Confused, re-Decking

[Dan_]

Its that time of year for been in the garden, just bought a new house, and want to put together ground level decking, as you can see from the picture(press the link below), it is going to be roughly 3mx2m, its come out from the wall of the house up to the last fence post where the hanging basket is.

However I have read so many opinions and I am confused as to whats best, in terms of foundations, whether or not to support it on posts sunk into the ground and concreted in, or whether to just lay it on gravel as some websites suggest, although am not sure about that method. Any suggestions on how to support the decking what foundations are needed, bearing in mind its not a large area of decking. Cheers

www.ringo.com/photos/photo.html?photoId=216616091

 

[n3il.h]

Need to login to see pic?

Anyway if its going to be fixed to the house that will give it alot of stability...I personally would fix to the side of the house and sink the outer supports into the ground and any inner supports I would just put ontop of slabs or bricks to take the weight. thats not a professional opinion by the way!

 

[Dan_]

cheers for that i have changed the link so hopefully it works now, yeah i do agree with what you are saying, although thinking of concreting all supporting posts.So will probably have 4 posts, as i will have one end of the frame attached to the house wall, with spacers, and then 2 posts in the middle of the frame and then 2 at the end in each corner.

 

[Thermo]

we rawlbolt to the house and use post foundations with all our decks. Thats a professional opinion by the way! Have a look through the forum ive done quite a few long answers on this one.

 

[Dan_]

Cheers for that Thermo, thats what i was thinking, but if as a professional thats how you do it then i will give that method a crack, the one thing i am unsure of, is how once the posts are in do you get the level the same on each post, do you attach the support beams on top of the posts or to the sides of the concreted in posts?

 

[Thermo]

to the sides. you can then slice the excess off of the top.

 

[harryc]

To save yourself time and and hastle digging posts. Why not just place some engineered blocks to the height you desire and put your frame beams on top. You could attach the beams to the blocks to stop movement to save yourself money buying anchor bolts.

Harry

 

[WabbitPoo]

I think posts down onto blocks (rather than slabs) is fine, so long as the blocks themselves are not going to sink. You need to anchor the entire structure in place somewhere, though, so tie it to the house and sink a couple of posts at the front into concrete.