Instructions / Assembly

With the preliminary planning done and
the business of redwood grade, sizes,
seasoning and textures taken care of, you
can start thinking about the actual
structure of the deck. Decks are walking
surfaces held up off the ground by an
understructure. The deck must be strong
enough to support the weight of people,
planters, benches, snow or anything else
that might be placed on the deck. The
understructure of a deck can have some
or all of the following members:
footings,
posts, beams, joists
.
The
footings sit on or are partially buried
in the ground.
Posts are vertical members
that rest on the footings and support the
beams.
Beams support joists, which are
usually spaced about two feet apart and
support the decking. The
decking is the
surface of the deck.
Each member of the deck is important
in carrying the load and distributing
the weight evenly. Proper spans
— the
distance between two supporting
members
— make for a safe deck and
one that feels solid when you walk on it.
The following pages contain detailed
descriptions of each part of a deck and
techniques for putting them together.
Laying Out the Deck
Mark the area for your deck with stakes
and string. Consider all the points men-
tioned under “Planning” on the first page.
The deck perimeter can be laid out and
squared in any number of ways. For
example, if the deck is to extend from the
corner of a house, it is easy to project a
string line from the non-deck side of the
house. This line and the wall where the
deck will join the house form two sides of
the deck perimeter. Next, measure the
length of the deck from the corner along
the wall of the house. With the third corner
marked, the location of the last corner
can be determined by measuring from
these other established points.
The accuracy of any rectangle can be
proven by diagonal measurements
between the farthest corners. When the
diagonals are equal, the rectangle is true.
In some cases, the house or structure a
deck is attached to will be out of line. It is
usually best to make the deck conform to
the structure.
Another method for determining the accu-
racy of a right angle is to create a right-
angled triangle with sides 6 feet by 8 feet
by 10 feet (or proportionate measure-
ments). Using string, run two lines from a
proposed 90 degree corner. Measure and
mark points 6 feet from the corner in one
direction and 8 feet in the other. A line
connecting these two points and complet-
ing the triangle should be 10 feet in
length. If it isn’t, adjust the perimeter lines
to square the corner.
Once the perimeter is staked out, it is
time to place the footings.
House
Second Measurement
Projecting Lines From the Corner of
a House.
If A = B Corners Are Square (90°)
8'
Checking an Angle Using a Right-Angled
Triangle.
6'
10'
A
B
First Measurement Third Measurement