Common mistakes when building a deck
Checklist for deck building:
Stainless steel screws are a must.
Countersink the screws, at least 3mm
8mm gap between the boards.
Top of the joists coated and protected against water
Only use a builder with good reviews and a track record of at least 5 years
When building a deck, make sure to not only focus on design. One question we suggest you should ask yourself is, How easy will it be to maintain this deck?
The appropriate follow up questions are:
Should I pay the extra for Stainless steel screws?
Inferior screws will eventually rust and cause problems. For example galvanized screws might be cheaper, but if a deck restoration company sands the deck and accidently hits a screw with the belt sander the galvanized layer will come off exposing the screw and it will soon leave a circle of rust.
YES! You should pay the extra for stainless steel screws
Proper quality: https://www.betterhardware.com.au/decking/decking-screws-fasteners/marine-stainless-steel-316-decking-screws.html
Countersunk screws?
If the screws are not well below the surface the deck cannot be sanded. We recommend to countersink the screws at least 3mm but even 5mm can be appropriate. If the boards are cupping a bit then this can be fixed by sanding.
Always countersink the screws!
Enough gap between the boards?
Make sure the boards has enough space between them or you will find that in seasons of excessive rain the boards will swell and there will be no gaps between the boards, leading to big puddles of water sitting on the deck making that area ugly even when dry.
8mm should be enough.
Should I coat the top of the joists?
If you do, this will prevent water going straight into the joists from the top. Avoiding this gives you a much more durable deck.
Only use a builder with good reviews and a track-record of at least 5 years.
The more 5 star reviews a company has, the better chance you have to get quality work done.
Fornya doesn’t build decks any more, but we wanted to give you this simple checklist for you to know what to look for.
We would love to stain and maintain your newly built deck. Almost all builders sees the staining part as a pain and just want to move on to his next project.
Contact us for a maintenance quote.