Deck Building. Finishing the Flight of Stairs

One of the most popular posts I ever put up was building the frame for the flight of stairs that runs from the decking down to the lawn area. Well now that the top decking has been completed, it's time to deck the stairs. We're getting close and the end is in now sight. The last piece of this grand puzzle to be completed is literally a puzzle!

As I've gone to so much effort to deck everything, I wasn't prepared to leave any of that treated pine from the stair stringers showing. Adding to the complexity however is the whole "nail free" concept. The Deck Master system wasn't going to be much use on the steps as the treads are only three boards across, and to top it off I had run out of the Deck Master slotted timber! 

So the plan I came up with was to use the wood plugs which I thought (at the time!) would be less fiddly. Rather than use the Deck-Max plugs though as I was going to need hundreds of these things, I decided to make my own to save some money! 

I sniffed around online and came up with a vendor in Sydney called "The Wood Works" that sells a plug cutter and counterbore set. This consists of two drill bits in the set; one for cutting the 10mm wood plugs, and the other to counterbore the 10mm holes that the wood plugs fit into. Sounds simple.

Image courtesy "The Wood Works"

To use the plug cutter you need a drill press (or a plunge router) to hold the cutting bit perfectly vertical so that the plug comes out straight. Be prepared for this as it's a bit of a chore! 

It's a 4 step process:

1. Turn on the drill and place the timber
2. Slowly drop the drill press to cut the plug and then raise it once the cut is finished
3. Turn off the drill press
4. Using a small screwdriver, knock out the plug from the centre of the drill bit

Go back to step 1, and repeat 850 times! I had plenty of scrap off-cuts to work with from which the plugs are cut. 

Eventually you'll end up with a bag full of wooden plugs, but it doesn't stop there. To make the 10mm plugs easier to fit into the 10mm holes, you have the chamfer them on one end with a sander. For this I taped up my fingers (or else the sander will eventually go through your fingernail as I found out) and loaded the sander in a vice. Phew, this is a lot of effort for a finish! Maybe it would have been easier to buy these, but where's the satisfaction in that?

Eventually I was ready to go. The plan was to start with the top edge of the outside stringers, then infill the treads and risers, and finally veneer the outside stringers to match and knit in with the horizontal boards on the front side of the deck. Just like a giant 3D jigsaw puzzle!

Below shows the beginning of setting the boards onto the top edge of the left hand stringer. They have to be lined up such that the boards on the risers and treads sit will sit flush when fitted, but also line up with the horizontal facing boards on the deck!

Bring on the mitre joins. Starting out with the first boards.

I'd first cut the board to fit, make sure everything lines up and is level, then glue the underside with "liquid nails" and clamp it in place. Next, using the 10mm counterbore tool I would drill the hole, then fix a decking screw into the hole, lastly when the piece is glued and screwed, I'd glue and bang in my pre-cut wood plugs. When it's all dried you then cut off the excess with a vibrating multi-tool and give it a sand to finish. No nails showing!

Below shows the progress down the left hand side which is about 3/4 complete.

Fair progress down the left hand side

Cut, fit, glue, clamp, drill, screw and plug, over and over. Eventually as shown below I reached the bottom of the left hand side. Like a jigsaw I found it very therapeutic and relaxing work!

Left had side completed

Once the left was completed, I moved across to the right hand side and finished it to match.

Right hand side completed

Now both sides were done I could start putting down the treads, and then finally and hopefully, walk down the stairs for the first time!

Looking at both sides

Once I had the outside edges of the two side stringers completed, I started on the top stair tread sizing up the boards and riser as you can see below. Measure twice, cut once!

Sizing up the boards for the first step

Below shows the first step and riser completed and fixed in place and I can finally stand on the top step! Note the notch I had to cut into the rise on the centre stringer.

First step boards fixed down

The notch on the nose of the centre stringer is to accommodate the step lighting. I'm using the same lights to match the landing steps, with four of them to fit, one on every 2nd step.

Cutting the centre stringer to allow for the step light

Fitting the lights was easier than on the landing, as here I only had to deal with a single board whereas on the landing I had to fit the light in between two boards. 

Essentially I just found the centre of the board, marked out the square where the light will fit, then cut it out with a drill and jigsaw.

