Garden projects

Zebrano

So i thought id start a thread on the various garden projects i have planned

First up is the decking as its rotting.
My first thought was to replace it with another soft wood deck but i didnt want to be cleaning it and oiling it regularly.
So then i thought composite which i very nearly ordered but i couldnt live with the plasticness of it.
So i ordered yellow balau hardwood decking

ted1

I’m contemplating adding a new patio area. About 3m * 7m.

Zebrano

IMG_2195 by stephen harborne, on Flickr

IMG_2196 by stephen harborne, on Flickr

IMG_2199 by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Zebrano

IMG_2193 by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Garden by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Zebrano

The plan is to extend it out to the end of the house on theleft in the picture.
Im also hoping to use hidden fixings so there are no screws or plugs visible.
Im also going to make my own furniture to match the decking.
I also have to chop up the old deck to bring to the recycling centre. 😄

Lumen

Zebrano wrote: »

Im also going to make my own furniture to match the decking.
I also have to chop up the old deck for the fire.

I think it's illegal and dangerous to burn treated wood.

Calahonda52

poor ventilation will be an issue if built back like the original

mloc123

What are you planning to build the base from? I had looked at alu before, seems to be more available now

Zebrano

Calahonda52 wrote: »

poor ventilation will be an issue if built back like the original

Well i cant raise it any further otherwise the doors wont open. And im not digging the ground up.
The timbers that were in direct contact with the ground are still solid and its down about 12 years. It was down in that front corner that rotted. Possibly because the gutter was overflowing on to it.

Zebrano

mloc123 wrote: »

What are you planning to build the base from? I had looked at alu before, seems to be more available now

I got microshades softwood 4x2s. It cost 12 euro a length. The hardwood frame was coming in at over 3times that so i just couldnt do it. As was the composite joists. I might creasode the joists to give further protection.

rje66

Zebrano wrote: »

IMG_2193 by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Garden by stephen harborne, on Flickr

These black fixings are for composite deck boards, that have a groove alonge edge.

Zebrano

rje66 wrote: »

These black fixings are for composite deck boards, that have a groove alonge edge.

Yea im aware. Im going to put a groove in the side of the hardwood with a biscuit jointer.

muffler

Just like the old decking you are covering the manhole which isnt a great idea. Or have you factored this in?

Zebrano

muffler wrote: »

Just like the old decking you are covering the manhole which isnt a great idea. Or have you factored this in?

Yea ive been thinking about what to do with that alright.
The feeling is to just cover it as it been under there a long time and not caused any problems. Worst case scenario ive to lift a few boards i guess.

rje66

muffler wrote: »

Just like the old decking you are covering the manhole which isnt a great idea. Or have you factored this in?

Just leave a trap door the width of the joists and 3 -4 deck boards wide. Saves lifting a whole board.

Zebrano

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr
This hole was left when the sunroom was built so i filled it in today so it would be solid to put the deck on

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Fine Cheers

Mulling over something similar but budget limited. Did you consider keeping sub frame ? What sort of condition was sub frame in ? Only a couple of my boards starting to rot so could replace, down around 15 years. Needs a face-lift so might use Roseal rescue paint. Are you putting a railing on edge ? Good idea for accessing manhole - just set out joists to suit.

Zebrano

DIY KING wrote: »

Mulling over something similar but budget limited. Did you consider keeping sub frame ? What sort of condition was sub frame in ? Only a couple of my boards starting to rot so could replace, down around 15 years. Needs a face-lift so might use Roseal rescue paint. Are you putting a railing on edge ? Good idea for accessing manhole - just set out joists to suit.

Didnt really think about it i guess.
Some of it that i could see was quiet rotten so i just ripped it all up.
I want to have as little cut boards as i can.

Zebrano

So i started to make my garden furniture today

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

The plan is to paint it this colour with a top made of decking boards

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

mloc123

Zebrano wrote: »

So i started to make my garden furniture today

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

The plan is to paint it this colour with a top made of decking boards

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

I'd love to be able to weld

Fine Cheers

Ah here, surely DIY projects don't include doing your own welding.....;)
Fair play that looks a great job. Keep us posted.

Lumen

DIY KING wrote: »

Ah here, surely DIY projects don't include doing your own welding.....;).

Too right. Metal components must be joined with Tec 7.

Dr_Colossus

Heavy duty frame, that certainly won't be blowing over in the wind.
Are you thinking of getting it hot dipped galvanised. Any holes planned in the cross section to let water drain.
Proabably won't see too much water with it covered in decking boards so a good paint job should be as good.

