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This project was tackled in two parts, with one weekend being used to construct the patio and then the deck was built over a couple of weekends a little bit later.
The patio is a softwoods kit (which are available through bunnings), but due to the shape of the space and the tie in points with the roof I had to order a custom kit. The benefit of using softwoods is that they provide all of the materials and fixings that are required, with most timber pre-cut and marked and rood sheets that are the correct length saving a heap of labour during construction.
Construction itself was fairly straightforward with 2 to 3 people, however installing the rafter stiffeners and rafter brackets into the existing roof was fiddly work, made harder by the fact my roofing timber is all jarrah and I had to abandon the plans instructions for nails in favour of drilling and screwing.
Once the brackets were in the construction was relatively speedy, with wall-side beams bolted to brackets, and outside beams bolted to rest of the frame and propped in place by temporary timbers. The rafter sections were placed into joist hangers and secured then posts were cut to size, attached to the frame and hung into holes before being cemented in.
Once
Once the frame was secure the gutters and roof sheets were straightforward to install (provided you are comfortable at heights).
The deck was much simpler, with the biggest job actually being the removal of the old paving and a few inches of soil to create some separation between ground and deck.
I used treated pine for the frame, with 500mm joist centres and then I used merbau decking boards to top it off.
My big tip for the decking is to pay attention to the joist spacing recommended for the length of decking board you plan on using as I didn't and ended up having to trim every board which wasn't ideal. Turns out the decking boards I used are perfect for 450mm joist centres and if I had read the label better au would have saved myself dozens of cuts.
Since completion we have spent many a meal sitting out under the patio, and it is easily my favourite "room" of our house. All up I think it cost us about $4500 in materials and we have ended up with an 18sqm patio and slightly larger deck space.
Looks incredible @tom_builds. I'd be spending all my time out there too. Another project to be proud of.
It's great to see photos of the build and hear about your lesson learned. I'm sure that'll be a handy tip for community members looking to build their own deck, so thanks for sharing your project with us.
It's been good to catch up on a couple of your projects, and we look forward to seeing what else you've been working on.
Stevie
Hello @Plumma64,
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. Thank you for joining us and sharing your question about the patio's LED lights.
Looking at the shape of the bulb holders they look similar to the Lytworx Warm White Connectable Double Filament LED Party Lights - 10 Pack. I'm sure @tom_builds will be able to confirm if it is the Lytworx set he's used in the patio build. You should find this step-by-step guide useful: How to hang festoon lights.
Please let us know if you have any more questions about this fabulous project.
Eric
Thanks for joining this discussion @ChrisColeston. Are you looking to do your own outdoor renovation? Feel free to hit Start a discussion if you need a hand.
Stevie
