engineered timber flooring then. 

Now the options I came up with 

1) Seems simple enough. I was initially thinking I will mitre the ends for a cleaner finish - but might be easier to simply screw in the timber making it sit flush between the two exterior (extreme ends) timber. And it will get yellow tongue on the top from end to end anyway.

If I go with option 1, because 2.4 meters is the maximum length that I want to go for and it is the smallest timber length available I will end up wasting 90 mm from each of the three pieces of timber(45mm from the bottom and 45 from the top). 
And for the top and bottom, I will need 1800-90mm = 1710mm. Which means another two pieced of timber will waste 2400 - 1710 = 700mm of wood. 

I have never worked with wood before so I dont know if this much wastage is acceptable. 

2) This seems more reasonable with lesser wastage. 4 pieces of 2.4M timber. At the top and bottom, I screw in pieces of timber as I go from left to right. The gap between the pieces of timber then works out to be ~553mm which is way over the acceptable width for a yellow tongue. As seen in the first gap - I have put in more support "beams" - one end of which can be screwed to the support and the other end of the support can be affixed with a joist hanger. 

Another option stretching all the 2.5 meters available to me will be to use 4x2.4meter bearers and on the top and bottom screw in 2 x 1.80meter timber - this seems to be the option with the least problems. But might need noggins to support the yellow tongue floor

I think I am concerning myself overly with wastage and not necessarily a strong deck. Any suggestions from here on to shape this up for me please.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Burnings,

Your plan is sounding pretty solid overall, and you’re clearly thinking it through carefully. A couple of points that might help:

There’s almost always going to be some wastage when working with timber. Ideally, yes, you want to minimise it where you can, but unless you’re cutting up dozens of lengths and losing a big proportion of each piece, a bit of offcut here and there is just part of the job. Wastage really only becomes a problem if it pushes the cost of the project beyond what you’re comfortable with.

The way you’re weighing up the two options makes sense. Sometimes the simpler layout with slightly more wastage is actually the better call because it’s quicker and less fiddly to assemble, and you end up with a stronger structure. Joist spacing is important for yellow tongue, so as long as you keep within spec, you’re on the right track.

On the screws, drilling pilot holes with a standard drill bit is perfectly fine. You don’t need a countersink bit for this job unless you want the screw heads sitting very flush. You can pick up a set of craft right bits cheaply, though. It's nice to have the head sitting flush or slightly below the surface.

From here, I’d say don’t over-stress about the few hundred millimetres of waste, it’s very normal. Focus more on making sure the frame is square, level, and adequately supported, because that will give you a better finished result than trying to shave every bit of efficiency out of the cuts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell