Deck Building Advice

call 811?

 

If you cant dig then build the deck free floating...not attached to the house to better deal with settling. If you want to attach it to the house elongate the holes and leave then slightly loose so the ledger board can float as needed.

For piers use a solid concrete block or 2, maybe remove a few inches of top soil, and then use shims under the 4x4 or 4x6 cross members. This allows you to shim the deck back level if it drops. Also you can add in a few tie downs so it doesnt get blown away. Basically you are leveling and securing it like a mobile home on blocks, although not as high.

 

Where do you live? If it's anywhere that gets cold good luck. We had a ~12'x6' entryway porch/deck thing we made at our cottage and had those concrete piers buried 6" or so into the ground. The first year the deck heaved so much we couldn't even open the screen door to get inside, and I'm pretty sure we had it 6 or 8 inches under door level to begin with.

 

Not sure where you're located but in my location jurisdiction, code is "a minimum frost depth of 30 inches."

 

12 x 12 concrete slab is not going to cost thousands of dollars...
12 x 12 area of concrete will be a little under 1.75 yards of concrete...

Let’s just suppose concrete is running $125.00 yard where you live...so figure right around $220 for concrete unless the concrete company hits you with a short load charge, in which case, it will cost a bit more....

If you can get the concrete truck close to the area you’ll be pouring, you can pour off the chute. If not, you’ll need to pump the concrete...so you’ll need to call a pump service to pump the mud in for you.

Two concrete guys can finish a 12 x 12 areas in a heartbeat...one helper and one finisher...
I pay finishers daily flat rate for their work...whether they finish 1.75 yards or 20 yards....doesn’t matter...
So for 2 finishers I’m paying around $400-$500 for the day..
Form materials...2x4...sand...etc.
Let’s say budget $200...and that’s on the high side.

So all in, you’re still under $1,000 to have a concrete deck poured...
if you need to use a concrete pumping service it will be more than $1,000, but not much more...

You’ll pay more for a wood deck made out of treated lumber and nice decking material...plus, you have ongoing annual maintenance costs if you want to keep the deck area in good shape...

Just a thought to consider...

 

FYI, I built a large shop on the concrete blocks mentioned in post #2. It's still standing to this day.....maybe 8 years later?

 

I’m in Ohio though and have to worry about the freeze and thaw cycle.

 

Then you're digging.
The I.R.C does allow for unattached wood framed structures less than 600 sq.ft. to NOT meet frost-protection requirements (by using pads 12" below grade) but you'll still run the risk of the deck moving with each freeze/thaw cycle.
If it were me, I'd delicately dig 2 test holes 10' off the house and 8' apart. Easy to span this with a beam and the house side of the deck can secure with a ledger bolted to the home. Add handy-dandy Simpson DTT1Z's (four of them) to lock the deck joists into the house structure and you'll be legit. I'll throw a sketch together if you think 2 holes will be able to happen.

 

You forgot the cost/effort required to dig/prepare that “lil” 12x12 pad slab to be poured.
I’m curious if the OP is doing this on his own?

 

Yes I am. If I could get a concrete pad poured for under a grand I’d jump all over that deal but it just isn’t realistic in my area.

 

Don’t know where you are in Ohio do I just googled cost of concrete in Dayton....

Cheaper there than it is here for sure...$97 - $105 yard

Check Craigslist for concrete finishers...

Bet you can easily get it done for under a grand if you do the research...

 

Seems like it might be less trouble to just move...

 

Or lure some squirrels into the house, burn it down and blame it on the squirrels.

 

How much of that under a grand would you be planning to do yourself?

 

These work fine. Built many decks in the North with them. Frost will move posts or piles that are dug in but not far enough below frost line.

 

This young lady did it—-

 

Seeing as how I’ve never done concrete work there wouldn’t be much I could do. Right now I’ve got about $635 in materials for my wooden deck. I know I can’t get a concrete pad poured for that little money.

 

If you're not attaching to the house and the place you're building isn't a swamp that will heave a lot during freeze/thaw then deck blocks are fine. My family put up several sheds of varying sizes in NEPA and never had an issue. A floor jack and some sand will re-level it pretty easy if you need to.