The 2025 deck rebuild

Ok, I promise, this is the last thread I'm making about this deck. I'm going to save it, because even with Google I can't find any of the old ones I've made. 

The time has definitely come though, so I'm putting this in off topic in hopes of more eyes and advice than in the build thread section. 

So the situation is this: I need to rebuild our current deck. It is 6 feet by 8 feet, and 20 inches off the ground. There is a building on either side of the 6 foot span that looks like it's currently attached to the concrete on either building, there is a ramp I have every intention of saving and no need to rebuild just reconnect on one side of the 8 foot span, and 2 steps down on the other side.  The deck is currently held up with 4x4 posts at the corners, on a pea gravel base. 

I don't honestly know how to bury something in concrete without a major dig happening in the pea gravel, so don't really want to do that. I also don't know if that's the best idea either.

What I do want is the best material to make this a once a decade or less often project. I was thinking pressure treated, but I can't really put an anti skid on that. Regular wood will need lots of annual maintenance or an epoxy coating, but can be coated with anti skid. Composites get hot, but what else do they do good and bad? That's a really big puddle of concrete to pour. Metal would be awesome, but priced way too high unless one of you is scrapping a fire escape and would deliver it?

So maybe level paving stones as post bases, each corner, mid span each way, and one in the center? Using ground contact rated 4x4s. Boards attached to the house and the garage, as well as the posts for a frame. Maybe cross brace it somehow before putting on the top?

I'm not concerned about a railing. I am concerned about this being a dragged out project, because this is our main way in and out of the house. There are other ways, but bringing groceries up the basement steps sucks and it would be nice to be avoided. 

Having never built a deck before, I'm open to any and all advice. This will probably be a spring project, but I want gears turning now, and if possible, to start stockpiling materials so it isn't as big of a financial hit all at once. 

Because a thread is worthless without pics

Best things ever, definitely need to keep the ramp

Something broke about in the corner with the ramp, hence the need to replace versus repair, most of this wood is shot 

I'm sorry, 3 steps

ok, mixed supports already

Some pictures would help. That took a lot of words to describe. 
 

There is ZERO chance I would use anything  on an exterior deck that was not pressure treated (or naturally decay resistant, which is more expensive).  Why can't you put anti-skid on PT?

If slipping is an issue, you might want to avoid composites.  They can be slippery as whale snot when wet.

Are you saying the deck touches or is supported by the neighbor's house?

6'x8' doesn't need many support posts.  20" high doesn't require a railing at all (by code).

I wouldn't use paver blocks..  They are not designed to support a point load.  There are plastic post bases that are designed to support a post on the surface- no digging.

Oh good... pics help!

Everything must be pressure treated, and I would consider ground contact for all of it. Those 2 buildings mean a lot of water is splashing and not draining away.

What's the 4" PVC pipe to the right of the ramp?  It looks like a roof drain (good idea) , but I don't see a downspout dumping into it, and it appears to be draining uphill.

The deck platform would be pretty simple to rebuild. Temporarily brace the ramp, demo the deck and stairs, build a new platform from building to building.

Even with no experience, it shouldn't be hard to finish in a couple of weekends by yourself.

Consider enlarging the platform a little.  Might be nice to have a little more space for people or packages.

I'd also consider building the stairs the full width from building to building.  No guard rail.  Or maybe another ramp.

I know you want to keep the ramp (I definitely get it). If it was mine I'd rebuild it the full width of the alley.  Perhaps an idea for the future...

I'd level/tamp the pea gravel and drop some of these where your posts are. Can also support joists. They make plastic alternatives, but I trust concrete more long term, and they elevate the lumber higher off the ground/away from standing water than the plastic ones that I've seen.

I also agree with SVrex about widening the stairs and the ramp to fill the space between structures. It really reduces the risk of anyone or thing falling off the side, and any handrail can be solidly attached to the block on the side rather than having to construct a railing.

There has been talk and thought. I'm probably going to widen the stairs if I don't extend the deck the whole way to the chimney to make getting stuff to the birds easier. Being able to take a dolly the whole way around would be awesome until I redo the inside of the garage again and make it a pass through

No idea what the pipe is to the right of the ramp. There are multiple stubs that look like vents that are capped off. That one in particular went up above the roof on of the garage with a flimsy extension that kept falling. I capped it and nothing bad happened so it's just there. 

The only thing really stopping me from making the ramp full width is the dryer vent coming out below where the ramp would be. That needs regular lint clearing, so hiding it under the ramp would suck.

This section is all as it came with the house, whatever cheap ass fever dream method the previous owner used to make things work with scraps from other projects. 

In reply to RevRico :

You could extend the dryer line out from under the deck, or raise it higher, or make an access panel in the deck.  There are also interior lint boxes which might work. 

Bookmarking this thread.  The deck on the house I'm looking at is.... spongy.

90% of the reason that lint box needs to be cleaned out frequently is the way it's installed. 

This looks like it is in the same condition and the same color that my deck is. Mine is now 20 years old and very worn. 

So just the deck itself, does this sound right? 

All lumber ground contact rated. 

2x8s along either wall, then spanning the gap on 12 inch centers 

4x4s on level ground in each corner of the frame, in the middle of each perimeter side, and maybe in the middle of the whole thing. Tied to the 2x8s with through bolts. Sitting on leveled paver stones. 

5/4x6 for the actual deck, screwed at every joist, perpendicular to the joists. 1/4"between boards?

In reply to RevRico :

That will work mostly...

