Questions on Ipe Deck Project (deck desgn included)

16 years ago

Hi all. I received great help from this forum when building a screened porch a couple of years ago.

Now I am preparing to build an Ipe deck that will connect to the screened porch. Here is an idea of what it will look like.

Note that the screened porch is already there. We will be building the bridge from the screened porch to the deck and the deck itself.

The screened porch floor is 1x6 T&G Ipe. Great stuff. Thanks George at East Teak -- I will be calling again! For the decking I am thinking of using 6 x 5/4 (though the alternating 6" and 4" deck was interesting). I would then have the joists 24" OC. Is this OK? Will I regret not going 16"? My primary reason for 24" OC is $ and additional ventilation. As you can see the deck will be at ground level for part of the deck going all the way to about 4.5' off the sloping ground on the other side.

I plan on using vents on the skirting and on the deck near the house. Will space the deck boards at 1/8" (for additional ventilation?). Any other ideas on ventilation? Speaking of skirting, John (if you are reading this) I like the way you have the Ipe running vertical on the decks shown on your website. Do you think this would look OK even on the 4.5' tall side? How is the skirting secured at the bottom? Also like the benches you built -- any advice on building those? I'm planning on a built-in bench on the right side of the deck near the house.

How about material to cover the ground below the deck? Iam removing a couple of retaining walls. I assume I should grade the dirt aloping away from the house and put down lanscape fabric or plastic and pea gravel?

BTW, the 8'x8' area off the deck will actually have a covered roof like a similar design in Family Handyman a month or so ago. We are building this for our disabled daughter so she can enjoy the outdoors and have a lot of sensory toys in it to play with.

Any additional advice/input would be appreciated? Thanks.

Jim

Comments (5)

kkal474
16 years ago
Unfortunately I can't give any advice to your questions but I just wanted to state that I love your deck design. How nice that your daughter will be able to enjoy the outdoors even with her medical limitations. I grew up with a disabled younger sister and know how important things it was for her to be able to enjoy some of the same things that the rest of us were.

I did also have a question and that was to ask what program you used to design your deck? We have a few programs but none seem quite so nice as the one that created yours.
jrjorgensen
Original Author
16 years ago
kkal -- thanks for the kind words on the use of the area for my daughter. She doesn't get to do a lot of the things the other kids get to do, so we though it would be nice for her to have somehting like this. It will be especially nice because she doesn't make it out into our backyard (which is big) much now since the only access from the house is through the basement. Here access will be from the kitchen (she is able to crawl up and down steps -- so, she should enjoy being able to get to her play area by herself).

As for the design software, my sister-in-law did the work so I'll ask her. She is an architect, so I imagine it is some type of nice CAD program.
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Hey John, thanks for the quick response. I'm not entirely confident with the "clerk" at the permit store since they said I could go ahead and bolt into the engineered floor joists if in fact that is generally not allowed. In addition... whenever I ask him a question (which has been two seperate occasions) he never has an absolute answer but says: you could do "a"... and when I ask if I can do "b" and give my reasoning he says that would work just fine too.... so he's not all that helpful and I actually trust the experience of people like you more. Regarding the nails/screws... I should have stated my question more clearly (I'm often accused of rambling so tried to keep it short and sweet). I'm aware of the reduction in shear strength with screws, and really was asking the question because I was previously told (actually by you "Unless the plans call for the rail posts to be fastened to the rim joist,or the Wallet wants a little more deck space, We always place them inside with blocking,adhesive,and ss screws. There is never a need to run bolts thru the posts that cause many problems all to themself") to glue and screw the railing posts into the frame blocking (I had been planning to also add thru bolts or use some of the Simpson brackets if required) so I wasn't sure if there was a new practice with framing fasteners. I'm just trying to do it right and get all the details finalized before breaking ground. Most of my help on this project are people with lots of DIY experience but not with the newer ACQ PT lumber. I've read several construction articles recommending stainless (brackets, nails, screws... everything) for construction in contact with ACQ PT lumber, however then they say you can optionally use fasteners with a specific ACQ coating. I'm just trying to avoid the fasteners failing long before the Ipe. Of coarse if this is truly not an issue then I don't want to flush the extra money for SS down the drain :) I appreciate your recommendation on hiring a contractor but I'm a DIY'er for nearly everything... this just happens to be my first construction project and so I'm bound to ask some rookie questions. Thank God I'm asking them before I break ground so that everything is done right. Thanks again for all the info. Chris
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Jim, I just cant see you diging up really old posts, going on and on about it, with out some type of goal. Exactley what are you trying to prove??? Go to my site, All the ipe projects have 116 on them. As you can see they are not Red or Redwood or anything close to that. Saying it is makes me Mad clear and simple. Now if you put 116 on say preasure treated,garapa or any light color wood then Yes its going to come out a different color than 116 on ipe. This is basic 101 wood finish. Any of the resin base twp products can be mixed together to come up with a different color. I have used combos like that when puting finish on Garapa and other woods. I put cedar tone natural on ipe one time because the Wallet asked for it the result was bad but I did what they wanted however for ipe its most always the 116. Ipe itself is not one color it ranges from almost black to a light tan 116 levals out the differances but the result is not Red. Any color chip you get from Any finish store is going to be different on another kind of wood other than the wood used on the chip you cant expect them to have samples of finish on every kind of product. Just get off it Man. Its up to the Customer to know if one finish is the right one for them. There is no way twp is showing product online / samples / or color chips that dont match up with what they sell. You might not agree with what they call it if so just pick another name for your self and call it that but it Defentley is what they say it is and what they say they sell is what they sell. The JonMon has been a little tense latley after a long term project was real hard on me. This is a mixed site if I could I would edit my last response but O Well. J.
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john_hyatt
16 years ago
Intersting project Jim. 24''OC using 5/4 ipe will be fine depending on the span. One big red flag is removing retaining walls be very sure the reason they were there is replaced during new construstion.

1/8'' gap with 5/4 ipe is good, what you are looking for is Cross Ventalation floor vents next to the house combined with screen vents in the skirting should provide this,simply enlarging the space between decking boards will not.

We most always run the skirting virtical or up and down it takes more time but I thing the look is a lot better, doing this requires a frame work down below but then any type of skirting needs this.
Most of the time I build the benches in the Shop they can be fastened to the deck or left free standing. J
jrjorgensen
Original Author
16 years ago
John -- Thanks for the response.

I've seen pictures of the house 30 or so years ago when the retaining walls were not there (the ground sloped down to the basement-level patio). The flagstone walls appear to have been put in for landscaping reasons - there was a planting area along the patio. I can post a picture if that would help. Is the concern that the walls were supporting the house structure in some way?

I think I'll go 16" OC just to be safe since ventilation is not helped. How far apart do you space the floor/skirting vents?

Do you leqave a gap between the skirting and the ground?

Thanks.

Jim
john_hyatt
16 years ago
Retaining walls retain things like dirt/rain.Normaly they have nothing to do with the House structure. It very well could have been the walls were put in because the basement would flood out during a heavy rain bringing all the dirt with it. Your right that is part of landscaping.

If you decide to take em out anyway the piers for your deck support should go below the leval of the missing walls.
Geting cross ventalation depends on the final deck plan.

Its a deal with skirting I have taken to runing the skirting right into the ground because if I dont the Wallet yells at me because it dosent look finished. This happened so many times now I just do it as drill. Its not a good idea>> the skirting soaks up water,the weed eater hits it,dirt builds up around it things like that

Questions on Ipe Deck Project (deck desgn included)

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Questions on Ipe Deck Project (deck desgn included)

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