Decking deck (deck board) with your own hands
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HOW TO DANCE DECK-DECK BOARD ON TERRACE
SELECTING THE METHOD OF MOUNTING TERRACE BOARD
One of the best floor coverings for the porch, terraces or gazebos - deck board, or decking. It has anti-slip properties, is easy to clean and durable enough. However, if you make a mistake with the design of the flooring and how to fix the board, all the pluses will come to naught.
We will tell you how to mount decking correctly ...
Deck boards are made from solid wood resistant to decay rocks, and also from wood-polymer composite (DPC). At the same time, the raw material depends not only on the aesthetic qualities of the board, but also on its mechanical properties. For example, oak decking can be visibly distorted by moisture drops, and products from WPC are subject to thermal expansion / contraction. All this must be taken into account when choosing the installation method, but first you need to create a secure floor for a terrace floor.
PREPARATORY STAGE TO DECKING DECK
The construction of the terrace begins with a foundation. On a flat, elevated place with sandy soil, you can do well with a well-packed pillow made of crushed stone, the fraction 5-20 mm, on which are installed single paving slabs, and on them - adjustable plastic pillar supports (more cheap option - concrete blocks).
In relatively dry areas (groundwater level more than 1,5 m from the surface) with loam or sandy loam, you can arrange an easy version of the slab foundation - pour a layer of heavy concrete approximately 20-30 cm thick over a sand-gravel cushion of thickness 7-8 cm, reinforcing its road net .
If the site is located on a slope or in the lowland, then the uneven columnar base will be insufficiently reliable. Under the influence of ground movements, the supports will begin to crawl or "walk", causing the terrace to skew. A leveling of the platform under the plate will repeatedly increase the volume of excavations.
On the slopes, in lowlands and in areas with puffy soils, a pile foundation is required. The optimal price / reliability ratio is provided by screw piles made of steel pipes with a diameter of 80-100 mm with a wall thickness of 3 mm and a protective polymer coating. At the same time, the diameter of the blade should be at least 25 cm, and the piles should be mounted in increments of 1,5-2 m. The piping (grillage) can be welded from sections of the channel or assembled from an antiseptic bar, for example, section 100 x 150 mm.
When the foundation is ready, proceed to install the log. According to the hardness and resistance to decay, these elements should not be inferior to planks - it is necessary to use the same or more durable and durable material. Recently, metal lags have gained popularity (from square pipes and more complex profiles). The price of products made of galvanized steel thickness 1,5 mm (smaller wall thickness is not allowed) - from 150 rub. for 1 m.
Their service life, according to the manufacturers, exceeds 20 years, but much depends on the thickness and technology of zinc coating. Aluminum logs are very durable, but will cost at least 300 rubles. for 1 m. It is worth noting that metal products are mainly counted on fastening the boards with the help of clamps - without the use of self-tapping screws (we will come back to the ways of mounting the decking).
As for the lag of the KDP, they are comparable in price to aluminum, but they lose somewhat in terms of reliability.
Logs must be securely fixed on the foundation (supports) of the terrace. This is necessary not only so that they do not move when installing the board, but also to increase the rigidity and strength of the entire structure, to compensate for small seating movements of the supports. It should be noted that the lag of the WPC, like metallic ones, is required to be fastened using a sliding method, for example, using steel staples.
See also: Terrace: airtight flooring - self-installation
FIXING BOARDS
The boards must be mounted with gaps, the optimum value of which is 6-8 mm. Smaller in width gaps quickly swarm with dust and mud or overgrow with moss (if the terrace is constantly shaded), while the wider ones are unaesthetic and create inconvenience for movement. Decking is fixed in four main ways.
Nails or screws in the hole through.
Sufficiently reliable attachment for wooden decking, which, however, with proper execution is very time consuming. The main problem is that the board, swelling from the water, gradually pulls the nails out of the lag. After a year or two you risk jamming about the fastening, towering above the surface of the terrace flooring. Therefore, the hats of nails or screws need to be heated at least by 0 mm, using rubber-metal washers to press the board. An exception is made only when mounting the decking of the wood of some tropical species (ipe, kumaru), which practically does not absorb moisture.
Since the nail heads are clearly visible, they should be perfectly aligned in rows, otherwise the flooring will look sloppy. And of course, it is necessary to use only stainless fasteners, and its diameter and length should be selected so that the lags do not crack.
Edge with spike fixture.
