How to Build a Deck With Your Own Two Hands

Best Of Hometalk
by Best Of Hometalk

In the warmer months, or if you’re lucky enough to live in year round warm weather, nothing beats spending time in the backyard with family and friends. What better way to do so than on a deck? Especially one that you built yourself and can be proud of for years to come! Thinking about how to build a deck? This article will be your guide into how you can achieve the deck of your dreams!

How to Build a Deck (Shutterstock)

The most important phase of deck building for a DIY’er is research, planning, and assessing your skill level. While not every project will go as smoothly as one hopes regardless of how much pre-planning goes into it, doing as much research, measuring, prepping, learning, and forethought will most certainly save time, money, and several headaches.

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The Planning Phase

One of the first things you should be sure to do is check with your town, village, or city building department as well as your homeowner’s association if you live in a neighborhood with one. Every area will have important codes and building requirements to follow for safety or aesthetic purposes. They may have restrictions on what you can or cannot build, maybe even where you can build it. Some localities may require permits to build a deck which will come with fees that need to be paid. These steps are important to follow through on as building a deck without permits or approvals could affect your ability to sell your home at a future point. If you’re living in a rental, be sure to check with your landlord and make sure your plans are allowed. Who knows, maybe the landlord will even chip in!


Once these steps are taken care of, you can begin planning the deck of your dreams.


First, identify where in your yard you would like to build your deck. This could be partially dictated by the building department or homeowner’s association which you will need to work within to stay compliant. As frustrating as those restrictions may be, skirting them will only bring trouble.

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Where you place your deck could have implications on certain steps you need to take. If the deck is physically attached to your home, you may need specific materials to attach it properly and possibly protect the house from any potential water accumulation. You may also need specific tools and hardware in order to connect the two depending on the exterior construction of your home. While some of these materials and supplies may go unseen on the finished deck, these are expenses that need to be factored into the next step.


Do note that skipping steps to save on costs, such as not purchasing the hardware to attach the deck to the house, will have disastrous implications for your deck down the line. It’s far better to do it right the first time which will ultimately save money.


Decide your budget

Next it’s time to set your budget: Deck building costs can range from free or near free to thousands of dollars. This is a crucial step as it will dictate the size, the shape, the types of materials and deck finishings like stain, sealers or paint, types of railings as well as many other details about your deck. Without a budget, you will be directionless and could very easily spend more money than you had intended. 


Be realistic in setting your budget. Take a trip to your local home improvement store or lumber yard as it will give you a good idea on how much various materials cost, such as pressure treated deck boards versus composite decks such as Trex, cedar or other hardwoods. Keep in mind too that you can use lesser expensive materials and with a little imagination and research, give your deck a high end appearance with creative solutions. You do have to use wood that’s rated for outdoor use otherwise all your hard work will disintegrate rapidly.


Time to pick your design

Once you have your budget in place and a general idea of material costs, it’s time to design your deck.


This step can handily be overwhelming for anyone. There are countless ways to design and build a deck, the options are seemingly endless. An excellent way to get some ideas on deck design is to search Hometalk. By just typing in the word “deck” into the search, you’ll find an abundance of designs and ideas, details, tips, hacks, and more.


Decide on a size for your deck

Decide on the size deck that will be most appropriate for your needs: Begin by measuring the area you are building the deck which includes everything that is nearby or anything it will eventually attach to. This includes the house or other structures that already exist as well as any landscaping or trees. On a piece of paper or graph paper, draw out what’s around in plan view and write the measurements and distances on there.


At this point you will need to ask yourself a myriad of questions. What size is your family? How do you plan to use the deck? Is it for entertaining guests, family and friends? Do you plan to place a grill on it and eat outdoors? How much and what types of furniture pieces do you expect to have on the deck? Does the deck need a covering from the sun or for weather protection? Is the deck serving more than one purpose such as a transition from one area to another? Does it need to be raised off the ground and by how much? How long do you plan to stay in your home and how long do you hope to have your deck last? Answering questions like these and many more will help you whittle down what feels like an impossible place to start to one that gives you a solid direction.


Keep in mind too, all of these factors will affect your budget in some regard, whether increasing or decreasing your costs.


Once you have a direction, you’ll find you have a myriad more questions to ask yourself about the details of the design. What shape are you looking to build? Are any parts curved? Are you seeking to have multiple levels? Can I do a floating deck or will I need to anchor the deck to the ground or the house?


The amount of questions will seem overwhelming but answering them ahead of time will streamline the entire process. Take time for each question and write down the questions or make lists to stay organized.


