need a simple footing idea for a deck support

17 years ago

I have a wood deck that was extended over to my AG pool's aluminum deck. Where the wood deck meets the pool deck, underneath, the aluminum supports for that edge of the pool deck are not secure. SO, the aluminum deck will fail if I step on it near that edge. The screws that secure the supports to the aluminum decking above and the support track below are broke. And the support track is broken up to the point where I can't just simply replace the screw. I want to shore up the aluminum decking there with a wood support, similar to the support pilings for the wood deck. But I want to do it as simply and quickly as possible. I was thinking of just getting a solid piece of lumber, either a landscape timber or something like a pressure treated 4x4x12, cut it up into 3 equal lengths (I was thinkning of using three pieces of lumber about 45" in length to be placed beside the three aluminum supports to reinforce it). Without digging a huge hole and filling a post tube with concrete and so on, what would be an adequate way to situate the lumber pieces on the ground? I have a few inches of crushed stone there, so I would clear that out. What would I want to do to use as a base to stand the lumber segments on, and how can I secure them to that base. The top of the lumber segments I would nail into the wood decking where it meets the aluminum decking. THe three lumber segments would support the edge of the aluminum decking and also be nailed to the wood decking. Securing the base of the lumber segments is my issue, though. Any suggestions? Space is obviously tight under there, so a whole lot of digging is going to be a real chore.

Thank you.

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Comments (2)

momlvespwrtools
17 years ago
You should check out the possibility of using a floating deck footer. A floating DEK Block footer may be all you need to use.
http://www.deckplans.com/howto.html. The maximum height you can use these are 60 inches off the ground and for heights between 30 and 60 inches you will need to add cross bracing. The cool thing about these Dek blocks is they are designed to sit right on the ground, you do not bury them or place them on a concrete footer. If the ground has not been disturbed, as in plowed or bulldozed for a year or two, simply plop these things on the ground where you need them. From these you can reinforce the support for you aluminum pool deck how ever way you need to do it.
powiebaby
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you! Actually, the area that I put these two deck blocks on is where my AG pool was installed last August. We moved into the new home in Nov of 2005, and the back lawn area was only slightly leveled by the pool installer with a Bobcat dozer. Crushed stone has been on the ground under the deck area since last Sept. So, what I did was clear away the crushed stone in the couple locations where I wanted to situate the 2 deck blocks. Snipped the aluminum U-shaped track that the pool deck supports stand on, flattened out the sides of the track where I snipped it, placed the deck blocks in the spots and made certain they were level. I think the combination of the soil and crushed stone being in place for 8 months (including the winter and subsequent spring thaw), and the location being covered by the decking above (so not subject to deep snow accumulation and puddling rains) has the ground that the deck blocks sitting on being pretty firm. The gaps around the edges of the deck block base I stuffed more rocks and dirt in there, and then backfilled the deck blocks with more crushed stone to be level with the stone around the rest of the area (4-5" of stone). THe 4x4s are situated in the deck blocks, supporting the aluminum deck above, and the 4x4s are also fastened to the adjacent wood deck joist with 8" lag screws. Will also add a couple pieces of cross bracing between the 4x4s. Feels very sturdy, though.

Thanks for the deck block tip!
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need a simple footing idea for a deck support

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momlvespwrtools

powiebaby
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need a simple footing idea for a deck support

Comments (2)

momlvespwrtools

powiebabyOriginal Author

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powiebaby
Original Author