Deck life

This is the view from the deck of my garden in Oxford.

What I love about decking is that it softens your garden and is such a practical space that you can use all year round.

Decking is also relatively easy to build and maintain. You can also use decking to terrace a garden, then store things underneath. and even create disabled access to buildings.

This hexagonal shape deck extends from an indoor swimming pool and provides a transition from inside to outside. Even in winter a little sun dries the deck and it is pleasant to use. The main mistake I made here was to stain  the deck and this has created a lot of ongoing work.

Building your deck

I designed my deck on paper and marked out the area with string to test it out for sun and wind direction. Once I was satisfied it was in the right place I employed my master chippy Darren to help me build it.

I chose the cheapest option of pressure treated softwood nailed to 6 * 2 joists held within an external frame. The whole structure sits on 4*4 posts concreted into the ground.

As this was my first deck and I was impatient I made a number of mistakes.

1 nailing the boards down

2 staining the deck

3 letting  Darren have too many T breaks

Making a boardwalk using decking planks

The next job was to connect the deck to another smaller deck with a long narrow boardwalk. You can see in this picture how it was constructed.

Luckily we did not stain this wood and instead treated it with decking oil which has been much better.

(The spade shown is an old Spear & Jackson neverbend tool - buy one if you see one, they don't make them like this anymore!)

As soon as the deck was down top models started to pose on it.

Che Rodriguez del Mungo (3rd) and his pinky panther

Building Decking on Balconies and using LED lights

This is the balcony of a flat overlooking a small marina on the south coast. I designed this deck with 8 blue neon LED deck lights- and it looks wicked!

The lights cost about £150 and are easy to fit - once you buy the correct bit for your drill!

LED lights are low voltage so I just ran the cable through the wall, fitted a plug to it and I turn it on and off from inside the flat.

Although these ones are not top quality and eventually went a bit rusty with the sea air they are adequate and very reliable. It was easy to connect the lights together and the cost in electricity to run these lights is minimal.

More decking tips

Put permeable weed stopping fabric under the deck and weight it down with a layer of  gravel.

I am told by the real experts that grooved deck boards are not the best as they hold water and are more likely to rot - and get slippery! the dogs doo daas for decking is smooth hardwood planks, double kiln dried and pressure treated.

Leave a 3-5mm gap between boards and make a spacer to use so that all the gaps are the same.

Use screws not nails, and allow a bit of space at the ends of each board for expansion when hot and/or wet.

Treat the cut ends of any sawn boards to prevent rot developing

Decking can be used to easily create platform and ramps for disabled access. the good thing with this is that it can be removed easily should it not be required.

I would say that for ramps the ribbed deck board is better and should be laid across the direction of travel.

e-mail fred@fredshed.com

More decking tips

When cutting treated deck boards wear gloves and a mask. there are some nasty chemicals involved in the treatment and you don't want to be breathing in this crap.

Use the longest boards possible, the deck with be stronger.

Allow substantially more time for the foundations - this is the most important part and unlike the boards cannot be easily changed later.

Woodstain or oil - which is best?

Oil -no contest - I  hate deckstain and think it is a total waste of money *- despite what it says on the tin!

* unless you are Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowne and must have that purple and green deck darling.

I have heard that due to new  regulations a lot of deckstain is now water based - hello ! we live in the UK . It rains all the time ! no wonder it washes off after a month or too.

Which Oil to Use

I use this special oil from Australia that has been developed especially for decking from natural nut oils.

Some oils have a tendency to make wood go black when exposed to wind and rain, so you cant just use any old oil.

I will be trying different oils to see which is best - watch this space!