Optimum option for a board made of larch: fastenings are almost invisible (especially if bluing is used as an anticorrosive coating), provides fast installation and sufficiently high strength. A typical mistake in its application is the rallying of the boards to the stop in the plate of the fastening element. Gaps in this case are equal to 2-3 mm, and this is not enough to compensate for the expansion of the board and drainage of water.
"Wrong" fasteners.
It is a steel perforated plate, a little longer than the width of the floorboards. They are screwed to the bottom surface of the material, then the board is turned over and the plates are fixed to the lags. This method is used only for boards of dense tropical wood, almost not subject to buckling after drying.
Clamping clamps.
Sometimes this method of fastening is used for decking out of solid wood, but this increases the labor costs (it is necessary to make longitudinal cuts in the edges of the boards) or the cost of the material, moreover, the moisture accumulates in the cuts, which reduces the service life of the coating.
Basically, the clamps are used for assembling composite decking with a profile edge. The clamper reliably presses two adjacent planks to the lag, but does not prevent their longitudinal movements during thermal expansion / contraction. Clamps can be made of galvanized steel or reinforced plastic; both options are completely reliable, since composite decking is not subject to axial warping and the load on the fasteners is relatively small.
Reference by topic: Floors on the terrace - coating and finishing materials
FINAL BARRIERS
It is extremely undesirable to tint and paint a terraced board with coating compositions, as enamel, varnish and the upper painted layer of wood are quickly erased from corrugation, and it is difficult to restore a partially worn coating. In extreme cases, you can use deep-penetrating stains on organic solvents to change colors. And the best option is a synthetic or natural terracotta oil. But it's better not to choose very dark compounds for a new board: as practice shows, not all oils penetrate deep into the structure of the tree.
COMPARISON OF DECKING FROM DIFFERENT TREE VARIETY |
|||
Name |
Larch |
Oak |
Pine and spruce |
Specific properties |
Smoky wood, has a strong texture, poorly toned, moderately resistant to mechanical damage |
Dense and strong wood, eventually darkens, sometimes even after chamber drying is prone to warping |
Relatively fragile material, but resistant to decay. Unsuitable for lag |
Estimated service life in the open air, years |
8-10 |
10-15 |
8-12 |
Price, rubles / m3 |
От 800 |
От 1500 |
От 2200 |
TERRACE BOARD INSTALLATION - VIDEO
DECKING AS TERRACE DECKING - NUANCES OF INSTALLATION AND SELECTION OF MATERIAL!
Let's talk about decking, which is fashionable today - a special terrace flooring. In the garden, whatever it may be, decking will fit for sure, it will not seem like a foreign element. Therefore, it is often arranged simply for beauty. But somewhere such a design helps to solve a number of serious problems.
ONE PLATE, TWO PLATE
In fact, deck is a deck covering. In our case, decking is a plank floor in the open air or in a light garden building (arbor, pergola). A special case is a bridge, a pier, a floor in a bathhouse, a sauna, a loggia or on a balcony.
The boardwalk in the garden is mounted according to certain rules. Between the decking and the ground (lawn, gravel, water, etc.) the distance is at least 10-15 cm, that is, the “floor” is always slightly raised above the ground. The flooring is based on logs, and they are based on the so-called harness, which is usually attached to supports. The latter are most often screw piles. The boards are not laid close to each other; there are always small gaps between them for ventilation and free flow of water.
Sometimes decking is called garden parquet (parquet tiles). The materials are the same, the methods of use are largely similar. The main difference from the terraced (deck) board is the shape. Garden parquet is a small module consisting of several short boards. And the standard deck board length is 3, 4, 5 or 6 m.
OUR AND EXOTS
Materials for terrace flooring are both completely natural and artificial. But it is not always possible to immediately recognize by the appearance of the board whether it is a natural element or an industrial one (photo 1). Ideally, decking is made from wood that is not subject to rotting and attacks by woodworms. Most often it is larch, Siberian cedar, oak. Pine will need additional protective treatment (before installation, and then regularly during operation), otherwise the service life of the lumber will be short-lived. More expensive, but durable decking options are tropical tree species: for example, sequoia, ipe (Brazil walnut), cumaru.
PLASTIC DECK
Widely used for the manufacture of decking and composite materials that mimic wood. It is a wood-polymer composite, or WPC. Boards are corpulent (array) and hollow, honeycomb. They consist of high-strength plastics and a vegetable, mainly wood component. Small shavings, wood flour, less often cake and even rice husks serve as fillers. The more plastic in the composition, the more durable the board. But if it prevails, the visual resemblance to natural wood is very conditional. It is better to choose the golden mean, where the proportion of artificial and natural materials is 1: 1.
