Your home owner’s insurance policy may not cover an accident that occurs on your deck if you didn’t build your decking to comply with the building codes in your area.
If you build your deck onto the house, you’ll want to know where the rim joists and wall studs are located so you can secure the deck’s ledger board, the support beam that attaches it to the house, to either of them. The size of your deck will determine the number of footings and posts you’ll need to support the joists and deck boards, as well as the size and spacing of the joists and the size of the deck boards. Joists can be spaced 12, 16 or 24 inches (30, 40 or 60 centimeters) apart, however a spacing of 24 inches is most common; common sizes for joists and deck boards are listed under “Things You’ll Need. " The height at which you build your deck determines whether you need to include railings, posts and steps. You won’t need them for a deck built just above the ground, but you will if it is higher than that. Making a preliminary sketch of what you have in mind will help you in lining up materials and construction advice.
Ignore the steps in this section if you’re planning to make a free-standing deck.
If you plan to cover your house’s rim joists with the deck’s skirting board, cut the ledger board shorter to accommodate the width of the skirting board (usually 3/4 inch, or 1. 9 centimeters) on either side.
Most building codes require the opposite beam to be twice or three times as thick as the interior joists, so as with the rim joists, you’ll have to cut multiple beams and sandwich them side-by-side. (If the deck is to be a free-standing deck, the ledger board beam would also have to be sandwiched with one or two other beams for strength. )
Ignore this step if the deck is to be a free-standing deck.
You may need to have the holes inspected for depth before you can pour the concrete.
If you’re building a wide deck, you can cut multiple deck boards to span the distance between the rim joists, with the places where two boards meet falling in the middle of a joist. Stagger these joints between each row of decking to make the deck look nicer. Periodically measure the distance from the front of the deck to each end of the last board laid. They should be equal; if not, decrease the gaps between boards slightly on the longer side and increase them slightly on the shorter side until the distances are equal again. If the last deck board is wider than the space to lay it, either narrow it or use a narrower board of the same type of decking material. If the board is narrower than the space available, take a wider board and narrow it as necessary.
You’ll need to have a stringer at either end of the staircase to attach the steps to and another stringer in the center if you have a wide or tall staircase. Lay the first stringer out with a framing square to find the rise and run, then transfer the marks to the other stringers. Cut out the step supports, then brace the stringers together and nail them to the deck’s rim joist before securing them permanently with lag screws. Cut the steps to have a 3/4-inch (1. 9-centimeter) overhang to either side of the stringer assembly to channel rain away from the stringers. Attach them to the stringers with screws or nails.
Measure the distance between posts to find the length of the rails and cut them to that length. Vertical spindles usually need to be spaced to no more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) apart and should be placed closer together if it will create even spacing over the entire deck. [19] X Research source They can be attached to the rails with nails or screws, while the rails themselves attach to the posts with angle screws. (Use wooden blocks to prop up the rail sections while screwing them in. ) Cut the stair posts to the correct height and angle with the help of a framing square, then install the bottom stair rails and hand rails. Figure the length of the stair rails by dividing the stair rise by the run, multiplying by the deck rail length, squaring the result, adding the square of the deck rail length and take the square root of the result. Cut the spindles to the right length, angled for the slope of the rail and install as described above for the deck spindles.
