What is a Deck

A Deck is a long seat built to be used by two or more people. Constructing a deck can be a perfect transition between your home and your backyard. It not only adds beauty to your house, but also functions as an additional seating for your guests. Deck serves as a wonderful place to relax and unwind after a hectic day's work. So building a deck requires proper planning and good design.

Required Materials

One needs to have the required materials and tools for building a deck. It comprises of mainly the cedar wood, deck screws, drill and a circular saw. There are several types of decks you can have at your home. It can be an outdoor patio deck attached to your home or kitchen or to the family room. Either it can be a destination deck or even a connector deck made of several smaller decks connected together. Therefore, it depends on the particular individual about the choice of the deck and the purpose for which it is made.

Building The Deck

Building a deck begins with primarily cutting the frame and the seat. For this we need to cut pieces of wood in actual measurements. Cut 2 pieces of wood of size 1.5 x 3.5 x 42" for sides, 2 pieces of 1.5 x 3.5 x15" for ends, 1 slat of 1.5 x 1.5 x 45", 2 stretchers of 1.5 x 3.5 x 15", 4 braces of 1.5 x 5.5 x 15" and 4 legs of 3.5 x 3.5 x 13". After cutting the wood we need to construct the frames.

Make the end pieces fix between the sidepieces by drilling 3" deck screws through the sides and then fasten the slat with the frame by drilling 3" deck screws through both the sides. Now we need to make the pedestal. For making pedestal face the slat upside down and make marks on outline of stretchers by measuring 5" and 3.5" from the inner side of both end pieces. Drill the stretchers into slat using .5" deck screws and the braces will assist in holding the legs firmly in position.

The next step is to shape the braces. Cut the top corner and the bottom corner by1 .5" on both the sides and do it for all the braces to shape its ends. Now it is the time to assemble the deck. Fix a brace to each side of stretcher with 3" screws and then fix each leg to the braces with 3" screws on the sides holding the bench. Finally, rub the deck with sandpaper and make the surface smooth enough to be seated. Apply on the deck a color of your choice and it is ready for your use.