New 12' High Deck With Spa - Unexpected Extra Work in BC

by Terry
(Langley BC Canada)

We started out with a basic plan of a 16 x 16 deck pressure treated wood. The build included removing the old deck and the sonotube footings. The old deck was not installed correctly and the wood to the house was rotted out, reguiring replacement of the ledger board. This was expensive.

The new deck --at my insistence --was to be put on pilings--this required hand digging through the hard packed clay--time consuming, pricy.

Footings poured, then then sq pilings on top---overkill--then the lower deck for the Spa, had to be integrated in to the yard, gravel for drainage, weeping tile required replacement,
French drain under deck to keep ground dry-- and alum railing--all in about $8500.00+/-

All the extras came as after thoughts----pre-planning would have saved some money

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Jun 09, 2013
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Good tips for planning a deck renovation job
by: Editor - Rich Bergman

Wow. This is a cautionary tale of what to consider on any deck rebuilding project. You mentioned the ledger board being rotted away. Good thing to you found that and isolated it and repaired it.

Langely is on the west coast and so winters are wet and soggy as is much of the Pacific Nortwest. So for anyone in that area, pay special attention to properly connecting and flashing the ledger board of the deck with the band board of the floor deck of the house. Can't emphasize this enough.

Free floating or free standing decks don't have to worry about this. But not every deck can be free standing depending on the slope and exit level of the first floor of your home.

Your deck footings were well built it sounds. For any other visitors who wish to brush up on how to properly build install concrete footings for a deck this is a must read article.

And if you are putting those footings on a slope remember the seven foot rule.

So thanks very much to Terry from Langley, BC and I hope that all you new up and coming deck builders or DIYers keep these things in mind when you are building a new deck or planning to fix or repair an older deck.

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