Share
I'm in the process of planning to re-do our decking. The first part of the project is the front porch which is a 2,64 x 2.46 area.
This couples with a bigger project our back alfresco deck which is about an 82 square meter area that needs to be redone.
Basically, because of that, I'm looking at the Ecodeck 137 x22 x 5.4 long so I'd want the front porch the same as the back alfresco.
and using the link provided on the Bunnings website to calculate a deck for the front porch I come up with this: see image
Would this include the substructure materials and what I'd need for the substructure?
What are all the materials I'd need for the substructure and how much?
Are there any additional materials like decking tape, wood sealants, special fasteners into the wall that I'll need and how much?
And finally, if I do this in a staged approach, front porch first and then alfresco would I be able to get the same decking colour style, shade at a later date or would be better to get all the decking boards for both projects at the same time or as I have been told I might not be able to get the same boards at a later date?
And then the fascia boards as the decking boards are wider, I imagine that they will have to be cut to the correct width but that may involve a bit of a taper as the ground isn't exactly level, so what would be the best way to go about this so that I get a nice finish without any gaps to the ground?
Thank you in advance.
Darren
Hi Eric,
Thank you for the feedback much appreciated. I think my biggest "mistake" and that may just be a matter of opinion was starting at the wrong end, but it was also a blessing in disguise as I'll explain further on.
The other issue I had was the two edge boards because the pillars were in the way to slide them onto the C clips, it proved quite a challenge to fit.
What I ended up doing was cutting a piece out of the bottom, just off from where I measured the C-clip would go and then it was just a matter of placing the boards down and sliding them across rather than back, which was a but of a struggle but I did get them on.
One of the important things I did was measure, measure, measure, I must have measured something half a dozen times before cutting.
There were a few close calls where I measured then marked it gone back and measured again and then realising that I've missed reading the tape and would have taken more off than I should have.
All this measuring took a lot longer but I think it saved me a lot of unnecessary cuts and waste.
I also to used an old piece of timber deck board as a template and cut it to the exact length to check that the length for the first board is the same as the last board and basically I had the frame parallel.
I then used that to set up a jig like table that had a stopper for that length at the end and that way I could easily just push the boards up against the stopper, naturally check it again and cut getting all the lengths the same.
The other bit of advice would be to try to plan the whole workflow out first, I realised and another reason why I changed where I started from what that I hadn't fastened the back end of the front edge board, only the C-clips in the front were holding it and I had already put a few boards down and couldn't get between them to fasten the edge board down at the back, The alternative would have been to screw it down from the top which I didn't want to do.
So not being happy with where I started and now the problem of not being able to fasten the edge board was enough for me to un-do the boards and start from the other end, fastening the edge board down first this time.
I think also have a work belt or somewhere to ALWAYS place your smaller tools like marking pencil, drill and screw bits angel rulers etc. I found I was just dumping them down on the edge of the Pillars on the saw bench, the table in the garage or just on the ground only to aimless search for something 10 minutes later. That got annoying sometimes.. "where the &^@&@^#%&@! did I put that drill !!" 
But it all worked out in the end.
Thank you
