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I'm busy planning my deck and pergola. This is what I'm thinking at the moment.
I thought the 3 layer deck would be nice (total deck length is 9m, pergola length is 6m, highest deck is 35cm above ground).
I was thinking of using the lowest deck to put a lounger couch on, but not sure it takes up too much space. Also, not sure the planter box along that deck makes sense either? It's around 45-50cm wide.
In the designs, I've staggered down the planter boxes. The deck is 3m wide at the top, and 3.15m wide in the lower part (from house brick to planters).
The part without deck goes off into our garden.
Fence is colourbond 2m above ground (so 1.7m above the higher deck).
I also have no idea where to put the BBQ or if I should build in a BBQ area, or simply use a portable to make the space bigger.
(I can add some screens without plants if that helps).
Here's some designs
Would love your thoughts.
Regards
Itai
Community manager's note: Check out How to build a low-level deck for expert advice.
Hi @Itai,
You could either use Protectadeck, flashing, or isolate the timber from the brick. You'd isolate the timber by placing a few washers on the Dynabolts or screws before inserting them into the brick. Spacing the timber away from the bricks stops moisture from being trapped and encouraging rot.
I can't foresee an issue with drilling an extra hole in those brackets. Once again, you can use washers to raise the brackets if that allows you to use the original holes. A spacing of one meter between brackets on a 140mm bearer sounds about right.
With low-level decks, people are often trying to use the smallest timber possible with the least amount of mounting points. In your case, it sounds like you are well within span lengths, and it should be a substantial deck.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Here's a bit of a progress update.
Have got the bearers in, and attached to the ground as well as the ledger attached to the brick, and spaced away from the brick with 2 x 3mm M12 flat square washers per anchor. Almost cooked my Bosch Professional Driver by putting the Anchor screws into the ground concrete, and I only did 1 beam at a time. There is definitely some crazy force required. The Bosch was spitting out oil towards the end of the 3rd bearer, so for the 4th bearer I opted to use a good old Craftright Ratchet set ... that was some really hard yakka with the short arm for leverage ... but it got it mostly done. And the bits I just couldn't do ... the driver sorted out!
I will be borrowing my neighbours Impact Wrench for the second bit of deck when I put the in, as I'm attaching the joists straight to the ground.
Measured out my square with reference to the door. I didn't get the level absolutely perfect as there is a slight drop on the ledger of about 3 or 4mm over a 6m span, so I was happy with that level of precision. I've measured the exact same slope on the suspended bearer, so at least they are equal.
You can see my patched brickwork on the bottom left where I hit the pipe!
Mounted the first set of angle brackets
And all attached. I used stringlines at 5 points (1 at each end, 1 in the middle, and 1 at the 25% and 75% points) to level it all out and remove any bowing from the wood. The beauty of running a bracket at every 1m rather than wide 2-3m spans is that you can bend the wood to remove the bowing rather than needing to plane it.
I haven't yet put the 2nd bolt into most the brackets, as I needed to drill the second hole anyway, because even if I had used washers to raise the brackets, there is approx 2cm of bolt head the wood is sitting over, meaning it wasn't low enough to get a good hold. But my cordless power drills (Bosch Professional) just don't have the oomph to quicklly drill through the 5mm galvanized steel. So went and bought a SDS chuck attachment for my Ozito SDS drill, and hopefully that will have the oomph with the carbon steel drill bit. Even if it isn't faster, at least I won't need to charge the battery every 3 holes!
Have also put down ome weed matting over the sand area along the house, don't want any weeds growing up through the deck. Will be putting down some drainage gravel over it to hold it in place with the pins. On the other side I'll be building a raised garden bed, so no need for weed matt there just yet.
Hi @Itai,
I'll reach out via PM to get your location details. I'd like to call the store to verify whether this product is no longer stocked there.
I don't believe the 2mm will be particularly noticeable, but to the discerning eye, it could be seen. Obviously, since you know about it, it'll stick out to you and might become a bugbear.
Mitchell
Made quite a bit of progress on the 1st level this past week. Here are some progress shots.
Putting some drainage gravel over the weed mat to prevent it getting shredded by wind over time and double protection from weeds. Also put the protectadeck on top of the bearers (ledger will do after joists are attached). I also put in cross braced strap ties as a precaution to prevent any shaking in the deck, which are tensioned too with strapping tensioners. As a tip, I have ductaped the centres together so they don't cling together in wind. I also screwed them to the underside of 2 joists each to prevent metal clanging. They might be overkill, but it was a quick easy cheap job that should remove any sway that may have been there.
I can't believe what a difference the gravel made even though it's not for aesthetics and will be covered by decking.
Here i have positioned the joists and notched out the bearer to the joists can run flush to the patio door. But don't worry, the little extension on the joist isn't taking any weight, you'll see I use joist hangars later on
Joists fully installed with some doubling up of supports. I have the joist hangars on the ledger. To attach the joists to the bearers, I have used Buildex 10-8 100mm treated pine screws https://www.bunnings.com.au/buildex-10-8-x-100mm-climacoat-countersunk-ribbed-head-treated-pine-scre... (These are amazing screws! I first tried the slightly cheaper similar size Zenith, and the first 3 screws gave me issues. So I swapped to these). I put in a screw at an angle onto either side of the joist into the bearer (similar to what you would do with construction nails, but I prefer screws). And for good measure, I also attached a multigrip between each joist and bearer at the last and second bearers. I'm pretty sure this wood is well sturdy!
You can also see in the above photos I've lined the joists with protectadeck flashing. Which by the way is super easy to install. I used a normal office staple gun. I put 3 staples in 1 end, roll the flashing along the joist, then at the end I pull it tight so that there are not creases and it runs perfectly straight. I then staple that end down while I have the pressure applied. Then after I just go staple every 30cm or so and that's it. You can see how well it came out.
You'll also see above the additional support I put in for the end framing decking boards that run perpendicular to the main decking boards. And on the right you can also see I've temporarily put in place the first layer of my raised garden bed just for sizing and spacing.
And finally, below I plan and lay the decking boards. I ended up going with the 140x21mm x 5.7m Merbau boards with the concealed decking groove. And using the Ekodeck concealed deck fasteners. I am really happy I went this option as it was really easy and quick to do. I got the main boards in in just a few hours. Most time was spent fitting it around the posts and pipes. The only problem with these boards is they are super hard to get. I literally drove all around the city (1.5 hours return to one location!) to get half the boards from one store and half from another as no one had enough stock. I ended up having to buy full priced damaged boards and weirdly cut boards too just to get exactly enough boards (including the damaged ones) available, no room for error ... so I spent a lot of time triple checking my cuts! Damn wood shortage!
(You can see the offcuts on the right, which I will use on my lower level deck, but are great for easily measuring).
(Another tip, I used strap tie downs between secured boards + 5-6 new boards to help remove the bow in the boards and pull them tight against the spacers as you can see above - though they aren't tightened in this photo - I saw this in a youtube video, brilliant idea and saved me huge hassle).
All boards are installed now, just the end framing boards I have to install. They're a bit harder on the patio door end, because I need to trim the uneven ends of the decking as the lengths are ever so slightly different. I don't have a plunge saw which would have made life easy, but they're expensive. So I'm going to go buy a concreters aluminium straight edge of 1.8m and screw it into the joists as an edge for my circular saw. I'll lay down sme painters tape to prevent splintering and then will mark a chalk line to follow. Wish me luck, there's no room for error! Hopefully the rain gives me a break this weekend to do it.
Once this part is done, that's my first level done and time to move onto the two lower levels in my plan 
Regards
Itai