Zebrano

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Heavy duty frame, that certainly won't be blowing over in the wind.
Are you thinking of getting it hot dipped galvanised. Any holes planned in the cross section to let water drain.
Proabably won't see too much water with it covered in decking boards so a good paint job should be as good.

Im going to be drilling a hole for a parasol in the middle so i think that will do.
https://biccs.nl/en/ this is the paint im using. its a 2k paint thats direct to metal so ill see how that goes

Zebrano

Mig welding isnt that difficult really. Its easy enough to pick up i think most peoples problems are because the get an inferior welder that isnt up to the job.
https://www.proweld.ie/product/swp-mig-210-turbo/?ppc_keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAs5eCBhCBARIsAEhk4r4euuwznXSlbdoSdzcFrvit4h8TvQd-2HqBtQ8AKlMKeM39wYDdGbsaArYbEALw_wcB
This is what i have and it welds anything from 0.5mm up

I've that welder too.
I think i got it for around 600 with gas & wire etc

Zebrano

BrownFinger wrote: »

I've that welder too.
I think i got it for around 600 with gas & wire etc

I got a similar deal about 6 years ago.
Worth every penny.

Zebrano

Started on the base today until the weather ruined progress

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Fine Cheers

Great stuff, love the progress photos. Feckin rain is a disaster.
Looks good, treating cut ends and all !!
Looks like your are nailing joists to each other ?
Nice cut on the joist at the plinth to facilitate existing ramp.
What way are you going to secure the block supports ?
Are you going to put a rail around it ?
We have one currently on ours and herself is thinking about (me) taking it out to allow flow into garden.

Zebrano

DIY KING wrote: »

Great stuff, love the progress photos. Feckin rain is a disaster.
Looks good, treating cut ends and all !!
Looks like your are nailing joists to each other ?
Nice cut on the joist at the plinth to facilitate existing ramp.
What way are you going to secure the block supports ?
Are you going to put a rail around it ?
We have one currently on ours and herself is thinking about (me) taking it out to allow flow into garden.

Thanks
I started cutting the long cuts with a jigsaw but it was taking too long so i dragged out the bandsaw.
I was just going to sit it on top of the blocks
Im not putting a rail up the old one had a rail and i took it down a few years ago and it completely transformed it for the better there will be a step around it

Fine Cheers

Any more photos ?
Are you planning to oil the balau decking ?

Zebrano

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Finished up the frame eventually which was a complete nightmare but got there in the end

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

i put these clips on the bottom of the board and slotted them into a slot on the frame

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr


Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Zebrano

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Ive 11 boards across now. Its taking about half an hour per board to chop and slot and lay.
Hopefully im finished by the summer

rje66

What's the plan for area in front of door?, I would have it framed out before first deck board went on. But maybe you have other plan. Also what's plan to hide the bricks supporting frame?. Id be putting on timbers to fix onto now before deck boards close in the area, making it a bit easier.
Just my thoughts, but looks good so far.

Fine Cheers

Great photos. Decking boards look brilliant. Seems alot of work with the clips but well worth it I think to conceal the fixings.

Zebrano

rje66 wrote: »

What's the plan for area in front of door?, I would have it framed out before first deck board went on. But maybe you have other plan. Also what's plan to hide the bricks supporting frame?. Id be putting on timbers to fix onto now before deck boards close in the area, making it a bit easier.
Just my thoughts, but looks good so far.

For the area at the door in just gonna make up a frame with a board on top and drop it in.
There will be a step around the whole thing so this will cover the bricks.

Zebrano

DIY KING wrote: »

Great photos. Decking boards look brilliant. Seems alot of work with the clips but well worth it I think to conceal the fixings.

Thanks
If im honest its a ridiculous amount of work but deffo worth it.

Naos

Zebrano wrote: »

Ive 11 boards across now. Its taking about half an hour per board to chop and slot and lay.
Hopefully im finished by the summer

Looks brilliant, great job so far.

My only complaint is having to wait until the summer to see the finished product. Much like a season on Netflix I want it all now so... get chopping.

RobAMerc

looks great - an absolutely massive improvement on the previous one! well done ( now get on with it )

listermint

Remove the end board again. Slot the boards and just lay them then chop them all together in one go. Reinstall end board.

It saves faffing around measuring lengths and time. Speeds things up.

Zebrano

listermint wrote: »

Remove the end board again. Slot the boards and just lay them then chop them all together in one go. Reinstall end board.

It saves faffing around measuring lengths and time. Speeds things up.

The end board needs to be on before the others because the way i fixed it.

awec

I notice you're building it on top of blocks on tarmac.