Sizing up the boards with the step light fitted

So three steps down with the first light fitted and it's looking pretty good. The extra effort in making sure the stringers were spot on when I was building the frame has paid off as everything is dead level.

Top 3 steps done

Below shows fitting the riser board in to make sure the gaps are uniform. I had some thin timber offcuts that I used to wedge around the board, and then used a large flat blade screwdriver to level it all in place nice and square. Finally I then drill the holes for the screws and plugs.

Wedging up the riser board to make sure it's centred

So here is the completed stair with all the treads and riser boards in place. I left all the wiring tied and hanging just behind the holes so I can now fit the rest of the stair lights in.

Putting in the risers to finish up the bottom steps

Job done as you can see below, with all the lights fitted in. Now there's just a matter of plugging a few hundred holes!

Steps completed

With the steps and deck front now completed, I can start the jigsaw puzzle down the side of the steps. Starting at the top left of the stair I carefully measure and cut the timbers to fit around the top edge boards to give it a 'continuous' look. 

Then like any other piece it gets glued, clamped, screwed and plugged. Each piece of timber is a unique cut to suit that step, so there's no mass production here!

Commencing the jigsaw puzzle

Below is a closer look to how I cut, clamp and space each piece of timber to fit. Using the left over Deck-Max biscuits from building the side deck gives me a perfect 3mm gap. I then use the clamps to hold in place while I glued and screw. Once it's set I just prize out the biscuits with a pair of multi-grips, ready to use again on the next piece.

Next step

So here you can see I have finished the timber puzzle on the left side of the stairs all the way to the bottom. 

Left hand side done

It's a bit of effort to go through to cut and round off each piece of unique timber, but I think it looks so much nicer than bare treated pine. Below is the right hand side plugged and polished.

The right hand side puzzle completed

Below shows the deck step lights on and working. They really give it a nice professional finish, and they're also very practical on a dark night!

Light it up!

So here is the deck showing both sets of stairs completed (well almost completed, there's still the matter of plugging a couple of hundred holes).

Stairs completed

So that's it, job done, steps completed. I can tell you I've walked up and down them many times now, and they work as designed. There's not an ounce of bounce! Rock solid baby.

Worth the effort

So now the deck construction is completed! Time for a well earned beer. 

Next post we'll look at landscaping around the deck to incorporate it into the rest of the yard, as well as cleaning and applying a finish.

Decking to the other side and beyond!

Since I starting to lay the boards on the deck I've now completed the landing, completed the steps on the landing, and laid the boards around the curve. Now it's time to bring it all together and take the boards all the way across to the other side and beyond.

First up is to complete the decking all the way around the right hand side (when looking at the original plan) to meet up with the side gate. There was a complication with the side fence however. Whatever the fencing contractor had used to "concrete" in one of the posts wasn't like any concrete I had ever seen. It had set like black glass, leaching into the wood and destroying the bottom of the post. The timber literally turned into dust.

To fix it I had to disassemble the fence, dig out the old post and that "black stuff", and then replace it with a nice new post fixed in with conventional old concrete mix, and then rebuild the fence.

Once that was fixed I finished the deck up to the gate as you can see below.

Finished the decking to the gate

Now that the right hand side was finished I just trimmed off the end of the deck with a straight edge and circular saw, giving a lovely finished look. There was very little excess to cut off as the Deck Master system lets you pick and choose which timbers you use which minimises waste.

Below is the finished right side of the deck.

Right side of the deck completed and trimmed

With the right edge finished I continued to lay the boards all the way across until I came to the last board for the top of the deck!

Of course the edge of the last board didn't line up perfectly with the end of the joists! I challenge anyone can be that accurate in their planning. All I did was leave some excess joist hanging out which I then cut flush with the edge of the last board using a reciprocating saw. I then cut some front facing joists that connected in on a 90 degree angle to the top joists which will be used later to fix front facing boards to.

To start the last board I began on the left side of the deck near the steps which introduced their own set of complications! 

As you can see below I had to put a slight kink in the board to get around the top step because it juts out about an inch from the deck. Nothing some judiciously and carefully cut mitre joins can't fix!

Fitting around the top of the stairs

Below is the crowning glory of fitting the very last board to the top of the deck. Now if you remember, the Deck Master timber comes pre grooved, and because I didn't want the grooved edge showing I had to use a standard 90x20 mm decking board. Using a standard board requires slots to be cut along one side of the board using a biscuit cutter, to match up with the Deck Master claws on the inside board, essentially replicating how the grooved timber works. 