- You don't need 12" centers (but they will work fine)

- Nothing wrong with the 4x4s, but you could just bolt your ledger to the walls

- Over the years I've bolted many decks to their posts, but it is technically no longer legal.  Your structure needs to bear ON the posts, not hang on the shear of the bolts.  Code would require a metal connector between the structure and the post.  (The bolts will work fine- they just don't meet code any more)

- Use joist hangers for each joist 

- Don't space your deck boards.  Nail them tight.  They will shrink and leave you with 1/4" gaps.  If you install them with gaps, the gaps will grow to 1/2" when the boards shrink. High heels will get caught in the gaps.

So it's getting to be time to order materials, and I'm changing my mind again. 

I think Paul and Steve are right and I should make the ramp bigger, it's also in worse shape than I thought. 4 feet wide would be an upgrade from where it is now while still allowing access to the sides if necessary, and only requires cutting 8 foot boards in half. 

Should I spring for 20 foot long boards to put under it, or could I get away with joining two 10 foot boards to make the length? Actually I should probably go measure it for length instead of just knowing it's 25 board widths long. 

I'm thinking if I sandwich the seem where the ends butt together, inside and out, it should be plenty strong enough, but as I said earlier, this is something I really only want to do once. 

Edit: nevermind, the ramp is 11'8", so I'll just use 12 foot boards.

Well everything is here. Except after tomorrow it is going to rain as far into the future as weather underground can show me. Because of course it is. 

2x8s for along the walls and under the deck, 2x6s for the decking and the ramp, 3 stringers and 2x12s to make the steps wider and stronger and repair the other steps that have dilapidated. The 12 footers are the frame for the ramp. 

Ok, $79 delivery was a mixed bag. There was 11 days between order and drop off which sucked, but, I only have to handle the material to cut and place, instead of dig through the piles, put it on a cart, load it, unload it, then bring it out to use as needed. I think even if I had a truck, unless I needed it that day, I would use the service again. 

In reply to RevRico :

Delivery of stuff like that is fantastic. When the better half redid our flower beds in front of the house (something like 160 linear feet), we had one pallet with 40-50 bags of mulch and another pallet with all the edge stones? I'm not sure what you call them, what you put around the edge of the flower beds dropped in the driveway. 

SOOOOOOOOOOooooo much better than renting a truck and doing it ourselves. 

Those boards look pretty straight, but case the decking isn't (I'm looking at you lowesDepot) Buy or rent yourself one of these:

Straightens out warped or bowed decking.  Actually called a deck board straightener.  I got a cheap one and it saved me a bunch of headache dealing with big-box store lumber. 

In reply to RevRico :

I take it that was a big box store delivery??

I don't use them. From a contractor yard I typically get a $35 delivery fee (or free), and have never had to wait more than 3 days.  The material is better, and cheaper.  I usually don't even need to call- just drop them a text.

They deliver it with a forklift, and drop it exactly where I want it (including lifting it to a roof if I ask).

Dont get me wrong, I use the big box stores (way too much).  But never for a delivery.

Glad to see you are making some progress!

In reply to SV reX :

Ya, my preferred lumber yard doesn't deliver out here and the local one is more specialty lumber. Which is actually nice to know if I ever get back in to wood working or want to do something fancy. 

I went out to look at things today and the ramp fell off, while I was on it. 

here's a visual depiction of thoughts and prayers. No idea how that didn't collapse this winter. 

Good news is there's a ledge on the concrete side to make leveling easier, but it leaves me using 2x6s instead of 8s for the sides. Bad news is that it wasn't attached to the wall under the door. 

Saturday is supposed to be hot and dry now, so I'm going to try to get it rebuilt now that it's all gone. 

I'm going to do a test hole in the siding under the door, hopefully there's concrete behind it. This deck was held up entirely by the 4x4s with 3 inch screws. It's a nice mix of pressure treated and non lumber though. Had the whole thing apart and out of the way in under an hour with little more than a prybar. 

2 separate deck "boxes" held together with carriage bolts. I get being cheap, I get not understanding strength, but jeebus, the trend of everything being done here as wrong as possible is getting old. 

Ahhh the wife had more pictures. 

I'll be nice and not post the ones of her trying to climb in, but it was entertaining. 

I'd bet that the 2 separate "deck boxes" were built at 2 different times.  The original landing stoop was 5' or so wide, then they realized that the extra 18" to connect to the other building made sense.

Unfortunately their idea was better than their technique. 
 

Keep it up!

Well there's a deck, and steps. The easy part is done, now I gotta build the ramp. 

Nothing behind the siding, big surprise. I kind of over built everything as a result. And before anybody gets their panties in a twist about that angled 4x4, it's purely for decoration. Mine and Dana's combined 500lbs jumped all over it and nothing moves even a little bit. 

Only took about 6 hours to get there. A framing nailer would have helped. So would having any help other than Dana. But she did good. 

I need to figure out how to cut the end of the ramp frame so it's flush with the deck, buy a DeWalt miter blade tool because Lowe's doesn't sell them and nothing I have fits, and get it all installed. Hopefully soon. Weather pending. 

In reply to RevRico :

What do you mean by:

I need to figure out how to cut the end of the ramp frame so it's flush with the deck

Are you building toe rails on the ramp or something?

Regardless - I recommend you scribe the stringers and trim the bottom edge off so they can land on a sacrificial 2x laid flat - so when that one rots you can replace it easily.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I'd add to that...

Land the bottom of the ramp (sacrificial 2X) on a bed of gravel.  It will drain a little better and the wood should last a bit longer.