Boards made of composite materials are strong and durable, resistant to weather troubles. Do not rot, are not subject to cracking and deformation. Meet environmental standards. The coating does not require additional processing, such as varnishes or impregnations. The smooth, but corrugated surface of the terrace flooring practically does not slip, there are no splinters. A composite board can be sawn, planed, drilled, screws can be screwed into it, and other fasteners can be used (photo 2). True, all this applies only to high-quality products produced without violating technology.
Which decking is better - natural wood or composite? The question is not easy, it has not yet been put to an end, and perhaps there will be no consensus.
DECKING DURABILITY
The service life of decking depends on a combination of factors. For example, the durability of Siberian larch in Italian Venice has been tested for centuries. And manufacturers of decking boards based on composites sometimes claim that their products can last several decades without maintenance - for example, 25 or 50, which is also a lot. And these boards in strength and durability are not inferior to either wood or ceramics with concrete (paving slabs). But in fact, you have to take our word for it, since, for example, in Russia, the production of decking from composite materials started in 2007-2008.
WPC is a relatively new group of durable composite materials, which is sometimes called liquid wood due to its high plasticity. It differs from WPC in its binder composition, manufacturing nuances and, as a rule, higher cost.
RATIONAL DESIGNS
The indisputable advantage of decking over paving is the ability to mount the flooring over any surface without leveling the site: for example, on a steep slope, the edge of a ravine, above a stream, on a wet bank of a reservoir, and even in the middle of it.
More often, playgrounds are equipped on the basis of decking, but now walking areas are also in fashion (photo 3), for example, in a plot of shade or moisture-loving plants or in a garden where there is a swamp with bathing suits and decorative sedges. Yes, and a local “wet” place on a large plot is sometimes more interesting not to radically reshape, but just to ennoble a little by laying a path-bridge over moss tussocks and thickets of wild sedges.
Deciding between decking or paved patio? If there are bicentennial oaks, fluffy huge spruces or ship pines nearby, then the choice is definitely in favor of deck flooring. After all, for its installation it is not necessary to level the ground, which means that damage to the roots is minimal. In addition, the root system of trees, where the deck is mounted, does not suffer from soil compaction, moisture stagnation. Narrow gaps between the deck boards do not prevent air exchange and rain moisture seepage down.
In decking, openings for trunks can be provided (photo 4), sometimes not only in the flooring, but also in a pergola based on the deck, an arbor. And a beautiful tree, located, it would seem, is not entirely successful, you don’t have to cut it down!
Mature trees of valuable species are not only the beauty of nature, but also a significant investment! With the loss of picturesque trees, the cost of the site is significantly reduced, for example, when selling or renting out the estate. So decking, which almost does not change the living conditions of forest giants, is by no means a luxury.
Partial shading will slow down the overheating of the water and its flowering in the hot summer. Fish will be able to hide under the bedding. And from such a surface terrace it is convenient to observe water pets.
REST FOR PLEASURE
On a large wooden terrace near the house, pool, ornamental pond or just in the garden, you will get a great relaxation area. Moreover, deck flooring can be made in any, the most intricate form. On a large platform there is a place for sunbeds with a table, and for installing a large beach umbrella. And nearby it is easy to equip a rock garden (photo 5), and a pond with water lilies (photo 6).
Terrace flooring is an ideal cover for the area near the swimming pool or paddling pool - children's "paddling pool" (photo 7). The pool "for adults" can be edged with decking around the perimeter or deck fragments can be mounted in one or two of the most popular areas. Decking is also good next to the bathhouse, between it and the pond, where people usually dive after the steam room.
In addition to aesthetics, such an organization of a resting place has several advantages: wet feet do not get dirty, the coating does not slip, it is convenient to walk barefoot.
Recessed lights can be used to illuminate the area with decking at night (photo 8). If the terrace flooring is mounted on a significant difference in relief or near a deep reservoir, its border should be marked with balusters or at least low sides.
© Author: A. CHUGUNKOV, builder-designer
HOME-MADE DECKING WITH YOUR HANDS - INTERESTING VIDEO
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- We make floors on the open terrace with our own hands: a photo and a detailed master-class
- Laying the lag on the floor of the attic with your own hands
- Fitting-cutting the laminate plank to the outer corner
- How to prepare a basis for a new floor - problems and solutions
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