Sorry to hijack this post slightly but.........
Thermo in particular has offered much advice on ground level decking so I would be grateful for a couple of answers to specific questions if anyone would kindly oblige.
I am about to build a 3.6 x 3 m deck at the end of the garden, following advice from various web sites I had planned to put down the weed control fabric and cover with pea shingle type stuff and sit the frame on this without any further support. Unfortunately I dug out a little deep and in reality I'm going to end up with around 3 - 4" of shingle rather than the suggested 1 - 2. May help with drainage if nothing else!
Q1 is this a complete and utter no no or would it suffice?
The slope of the land means that once levelled the deck will be fully above ground level at one end but the joist at the other end will be pretty much all buried - this is across the 3.6 m length. Not ideal I appreciate but to raise it would mean it would be too high with regard to privacy etc. A colleague has suggested applying PVA to the 'underground' timber so:
Q2 appreciating Thermo's comments that the wood will rot in time, can anyone give me a guestimate of how long before I may get problems? 1, 3, 5, 10 years.......? I'm using 6" x 2" pressure treated bearers and it will be faced with a 32 mm deck board.
Q3 Is the PVA a good idea? Or is there a better method?
Many thanks for any advice that may be forthcoming, and lets hope I'm not too disheartened by the replies!!
Thermo in particular has offered much advice on ground level decking so I would be grateful for a couple of answers to specific questions if anyone would kindly oblige.
I am about to build a 3.6 x 3 m deck at the end of the garden, following advice from various web sites I had planned to put down the weed control fabric and cover with pea shingle type stuff and sit the frame on this without any further support. Unfortunately I dug out a little deep and in reality I'm going to end up with around 3 - 4" of shingle rather than the suggested 1 - 2. May help with drainage if nothing else!
Q1 is this a complete and utter no no or would it suffice?
The slope of the land means that once levelled the deck will be fully above ground level at one end but the joist at the other end will be pretty much all buried - this is across the 3.6 m length. Not ideal I appreciate but to raise it would mean it would be too high with regard to privacy etc. A colleague has suggested applying PVA to the 'underground' timber so:
Q2 appreciating Thermo's comments that the wood will rot in time, can anyone give me a guestimate of how long before I may get problems? 1, 3, 5, 10 years.......? I'm using 6" x 2" pressure treated bearers and it will be faced with a 32 mm deck board.
Q3 Is the PVA a good idea? Or is there a better method?
Many thanks for any advice that may be forthcoming, and lets hope I'm not too disheartened by the replies!!