To fix the outside of the board I used the Deck-Max screws and plugs as I did with the landing steps.

Two connection methods! Claws on the inside and plugs outside

Below shows the last board fixed down! You can also see all the vertical joists that I now have to fix the facing boards onto. This will close up the underneath of the deck.

The last board done!

Below shows all the facing boards fitted, the fixing down the last board! You can see I've left a spot for a small access hatch which I'll knock up later, and this is also where I am putting an all-weather electrical outlet so I won't need to run cords across the deck if I need electricity on the far side.

Fitting the last facing board

The photo below shows the same but from the other end before I "release the clamps!". It's a big milestone to fit the very last board!

So close now

So here it is below with all the top and facing boards completed. You can see the trail I have worn into the ground walking backward and forward along the front of the deck! Nothing a bit of landscaping mulch can't hide I'm sure.

Front facing boards completed

So the deck top,side and landing steps are done and it really has come up a treat. Exactly as I hoped all those months ago when this kicked off. I guess I'll have to do something about the neighbour's trampoline now!?

Top deck completed

All that is left to do now is to lay the boards onto the steps which lead down to the grassed area, and then the job is pretty much finished. More on that next post. Enjoy.

The Decking Continues on a Curve

Last month we started in on laying the decking by completing the landing and putting in the first three lengths across the deck proper. For the first time since we built the house we could now walk out the back door and across the yard without walking on the ground, or worse, hopping over floor joists!

The next challenge is to deal with a curve. The artist in me had enough of straight lines so I had decided from the outset to join the deck into the paving using a curve. 

Below is the curve in question.

The Curve in Question

So when Stefan laid the paving for me I deliberately asked him to leave the paving unfinished at the bottom, as from the very start I knew it was going to be a tricky prospect getting the decking to line up with the paving. 

First up though I joined the ends of the joists together using noggins cut to size and then screwed into the end of the joists. This was to provide a stable edge for the decking.

The photo below shows where the paving stops.

Meeting up with the paving

I'd designed the whole frame and footings with this curve in mind so hopefully this should be a straightforward process. First step per below is to lay the timber!

Once the timber is down it starts to make sense

Once the timber was down I had to figure out how to get the curve, which ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be!

I used what's called an electricians cable strap, made from "yellow tongue" which is basically just a long yellow thick plastic strap. An electrician will use it to feed cable up a wall by sending the strap up the wall, then tying the cable to the end and pulling it back down through the wall, pulling the cable along with it.

Anyway, all I did was lay this plastic strap edgewise along the timber and clipped it to each end of the curve, adjusting it until I got a nice even curve. All that was then required was to run a pencil along and voilà, the curve was marked down! I then got a jigsaw blade and cut it down (so it wouldn't hit the concrete under the boards) and then ran it along the line.

As you can see below there's now a lovely curve.

One curve completed!

Now that the curve is done I need to get Stefan back in to finish up the paving!

Time to add in the missing paving

Below shows the completed curve with the paving done. As it turned out, Stefan actually had to rip up the old paving and re-lay it to match up with the end of the deck. So in the end all that advanced planning ended up for nought.

Looking ahead below, you can see the end result and it was worth the mucking around!

Paving completed!

So whilst all this curving was going on, I continued laying the decking.

Meanwhile the decking continues to progress

As you can see below I started to move back around the corner to complete the top right section of the decking towards the back gate.

This stuff is so easy to lay

The decking continued to go down fast and easy and my $400 compressor was holding up well to the task. Below shows the approach up to the back gate. The excess which you can see in the right is so minimal with the Deck Master system, because I can pick and choose the timber I want to use and I can make the but join anywhere on the deck without the need for putting it over a joist.

Stretching around the corner 

As shown below I'm almost all the way across, and I pretty much laid this in a day.

Almost all the way across now

Next post we'll finish off the top decking and start in on the sides and the steps.

Deck Building. Choosing the Decking Material

Wow that last post was really popular, you guys must really like stairs! Well now that all the framing is completed it's time to select and lay the timber on the frame. If you hadn't picked this up in earlier posts, this is deck number four for me, and it will also be the fourth different type of deck fastener I'll be trying. Here's a bit of history.