Sketch your vision

Drawing up your plan is a solid way to avoid confusion while building and you don’t need fancy tools for this. Find some graph paper, a pencil, an eraser, and a ruler and you’re good to go! Assign each square a dimension such as one square of the graph paper equals one or two feet. You can then use this to figure out how much lumber and materials you’ll need. If you can’t find graph paper, assign one inch (or one half inch) of the ruler to equal one foot and use your ruler to draw things up.


Keep in mind, deck materials come in standard sizes and dimensions. If you need help figuring out how to best use these standards in your design as cost efficiently as possible, that quick trip to the lumber yard or home improvement store mentioned above will guide you. You’ll be able to note how wide and how long pieces are which will inform your design.


Note that if you opt to have curves or non-standard shapes or sizes, your costs could increase. At the same time though, your deck will be more interesting and could increase your property’s value. Be sure to weigh these pro’s and con’s.


Once you’ve got your design drawn up, all the appropriate approvals squared away, it’s time to purchase the materials and start building.


If you find your vehicle is lacking in ability to pick these things up, most home improvement stores offer rental trucks or offer delivery for an additional fee. Too, if you’re lacking the tools, they also offer tool rental which makes life easier and keeps your budget intact.


Depending on where you live, you may need to anchor your deck to the ground which will involve digging holes and mixing up concrete to secure the posts. There are several factors here to keep in mind; your local building department can let you know how deep the holes need to be depending on the freeze level of the ground. In the northern part of the country for instance, it could be four feet or more. 


There’s a great concrete product that will make setting the posts easier, one that is dumped directly into the hole, add the water, do some light mixing, and it sets in the hole. It’s a time and mess saver! Be sure to use a level to get those posts straight and plumb before the concrete sets.


From here it’s simply a matter of cutting your materials to size and building the frame. If you’re attaching the deck to your home or another structure, be sure to get joist hangers and anchor them properly. If you’re unsure what kinds of hardware you’ll need, your friendly home improvement store folks can lend a hand though researching ahead of time will help you get your shopping list in order.

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How to Build Deck Stairs

You may find that you need to build stairs for your deck to have access to your yard or other areas. The dimensions for this will depend on your deck height though there are some standards to follow for step height and depth to avoid making the stairs a tripping hazard. Your local building department can steer you on best practices or a quick online search will provide you with information

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Stairs can be cut and built by hand, cutting 2x12 pieces of lumber into the side pieces which are called stringers. Pieces of wood can then be laid on them and attached with screws to form the steps or treads. Lumber yards and home improvement stores also carry pre-cut stringers in various sizes which helps eliminate extra cutting and extra math.


Once you have the framing complete, it’s time to add the deck boards. Using screws to keep them in place is the best option as nails could eventually pop up or loosen. It’s imperative to leave a ⅛” gap between the boards so that water can drain through and if you’re using wood, so that it can expand and contract with the weather.


How to Build a Deck Railing

Now you’re coming down the home stretch and can add items like railings and a gate if you’d like. Railings not only serve an aesthetic purpose, they’re also for safety. An ideal height is 36” from the floor of the deck to the top of the rail. You can either purchase pre-built railing components or build your own. If you DIY the railings, the design possibilities are endless though keep in mind, there may be some code requirements such as spindles being 4” apart on center, meaning attaching them 4” away from each other measuring from the center of the spindle.


How to Stain a Deck

Deciding on how to finish your deck with a stain, sealer, or paint is fun as you get to determine what the final appearance will be with color if you’ve gone with wood materials for your deck. If you prefer no color, you can purchase clear sealers instead. For new decks, it’s best to wait about nine months to a year before staining which gives the wood time to appropriately dry out. Also for new wood decks, semi-transparent stains are the best route to go. While you can certainly use paints, be sure to get one made for specifically decks and outdoor use. Paints are a good option for older decks to revitalize them.


To stain a deck, you’ll need to clean and brighten it first, a product that can be purchased at your local home improvement store. To stain the deck, you can use brushes, staining pads, or sprayers. Note that while brushes are more labor intensive to use, you’ll ensure every spot is protected with the stain. Typically you’ll need to only apply one coat of the stain, depending on the instructions of the product.

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Don’t forget to search Hometalk for zillions of ways to dress up and decorate your deck, from planters and furniture to flower boxes, lighting, and grilling stations plus how to maintain it so it’ll last and be enjoyable for years to come.

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Lastly, invite the friends and family over to ogle all your hard work and enjoy time relaxing outdoors on your brand new deck! Have you recently built your own deck? Perhaps you have remodeled your deck? If so, share your experiences on Hometalk today!


Written for the Hometalk community byBecky at Flipping the Flip

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