'Tis the season to be decking...

[Screwdriver]

Plus the old one is long past its best!

This is what 20 years looks like:

Don't really use it much or at least I haven't for a while. Just as well, these old planks aren't as strong as they look (!)

It was really somewhere to store some spare blocks from my last shed build.

So I needed to find somewhere else to store them. All 1.5 tons of them!!

We've got to find a way to make this

fit into the hole for this

... using nothing but that.

With apologies to Apollo 13! The fiddly details doing this on the cheap with some new scaffold planks, well, it's not rocket science but it is science...

Details to follow.

 

[Onoff]

Just remember to leave decent expansion gaps between the boards!

 

[Screwdriver]

Just remember to leave decent expansion gaps between the boards!

Yes thanks. These boards are a bit juicy but they'll still get 5mm each and a goodly amount of decking screws. My main concern is keeping the wood off the walls so they're going in a bit like this:

12mm rawl bolts (Easifix M12 throughbolts from Screwfix) but I'll make up some 5-10mm large standoff washers probably from plastic/rubber or maybe aliminium, just for good drainage. The boards will get treated and the joists taped over the top with polypropylene DPM tape.

Five 100mm fenceposts set in concrete and I think it ought to last. Might even tuck a little bit of cheeky storage under there too...

 

[Onoff]

Yes thanks. These boards are a bit juicy but they'll still get 5mm each and a goodly amount of decking screws. My main concern is keeping the wood off the walls so they're going in a bit like this:

12mm rawl bolts (Easifix M12 throughbolts from Screwfix) but I'll make up some 5-10mm large standoff washers probably from plastic/rubber or maybe aliminium, just for good drainage. The boards will get treated and the joists taped over the top with polypropylene DPM tape.

Five 100mm fenceposts set in concrete and I think it ought to last. Might even tuck a little bit of cheeky storage under there too...

Just 3D print some plastic washers I would.

Print as trouser shims so you can remove/replace if they degrade.

 

[Screwdriver]

The design changed a bit when I discovered those massive 4x2 4.5m beams were also massively bent! I'll have the inch and a bit in the middle hump pointing up so I will need to pull them down to flat - hence the rear three fixture posts. I couldn't thin of a better way to fix them to a blank wall otherwise, just from the practical task of manipulation large chunks of wood on your own while drilling into concrete.

The picture above shows where my shednet ethernet cables emerge. Right smack bang in the middle of where the centre post has to go. Because of course it does...

They come off, get treated, spacers and refitted.

 

[Onoff]

What's the air brick for, underfloor ventilation, cellar, dungeon?

 

[Screwdriver]

Just 3D print some plastic washers I would.

Print as trouser shims so you can remove/replace if they degrade.

Yes, thanks again, I am considering that also, especially since I may need to shim out the wall to keep things straight. probably give them a pointy hat too for drainage.

I was thinking of putting two 12mm bolts in each location one above the other but just looking at the size of them and the design, that might be overkill. Maybe I could just offset them to prevent any possibility of twist. So I was planning to use ten for that beam but I'm thinking five would do.

Looking good so far. Ecuse the mess. It spilled out of the kitchen...

 

[Screwdriver]

What's the air brick for, underfloor ventilation, cellar, dungeon?

Yeah, whole house is suspended floor. You can see whereI have run electrical cables and internets out to shedland.

 

[Screwdriver]

One detail I am quite pleased with is how the ends are blanked off. Access is a problem with a badly made set of steps one end and a crumbling wall at the other.

I'll make up a thin panel of aluminium sheet (ex lorry siding!) which I can literally tack flush with but inside the support/fenceposts. The structure also allows me to screw the thing together just by some jiggery pokery with the overlapping boards. Don't want to suddenly find I need to screw into a joist through a brick wall.

The "joists" will be supported on simple metal joist hangers for ease of assembly (I could also cross screw I guess) and I went with postcrete so I can dry assemble everything nice, square and plumb before it's set in stone.

 

[Onoff]

Just you mind that sticky up rebar!

 

[Tom O]

I’d extend it out further and make a sun room.

 

[Onoff]

I’d extend it out further and make a sun room workshop.

Corrected that for you.

 

[brightspark]

id be well treating all the wood underneath that if it was mine . no use just doing it on the top or any thing visible

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Very similar to what I built about 5+ years ago. I fitted epdm under the deck and over the joists...keep it dry underneath plus saves the joists from the worst of the weather.

I used extra long posts which then formed the handrail at the front.

 

[Screwdriver]

I was thinking of having the posts stick up but they're four inch versions and would look wrong. Plus its fiddly to get the floor trim and corners just right. If I fit a handrail (I might not) then I'll bolt it to the deck or the front rail. The scaff boards are effectively disposable/consumable so I will be going overboard with the protection for all the exposed support framework which is all C24 timber.

It's supposed to be relatively customisable so I might have something pop up from underneath, a ramp at the front or additional stairs decking etc. That's why (I think/hope) I have overbuilt this structure. I used less wood for my last shed roof!

Plus I am doing all this on the cheap. That woodpile above is from years of hoarding, skip dipping and free construction waste or neighbour donations. Most expensive bit so far was the fifty quid I spent on the scaff boards.

 

[Screwdriver]

Just you mind that sticky up rebar!

Yeah, I shouldn't really leave that there, it was just for marking out, measuring up.

 

[colnerov]

Just you mind that sticky up rebar!

The wasps have already started a nest on it.

 

[Agroshield]

I hope your new block storage pile will not cause damp on the adjacent walls. You could restack them like you see bricks, with integral fork tine holes, to give some airflow.

As you wish to use the underside for storage, is it worth considering making the second post from the steps (temporarily) removable so longer stuff can be steered in more easily? Clearly, do not remove it if there is significant weight on the deck above.

 

[Screwdriver]

The blocks are an inch away from the walls and stood on a ground sheet. I am a bit more worried about subsidence if they stay there for more than a few years. Didn't realise just how heavy they were. 22kg - each!

Four posts would be fine for this application. The scaff boards alone are rated for a 1.2m span (albeit not in this application). An inch and a half solid scaff board screwed to a four inch beam and I could happily park a car on it.

But I went with five posts to give, me a reasonable chance at fitting a sensible door to each opening. I may have a rethink though because I could probably get away with a single central post and only ever park a motorcycle on it...

Not forgetting, that's a tempting four metre long worktop at just the right height. It will probably see a vice mounted to it sooner or later.

Ooh. How about a nice big Moxon style! Be great for servicing doors.

 

[Onoff]

Anyone else thinking....."BFO cnc table"?