1. The eighties. Flock of Seagulls was still popular, and I started deck number one. The timber used was 70 x 19 treated pine fastened with galvanised nails and a hammer. The old fashioned way! Great workout for the biceps. Digital cameras didn't exist yet sorry.
2. The nineties. Tal Bachman was singing She's So High, and deck number two below was built using 70 x 19 Merbau fastened with a Paslode nail gun. Forgive me I knew not how. The result was pleasing though as you can see below.

Deck Number 2

3. The late noughties. Lady Gaga was breaking out and most recently on this house I built deck number 3, the side deck using 90 x 19 Merbau fastened with Deck-Max Original biscuits which you've already read about. 

For the next deck I wanted to keep the "nail free" look of deck number 3 but didn't want the hassle and time it takes to use a biscuit cutter solution like Deck-Max Original. I investigated a few options available in Australia.

• Archideck. Very similar to Deck-Max Original. Too time consuming for such a large deck
• Camo Fasteners. Relies on a template tool to pilot the drilling of the screws into the edge of the decking timber. Again it seemed too time consuming for a large deck
• Deck-Max. Although the last deck seemed to take FOREVER to complete using Deck-Max Original biscuits, they so have another product called the Deck-Max Pro biscuit. This relies on purchasing their pre-engineered profiled decking timber with a groove cut into the sides of each board to accept the Pro biscuit. This removes the time-consuming process of cutting the biscuit slots into the timber
• Deck Master. This is an interesting product. It uses a combined approach with pre-engineered timber like Deck-Max, fixed using a different type of Tiger Claw fastener (called a TC-G, for grooved boards, as opposed to the one I mentioned above which is the TC-1), along with Deck Bone "end matched" but joiners, a "scrail" gun to fix down the fittings, and rubber mats to run along the top of the joists under the decking.

So for me it came down to two choices; Deck-Max Pro or Deck Master, as most of the others were going to be too time consuming for a deck this big. Not saying that they don't have their place, but for a substantial deck like this one they're just not suitable. 

After researching into it and talking with both companies, as well as some personal recommendations, I selected the Deck Master system. This was for a couple of reasons:

• Cost - Deck-Max Pro was going to cost nearly $1000 more in materials than Deck Master
• End Matching - End Matching allows you to join boards without needing to meet over the top of a joist which saves a heap by reducing scrap offcuts. However to get the end matching for Deck-Max Pro I needed to purchase their 110mm boards, and I had my mind set on 90mm to match the side deck
• Speed - Speaking with the suppliers, and just looking at the videos, I could tell that Deck Master was going to be quicker than Deck-Max Pro to install. However I was going to need to buy a compressor, but you can never have too many tools!
• Joist Protection - Deck Master includes rubber joist flashing to protect the joists, which fits in nicely with the Protectadeck that I have put across the bearers
• Finish - All the timber arrives pre-coated with Feast Watson decking oil

The key to Deck Master system is the Tiger Claw fastener and the Scrail Gun shown below. The combination of these two things make it incredibly quick to lay decking.

DeckMaster Scrail Gun (image courtesy DeckMaster)

A Tiger Claw fastener, grrrr  (image courtesy DeckMaster)

So having made my mind up I put the order in with my local supplier Greenhill Timbers, and a week later everything turned up on site having been trucked down to Victoria from Queensland. The kit supplies everything you need to complete the project with all the joiners, fasteners, flashing, screws, connectors, drill bits, timber etc. The supplied scrail gun even comes with safety glasses!

Delivery Day! All the way from Queensland via Thomastown

DeckMaster Profiled Timber (image courtesy DeckMaster)

Now let's talk timber, as the timber they supplied was absolutely beautiful! I have never seen more straighter lengths of in my life, all finished and coated with F&W ready to be laid. The lengths supplied were spot on too, with a good selection of longs, mediums and not too many shorts. This was seriously good stuff. The timber is listed as 90x19 however owing to the profiling process to cut the grooves it's a little slimmer by a few mm on each side, but not that you'd notice.

The Scrail gun is the key to this system. Once the rubber flashing is laid (I just laid it down with galvanised staples) you lay the decking board down, then load the TC-G joiner into the front of the gun (after filling it with a row of scrails of course), put your foot onto the timber, push the edge of the joiner into the groove of the receiving board while laying the gun flat on top of the joist, and then pull the trigger. 