Do you think this would work on top of blocks on soil? I have a small area I'm considering decking, it's currently lawn. My shed is propped on blocks on the same soil, wondering if this would also work for decking.

RobAMerc

awec wrote: »

I notice you're building it on top of blocks on tarmac.

Do you think this would work on top of blocks on soil? I have a small area I'm considering decking, it's currently lawn. My shed is propped on blocks on the same soil, wondering if this would also work for decking.

I would suggest you dig some holes and fill them with hardcore or similar to create some form of footing. Then put your blocks on top of that. Block on soil will eventually sag I think and leave your deck uneven and a bit crappy looking.

mloc123

Hijacking this for my own project today, dunno if you can call it DIY or just an IKEA hack...

Making a BBQ area to hold a kamado grill and portable gas grill... started with two IKEA bror trolleys https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/bror-trolley-black-pine-plywood-60333850/

Made up some adjustable feet with M8 bolts and rubber caps, cut the top for the Kamado to slot in and stained the wood. It needs a few coats of yacht varnish tomorrow.

Gloomtastic!

mloc123 wrote: »

Hijacking this for my own project today, dunno if you can call it DIY or just an IKEA hack...

Making a BBQ area to hold a kamado grill and portable gas grill... started with two IKEA bror trolleys https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/bror-trolley-black-pine-plywood-60333850/

Made up some adjustable feet with M8 bolts and rubber caps, cut the top for the Kamado to slot in and stained the wood. It needs a few coats of yacht varnish tomorrow.

Well done! I do envy people who can do it themselves. I have the ideas, it’s the execution that’s the problem.

Make sure you have a look on here for any tips and tricks.

Enjoy!

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2058086372/14/#post116758644

holygoaliefc

mloc123 wrote: »

Hijacking this for my own project today, dunno if you can call it DIY or just an IKEA hack...

Making a BBQ area to hold a kamado grill and portable gas grill... started with two IKEA bror trolleys https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/bror-trolley-black-pine-plywood-60333850/

Made up some adjustable feet with M8 bolts and rubber caps, cut the top for the Kamado to slot in and stained the wood. It needs a few coats of yacht varnish tomorrow.

Can I ask about the wall behind your bbq-which is fabulous btw, seriously well done! Have you stained the wood and if so with what?

mloc123

holygoaliefc wrote: »

Can I ask about the wall behind your bbq-which is fabulous btw, seriously well done! Have you stained the wood and if so with what?

No, not stained. That is just standard 2x1 treated construction timber. It is up over a year now, so has weathered a little but the colour is pretty close to when it was new.

seamus

awec wrote: »

I notice you're building it on top of blocks on tarmac.

Do you think this would work on top of blocks on soil? I have a small area I'm considering decking, it's currently lawn. My shed is propped on blocks on the same soil, wondering if this would also work for decking.

As RobAMerc says, you are better off putting something underneath your blocks that won't sink over time. Laid directly on grass/soil, bigger blocks are better than smaller; they spread the load.

There are other options though;

- Pave the area with 600mm paving slabs before putting the deck on top. You still want your slabs to be very level though, so there's a bit of work in this.

- If the deck would need to be raised anyway to meet the house, consider hanging the joists off wooden posts. Done properly (fabric & stones underneath), this looks really slick and professional, IMO.

dodzy

seamus wrote: »

As RobAMerc says, you are better off putting something underneath your blocks that won't sink over time. Laid directly on grass/soil, bigger blocks are better than smaller; they spread the load.

There are other options though;

- Pave the area with 600mm paving slabs before putting the deck on top. You still want your slabs to be very level though, so there's a bit of work in this.

- If the deck would need to be raised anyway to meet the house, consider hanging the joists off wooden posts. Done properly (fabric & stones underneath), this looks really slick and professional, IMO.

Pave an area to then cover it up ? What a waste of time....and money.

Maxface

seamus wrote: »

As RobAMerc says, you are better off putting something underneath your blocks that won't sink over time. Laid directly on grass/soil, bigger blocks are better than smaller; they spread the load.

There are other options though;

- Pave the area with 600mm paving slabs before putting the deck on top. You still want your slabs to be very level though, so there's a bit of work in this.

- If the deck would need to be raised anyway to meet the house, consider hanging the joists off wooden posts. Done properly (fabric & stones underneath), this looks really slick and professional, IMO.

Also, I wouldn't follow the way the fella in that guide set up a raised deck. Madness

Maxface

Dig a hole and put in a block, put your post on it. Be grand. If it's for a handrail that's different.