Advice on Under Deck Ceiling Material
J
5 years ago
I have a 2 story deck, as shown in the picture. The ceiling of the upper deck is finished, as it’s under the roof. However, the underside/ceiling of the lower porch is not. I want to finish this to hide the deck beams, but it also has to have space to allow water to drain from the deck above.
Do any of you have recommendations as far as materials that would work well for this? As a bonus, would love something in a non-wood/no maintenance material as the color will be white.
Do any of you have recommendations as far as materials that would work well for this? As a bonus, would love something in a non-wood/no maintenance material as the color will be white.
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Comments (6)
PROPatricia Colwell Consulting
5 years agoJ
5 years agoThanks, Patricia. Here’s another picture in case the first one didn’t come through. At this point, replacing the deck above isn’t an option. Water draining through to the lower porch hasn’t been an issue to date...I just want to make it visually more appealing.
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Moved in now, but our new deck is racking a lot! Advice, please?
Comments (29)This makes me nervous for you! Waiting to see? Sorry. We have a deck under construction right now (2 years after our home was built). A landscaper that we've used on many projects at multiple houses is handling this. He has a masters in engineering, yet he hired another engineer to come out and check the footings and the design plan. The carpenter has worked for our landscaper for 10 years. The building inspector came out for the footings and design plan, too. Ours is complex as it goes around an oval pool, but ours doesn't budge at all, even with all the complex cantilevering that had to be done. It's probably over-engineered, but we're happy with that. If you want me to snap some photos of the supports, I can do that after the crew leaves today. Good luck with this --make sure it's safe. You can replace a deck, but you can't replace people. Cameron...See MoreUnder deck draining for shed/storage area? Trex Brasilia?
Comments (11)I'm about to do the exact same thing with my deck-rebuilding project. Went to Lowe's to see what's new in corrugated materials. In addition to the old El Cheapo 5-ounce fiberglass everyone's seen on hothouses, etc., Lowe's now offers a corrugated PVC material called "Deck Drain" by the manufacturer. It's around $20 for a 26" by 12-foot piece. And if that's not fancy enough, they also have it in polycarbonate (like what your DVDs are made out of). One advantage of this approach is that you can build the deck dead level and just shim/furr out the plastic underneath to get the required drainage slope. You'll probably have to use furring strips anyway as the rib spacing on the plastic might not correspond to the joist spacing you're attaching it to. The furring helps with the overall ventilation too. You'll have to fake it between the deck edge and the ledger beam that supports the joists at that end. You can either just custom-fit the plastic between each pair of joists, or use a flexible membrane between the joists to back-drain over to the main drainage plastic. (I've seen complete systems done this way. They have a funky visual appearance.)...See MoreUnder Deck System to catch water
Comments (18)I ran into this issue many years ago, there was no solution so I invented one and got a patent on it (see: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5195281.html). There are no pictures provided, but basically what I did was to insert longintudinally V-folded aluminum flashing to hang on and fit in between the joists. I then put 2x4 "runner boards" atop the joists with minimal screw penetrations (and a rubber washers to prevent leaking). I then attached the decking boards atop the these runner boards (no plywood!). You have to cantelever the deck a bit over the deck support beams so as to allow the open ends of troughs to dump water out. It's relatively easy at that point to catch the water in a spout under the deck cantelever. Further, like I also did, you can fabricate the troughs so that they're pitched to create a high closed end and lower open end. If your using say 2x8 joists you can implement a 7-inch drop. It works, been working at my house for almost 20-years now with no failures. Here is a link that might be useful: Deck Trough Patent (expired)...See MoreInsulated tarp/jacket for under deck boards
Comments (3)Cover the bottom of the joists with plywood (or whatever material goes with the house) to make a ceiling. Do you ever get rain inside the porch?...See More
jlj48
5 years agoJ
5 years ago
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