Garden Decking for Everyone
Garden decking doesn’t only beautify your outdoor living space, but also makes it a charming place wherein you may want to spend your summer afternoons. A quiet garden lined with trees and made more attractive by a well-manicured lawn is just the perfect thing to add to your home. Couples love to spend their evenings in decks, children find these home improvement additions as a great playground, and pets can’t help but wander around too. Definitely garden decks serve the purpose of providing easy access to the outdoor environment, especially after an informal dinner, for afternoon teas, or a couple of evening drinks.
Starting a Garden Decking Project
A garden decking project is a valuable investment. If you want to see where your money and effort have gone to, consider investing on a garden decking project. When it comes to putting garden decking, you are faced with numerous options. Do you want the deck to be directly affixed to your home? Or do you prefer to have a freestanding deck that is to be mounted somewhere outdoors? The clear benefit of garden decking that is directly appended to the home is that you don’t have to spend much on its foundation, since it will primarily derive support from the existing home structure itself. This also requires less constraint in terms of planning. On the other hand, a freestanding garden decking project limits you the chance of attaching it to the home. You need to employ balustrades or stands, and the height of which will depend on how high you want the decks to be. Choosing this type of garden decking calls for more comprehensive planning.
Homeowners who settle with the idea of a freestanding garden decking project should be ready to adjust when it comes to the budget, digging on the property, and all the other concrete work it will entail. Options for free standing garden decking ideas include the use of ground decks or raised decks.
Garden Decking: Ground Deck
A ground deck is one that is mounted just a bit higher than the ground, which looks like a raised plank floor. It saves your garden grass from getting stepped on. Ground decks can be placed in addition to already existing rough and un-landscaped grounds, or concrete patios. Meanwhile, the raised decks can be placed anywhere in the garden. They are a bit complicated to build though, especially that they often take the forms of bridges, balconies, or multi-level stairs. So when planning your garden decking intentions, you can look at these possibilities.
Garden Decking Design
Employ an artistic design in your garden decking plan. The tailoring of a garden decking project involves a lot of concepts. Start off with an idea that you think will enhance the surroundings, then the kind of decks you wish to have, the purpose they are meant for, and the budget you are willing to shell out. Definitely, you can intensify your privacy by using some materials such as bamboos and plants, to shield you from your neighbors’ prying eyes. More so, you may choose a garden decking theme for a more authentic appeal.
Garden Decking Planning
Garden decking is quite a project to take on, so that means you should plan it out well. If you have decided that your garden could do with a bit of a make over and you have looked into creating a hard standing area for your wooden garden furniture then you may have already decided that you would like to install decking in your garden. A flat single tiered deck is a relatively easy project to undertake if you have some basic DIY knowledge.
Garden Decking: Quick tips
These are some quick garden decking tips to creating a 8 square foot, free standing deck, but can also be used as a template to create any size, simple shaped garden decking area. It follows the theme that all garden decks are created in similar fashion, with a solid foundation at the base made of concrete bearers and then wooden joists to create a framework on which the decking surface is laid. It is vitally important that the wooden joists are laid at right angles to the concrete footings to add strength to your deck, and that the decking surface is laid at right angles again to the joists.
Garden Decking: Checklist
1. First things first mark out the area in which you wish to have your garden decking project begin. If you do it blind then mistakes will occur so take the time to mark it out properly so you know from the beginning if you are on the right track. The best way to mark your area is to lay out four of your 8ft decking planks into a square making sure the corners are at right angles to each other. This can be achieved in a number of different ways but the easiest method would be to use a builders square. Once the planks are perfectly square, mark the outside with either a cut mark of your spade or use a can of builders marking out spray paint. Bear in mind that once you have marked out this area it will actually be a little bigger than the finished decked area.
2. The next stage of the garden decking process is to work out where your foundations need to be set. The easiest method for this is to leave a single deck plank in place and set your joists up at each end so they are parallel to the plank and flush with it. Then measure between the two set joists and place the remaining two joists at equal spacings in the the area between so that the plank is evenly supported throughout its length. After all the joists are in place, mark a six inch line either side of each joist.
3. Now is the back breaking part of digging out between these markings so that you end up with four parallel trenches that are 4 inches deeper than your concrete bearer blocks. The empty trenches then need a layer of sand to bed the bearer blocks onto. This sand should be laid and compacted to a depth of 2 inches and this is best done by treading it in and flattening down with the back of your shovel.
4. The next step of the garden decking project is to lay the concrete bearers in the trenches, three to each trench with one at each end and another in a central position. It is vital that these bearers are all level to one another otherwise it will effect the strength of the finished deck. These concrete blocks should also sit proud of the soil so that when the joists are placed on top of them they do not come into contact with the ground.
5. Once all your blocks are level with each other the trench needs to be back filled with sand and then compacted as to prevent the blocks from moving around and deforming the deck. The finished level of the sand does not need to be any higher then that of the surrounding soil.
6. Once the blocks are in place and back filled then the joists can be laid on top of them. The two outside joists need to be laid first so that they can be measured to be exactly the length of the decking plank. Make sure they are parallel to one another by checking both ends and then place the two internal joists as parallel as possible to the two outside joists.
7. Use metal brackets to secure each end of the joist to the concrete footing. The longer anchor screws used will give the best results. It is now time to fix the planks. Fix the first one in place, making sure each end is flush with the joist and counter sink two screws per joist, totaling 8 screws per plank.
8. With the first plank in place, the rest becomes easy. Just lay out all the planks on the joists and leave half an inch between them. Counter sink 8 screws per joist to keep them all in place. Get four more planks to act as fascia boards but bear in mind to keep two of them 1.5 inches longer so hat a perfect joint can be made.
If you are thinking that you want to create a more complex garden decking structure then it may be worth employing a professional or investing in some deck design software to make the job a little easier.
Garden Decking: Go Build Start Your Project!
Thanks for reading and good luck with your next garden decking project. Garden decking is challenging but it is also very rewarding past time. Have fun and be safe!