BANG! Job done. Then you work your way down the length of the board. Fit joiner, position, BANG! Fit joiner, position, BANG! Fit joiner, position, BANG! etc. etc. Less than a minute later you'll have a 6m length fitted. This system is unbelievably super quick.

Positioning and firing the gun (image courtesy DeckMaster)

Before laying any timber I had to first haul it from the driveway around the back. Per below I stacked it on the far side of the frame away from the work face.

A good selection of lengths provided

There was so much timber (70 sqm) I had to split it up and sort. Shorts and mediums I stacked on the frame, and the really long ones around the side of the house as you can see through the gate below.

Not enough room on the coal face, so the longer sticks are around the side of the house

Now I had the tools, the timber, and the know-how, it was time to get to work and start laying some decking. To start with I wanted to "picture frame" the landing, so to achieve this, I HAD TO GO AND BUY SOME TIMBER, LOL!

The timber supplied by Deck Master is profiled with a groove on all sides, so if you have a stair nose to show and you don't want a groove you need to have some standard decking timber. I fixed the frame border down using a combination of Deck-Max Wood Plugs and the TCG Fasteners. For the fastener side I used my biscuit cutter to cut the slots in the board that the Fasteners would hook into. 

Because this is the top step, when I cut and fixed the boards I had to remember to leave a 20mm overhang on the nose of the step, so I could slip the boards underneath on the riser face later. Below shows the border frame fitted.

Framing up the landing

I mitred the corners pretty closely, but it's all under cover so I really wasn't concerned about weathering or lifting of the joins. Below shows the landing at the halfway point.

Half a landing. At least we can walk out the door now!

Earlier I wrote about that Deck Master comes with a rubber underlay to goes along the top of joists, however when I built the frame for the landing I wasn't thinking there was going to be anything but a deck board. The rubber underlay adds another 3mm to the height and I just hadn't allowed for that when I made the frame and that extra 3mm was going to mean that the door wouldn't open! To get around this I had to lay the decking on the landing without the rubber underlay. However there's a trick to this. 

The joiner heights are set based on the rubber underlay being there, so if you don't put it down, the boards don't lay flat and "undulate" with the back side being higher than the front side. I learnt this from experience! I spoke to Deck Master (via Facebook) and they were really helpful. To fix this you need to knock down the front side of the connector 3mm with a hammer, so that the board lays flat when inserted onto the connector. Below shows the completed landing.

Landing has been decked, we can walk out the door!

So lesson learnt, I made pretty quick work of laying the decking on the landing. To finish off the final board I had to rip one to fit, and then fixed it in with screws and the Deck-Max wood plugs. Easy done.

Decking is spreading across the frame

Once the landing was finished (and yes, we could walk out the door now!) I started in on the deck itself. As with any deck, the first board is the most important, and has to be the bestest, straightest, longest one you have, and it has to be laid as straight as possible. All the boards that follow are going to be based on that one board alone. Lucky for me I had a nice straight house to lay it up against!

In the Deck Master system the first board is attached using what are called Top Fix Starter Clips. There's a box of them provided, and they are C shaped clips that are screwed into the top of the joist, and the timber slot fits into the top of the C clip and holds it in place as shown in the Deck Master photo to the right. One box should be enough to do any deck as you only really use them on the first board

Below you can see the first 4 boards laid (OK well 3 and a half anyway) and for the first time ever we can walk across the back yard without joist hopping! What an achievement, one small step for me, and a giant leap for the entire family!

The first narrow path across

Now those four boards, once I had fixed the starter clips in place, took me less than 10 minutes on my own to lay down. It's amazingly quick to use. 

When it comes to butt joins, I have never seen tighter joins. The DeckBone clips come in pairs and all you do is fix one clip on the inside, put in the next butt joined piece of timber, give it a bit of a love tap on the end with a rubber mallet, then fit the outside clip. Job done. No need for offcuts, no need to line up over a joist. 

As you can see below the joints created are super-tight and virtually seamless.

Nice tight joins

So now where on our way and the decking is going down fast! 
Next post we'll look at how it progresses with some of the trickier bits and pieces.