Decking DIY or Pro

[Susanna85]

Anyone done their own raised deck?
Or had professionals do it.

Any positive stories / horror stories / advice?

Also trying to decide which timber etc.

Hi OP.

I have , at the top of the garden.

I see you say ‘raised deck’. Please bear in mind you need planning permission if the deck is greater than 30cm, yes 1ft , above the ground underneath.

How raised is raised ?

It's for our new house & there's one there already but it's rotten and old, approx 10 inches off the ground. Perhaps that doesn't quite count as raised!

DH built our in our last house. It was very solid and was as good as new when we moved 5 years later.
He used tanalised ( rot prevention treated) Decking planks and support timber that were quite thick, from a timber merchant, not DIY store.
He then planned the grid that they were put on so that the junctions were not very far apart. He used an electric screwdriver and brass decking screws and finished it all with a special rubberised deck coating to avoid It becoming slippy. Sorry can’t remember the name of that.

It wasn’t the cheapest option, but was certainly well built.

The problem is decking might still look good after 5 years but it hides what is sunk in the grounds with the supports. Tantalised wood can still rot. We have a wooden post fence with tantalised posts and are fed up with having to have the posts ripped out and replaced as they rot at ground level

Read other posts on here about the constant maintenance with decking. I wonder of the PP got around this with the coating they used?

I built one and it was great for about two years then went progressively worse, slippery and a hazard. Burned it and felt much better :)

I think decking has had its day so I'd suggest considering alternatives

Our posts were not sunk into the ground, but drilled into a frame, which was drilled into an old concrete patio.
If they were going into the ground, you could used Meta Posts, the metal supports for fence posts.