Are Existing Joists For A New Deck Acceptable???

You want to work on a dry, clear day, or the ground may be too muddy and unstable to work on. Your lumber must also be completely dry before beginning this project. Start your build early in the morning, so you have enough time to finish it before nightfall. You’ll want ground-contact use wood for your deck frame. For joists, douglas fir and southern yellow pine are some of the strongest wood types.

Installing decking over old decking will drastically reduce the lifespan of the material. The joints between two materials will readily trap water in wet environments. This contact area should be limited only to the top of the joists, leaving most of the decking exposed on both sides. If placed on top of other decking, there will be little drying potential beneath the new decking and more rapid decay of both the new and old can be expected. For manufactured products, installations over old decking or solid surfaces are prohibited and will likely void the warranty.

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Learning the correct deck joist spacing, beam span, and measurements for your materials is one of the key ways to get to know your deck from the inside out. Although laying and installing joists is a straightforward process, there are several things to consider, especially regarding size and spacing. Getting board dimensions or spacing distance wrong can compromise the integrity of your structure, and might even violate some local building codes.

For families with young children, these synthetic boards have the additional advantage of being splinter-free. With others, it’s best to simply view them as a new material.

Check Deck Joist Spacing

The most common mistake we see with fascia installation is the practice of extending the fascia to cover the ends of the decking boards. A tell-tale sign of a potential problem with the ledger board attachment is the absence of lag screw heads. The fix could be as simple as adding the appropriate number of heavy-duty lags to the existing frame. It's an ideal way to save time and money, while enjoying all of Trex's benefits over wood. I'm going to replace my deck with something this summer .

DuraLife Step-Clipâ„¢ composite decking hidden fastening system can reduce installation times by up to 50 percent. At first, composite decks were touted as the new, futuristic option. They were luxury-priced, and their quick degradation gave them a bad rep among future buyers.

How To Lay Decking Joists For Composite Decking

• This contact area should be limited only to the top of the joists, leaving most of the decking exposed on both sides.
• If placed on top of other decking, there will be little drying potential beneath the new decking and more rapid decay of both the new and old can be expected.
• For manufactured products, installations over old decking or solid surfaces are prohibited and will likely void the warranty.
• Guides exist online to streamline the process and encourage amateurs to try it out themselves, and many brands are working to improve the installation process further.
• While this might have been true when composite decking first hit the market, it’s not an accurate representation of the materials on today’s market.

When the less demanding plastic-composite decking appeared on the scene in the 1990s, homeowners happily adopted it, despite the higher price and limited color selection . A decade later, as companies began to offer new products that looked like fresh-cut cedar and Brazilian walnut but never turned gray, sales of composites took off. Are you considering rebuilding your deck the composite decking? Here are some things to consider before you commit to this relatively new material. Do not use nails to attach the deck boards above the Trex RainEscape system. For non-standard deck sizes or special features, please reference the installation guide or contact a Trex RainEscape Specialist. The best way to waterproof under your deck is with a deck drainage system installed during construction.

For this reason, it is vital to perform frequent deck maintenance to check the quality of your stain. Inspect the whole deck surface - The first thing that you need to do is inspect the entire surface of the deck. Well, if the boards have started to crack, it is definitely time to take them out and get them replaced. However, if they are a little bit warped, you’re going to be fine and you can leave them alone.

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If you want to keep the framing, they require you to tear off the decking and then they come and inspect it. If your deck is 20 years old it's likely it was built to a code less stringent than now. Like 4x4s instead of 6x6s for posts, or end-nailed joists instead of joist hangers. I'd take the opportunity to upgrade those at the same time. And the PT framing is about the cheapest & fastest part to replace. While many of the myths surrounding composite decks will be hard to dispel, many are trying to disprove these misconceptions.

We asked Randy Moe from Decks Unlimited, and Bob Januik and Matt Norden from Precision Decks, for some tips on working with low-maintenance deck materials, including Trex. Altogether these guys have built more than 1,000 decks, using every material imaginable. Today they install low-maintenance materials on three out of four. Plus, check out these 14 DIY deck add-ons that are seriously cool. NeoTimber® specialises in the highest quality composite decking for your garden, balcony and commercial applications. Simple to install, and backed by our 25-year residential warranty, we offer a superb range of products and a first-class service. Where I live, the county requires a permit whenever more than 50% of a deck's materials are replaced.

I recently was on a home inspection for a home that was approximately 10 years old. During the inspection I was looking at 2 decks that were part of the home. These decks were constructed of a composite wood material that has become popularized as a maintenance free alternative to wood.

Commonly used joist sizes are 2-by-6, 2-by-8 and 2-by-10. One essential part of installing a new deck is laying deck joists. There are several factors to consider when installing your joists, such as the size you need and how much space needs to be between each one.