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My wife and I recently welcomed a new baby (our second), which highlighted to us that our current front door, wasn't particularly safe.. ie: there is no landing at the top, meaning that you had to step backwards down the stairs to open the screen door..
Also, we have a pretty good view from the front of the house, and therefore the most obvious thing, was to build a deck..!
Hence, here is my second post, in the Workshop group..
BEFORE: (photo is from real estate photos, when we bought the house, hence logo at bottom - also, i'd kill for grass that was actually that green..!! )
I didn't want to make the deck too big, for cost, as well as not appearing too overbearing.. Also, if I kept it less than 1m from ground level, I could do it without council approval...
As the area was only small, it meant that i could use a nice hardwood decking, posts and handrails (a bit more expensive than pine). I used pine for the structural framing though, which kept costs down.
CURRENTLY:
PS- the "wet look" is rain, not oil/sealer..!!!
As you can see from the second photo, i've left the existing stairs in place, and built over the top.. The new decking will continue down over the face of the deck, and also the stair risers will be enclosed with decking too.. Wire balustrade and continuation of the handrail down the stairs is still outstanding.
I'll probably put a garden bed in to the left of the stairs.. And some kind of path from the driveway to the bottom of the stairs..
A couple of questions for anyone with experience in wire balustrades.. I don't want to buy the kits from Bunnings, because it works at way too expensive, but there are other suppliers (such as http://www.hammersmith.com.au, and http://www.allthingsstainless.com.au), who have multiple different 'systems', where you buy each part separately..
Owing to the fact that the deck is pretty small, i'd like to use a system with small fittings (ie: so that the length of wire is not dominated by a large turnbuckle, and large fittings at each end)..
Any suggestions?
Also, interested to know whether its standard practice to sand Spotted Gum (decking and handrails) before oiling.. In particular, some of the timber is a bit rough - even though the handrails are sold as DAR, it still seems "splintery".. Also, the decking has become a bit "splintery" around the screw heads.. Should i just sand around the screw heads only, or sand the whole deck??
Thanks.
Jamie.
Welcome to Workshop @polly. I hope you find it the source of much information and inspiration for your projects.
I'm sure the Workshop community will be able to assist with your deck project. You might like to Start a new discussion and tell us more about your house and what you want from the deck so that members will be able to assist with more specific advice. Photos would be particularly useful so members can see the space you have to work with.
You might also find the six-part How to build a deck series from Bunnings very useful at this stage.
Thanks again for joining us,
Jason
