Wooden platforms (DECKS). Planning of the deck
Why do you need a deck?
Deck — is a wooden platform usually raised above the ground, on the type of bandstand. It allows you to extend the space of the house, speaking of an internal cobbled courtyard or supplementing it.
The platform deck is very versatile and will be useful for you in the garden at any time of the year as an alternative to the veranda on the ground floor.
It is also possible to build a wooden platform on the upper floors of the house.
Deck does not necessarily have to be adjacent to the house. You can enclose the outdoor swimming pool or jacuzzi with it. It can be constructed as a children’s playground or as a as a place for recreation on the bank of the pond. It can help you build and ennoble any land that is unsuitable for use.
Wooden platform — is an ideal solution where the land has a difficult terrain, where the soil is rocky, where it all the time sags or in humid weather turns into dirty slush.
Plot on sloping terrain — a good reason to build a multi-tiered deck. This construction has the effect of terracing the land, but terraces are nor earthen , but wooden, connected by wooden steps and also creating additional decorative and functional space for recreation, games and entertainment.
Planning of the deck
Think carefully about the future location of the platform and its main purpose. Decide on which side of the house it is better to build decks: southern, or shaded. It is not necessary to build the deck in full shade of the house wall: wood will suffer from dampness and mildew. Discuss with your family the size of the intended platform. It is important that it be proportionate to the house and the site and do not clutter the garden.
Construction of wooden platforms on forces even for mediocre carpenter. But if you plan to build a large deck and even on stilts, with a dais at a level above 60 cm, it is better to entrust the construction to professionals. When leveling the site for the installation of piles or deck, you should not forget about the house communications laid under the ground, and provide the necessary access to sanitation inspection hatches.
Considered the place and purpose of the deck, draw a detailed drawing of a wooden platform. Flooring of chipped boards will be resting on the trim of the longitudinal and transverse beams. Strapping size depends primarily on the width of the floorboards, i.e. flooring determines the size of the binding, and not vice versa.
It is important to bear in mind that boards are laid on the deck with a gap of 0.5 cm, so there was no rainwater. Therefore, if you are, say, making a deck from 21 stacked boards, its width (and hence the width of binding) will be measured by the overall width of the board 21 plus a further 10 cm, 20 blacklashes will give clearance of 0.5 cm between the boards. You should calculate everything very accurately so you then do not have to saw the outermost floorboard along, adjusting it to the width of the binding.
The beams inside the strapping must be located strictly parallel to each other with a distance there between not exceeding 50 cm.