I have been elected to build a new deck at my moms house. we are looking at a 21x16 wooden deck to replace the existing deck that was poorly built in the early 90's. I am planning for 2x10 joists, 4x4 deck posts since it's only a couple feet above ground, and 5x4 deck boards. I am figuring 60 2x10x12, 70 51/4x6x12, 10 4x4x8 deck posts, 32 joist hangers and about 100 pounds of screws. I'm sure I have to be missing something. What have I missed?
Stain or some other kind of finish. Maybe concrete footings, depending on your method of construction. Construction permit if required.
You'll have to choose your material - treated, cedar, redwood, or something exotic like ipe, synthetic, or combination of some or all of the above.
A plan?
There isn't any way for us to confirm a materials list without more details of what you are building.
At a glance, you have no materials for railings or steps, nothing for support girders, your joists appear to be sized incorrectly, your deck boards seeem to be the wrong length, you have no hardware for connecting to your 4x4 support posts, no foundation materials or post bases, and I think you have way too many screws.
But I'm doing a lot of guessing without more details of the plan.
When I did mine last year the menards deck builder tool was the easiest way for me to get an idea of the full materials needed. It still took a lot of reading through the local code to tweak it for what I needed.
Two things I did that I really like:
Stainless cable railings, used muzata brand hardware from Amazon and it wasn't very expensive, maybe slightly more than wooden pickets.
Ordered 20' long deck boards so I could run the whole length with no joints.
If it's a wet area, consider putting some joist tape on top of the wood to protect it from rotting from above when water sits on the top edge for long periods.
A palm nailer will really help with all of those joist hanger nails.
In reply to Stampie :
And wear hearing protection!
I fully recommend using composite deck boards. The required maintenance is soooo much less!
If attached to structure via ledger, pay specific attention to waterproofing and drainage there. All to common for failure to occur in this area, which can cause damage to both deck and home. Also, if it's carrying something heavy like a hot tub, framing must be beefed up considerably.
Home Depot will do a plan and materials list for you. Just show up with a sketch of what you want to do and they will work with you. I did not build exactly what they drew up, but it was a huge help.
The Home Depot plans will be according to building codes for the most part.
The home depot plan I had done used the same 16" on centers for the composite and the wood deck-board I ended up using. Turns out composite should ideally be 11" centers.
You can buy long boards figuring that it will eliminate the need for joints on the deck, but the reality is that you are going to be rejecting a lot of boards if they have to be good for the full length of the deck.
You cant be too harsh on the existing deck, if it was built in the 90s and is still around it has lasted about as well as can be expected for a deck.
If you are using pressure treated wood you'll get 7-10 years out of ceramic coated deck screws. I'd use stainless screws. No galvanized.
In reply to rustyvw :
Your lengths aren't making any sense to me.
21x16...
- You REALLY want to minimize (or eliminate) butt joints in your decking. It will be a much better job. Deck boards can be purchased in 16' lengths, so you can build this with no butt joints if the flooring runs the 16' dimension.
- That would mean the joists would run the 21' direction. That's not a problem. But the 12' lengths you've got would give 3' of overlap- that's too much. The center girder can be set off center so you can build with 12 + 10' joists- that leaves 1' of lap (which is good). If the joists are only spanning 11', you don't need 2x10's.
- 10 4x4 posts aren't enough. Check your girder spans.
- 4x4 posts can't support a deck without a specialty bracket. You can't hang a girder off the side of a post with bolts- it must have full bearing
- You said it's only a couple feet off the ground. I don't know if that's 2 feet, or 3. Railings are required if it is 30" high. I would recommend them lower than that- it sucks to fall off a 24" high deck in a chair backwards.
Give us a little sketch, and we can answer you questions better.
If you decide to use composite decking(I would), I highly suggest going 12" OC instead of 16". When it's warm out, there is significant deflection of the boards when you walk on them. Our deck was built with 16" and I've given very serious thought to going under and adding supports. The "flex" bothers me to no end.
Also don't forget bracing in multiple directions or you might end up with some weird flexing. I was able to get composite decking in 20' lenghts and if you can get those, I'd suggest doing that and making the deck 1' narrower to avoid the butt joints.
My county building department in Virginia has a reference standard available for deck construction. Makes for easier permitting and better/safer decks.
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