Tag Archives: Durban

Substructure on Low Level Wooden Pool Deck

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We are busy with a new wooden pool deck build in Hillcrest, Durban and I have taken a video to show how the substructure is built before the deck boards go down.
This is a low-level wooden pool deck that we are building which is only about 200mm off the ground. Because it is 200mm off the ground we can’t simply use 38 x 38 cleats as we have done in the past which are secured to the ground. We still need to use a joist of at least 114mm wide which is supported every 1.6m with a foot or post as there will be a void beneath the joist and the paved substrate. We have aimed to get our deck flush with the floor inside the house which is about 200mm above the paved area around the pool.

We built our substructure in a number of separate frames which are then lifted up into place on the wall side and secured using sleeve anchors. The opposite ends of each frame are then also lifted up to get the top of the joists level and flat and supported using a 76 x 76mm square post which rests on top of the paving. We will also remove some paving on every other post and sink that into the ground to ensure that the deck doesn’t sink over time if the paving sinks. The separate frames are then all attached to each other.

We have left our joists long to extend over the pool and now that the side of the frame is attached to the house we can work out exactly where we want our joists to end so as to get our fascia board on the inside of the pool completely flush with the vertical of the coping of the pool. This way we can slide our fascia down to cover the coping neatly. We can now trim our joists to the correct length and install another 38 x 114 joist running at right angles to the main joists. We could not make use of a beam and joist system here because we don’t have space beneath our joists to install a beam. We would need an extra 228mm to do this. So our frame is assembled in one single plane rather than having joists sitting on top of beams.

We’ll install some truss hangers where the joists meet the side beam which is attached to the wall. All that is holding those joists to this side frame now are two 60mm screws from behind so they need to be supported with a truss hanger to stop them ever dropping if the screws fail. Those screws are screwed into ends grain which is never that strong in terms of fixing.

The trick to this type of deck is to get the fascia frame around the pool to sit completely flush with the coping of the pool so that a fascia board (two deck boards) can be installed in the vertical plane to cover the fascia. Once that is all fixed in place and can’t move then we can deck.

Balau deck boards will be secured on top of our joists and we will start our deck boards on each side of the pool and deck towards the house and towards the grassed area. When decking towards the house we need to hope that the pool is parallel to the house and if not then we need to adjust our spaces between boards to accommodate any difference. So for instance if one side, between pool and house is 20mm shorter than the other, then we will need to increase the gaps between deck boards by 1mm for 20 boards to get the deck parallel to the house. If not we will end up with a wedged shape board as the last board which will be unsightly and will fail more easily. Also we need to try to end on a full board rather than a ripped half board as that too will be unsightly and may fail prematurely. Again we will adjust the gaps as we go to ensure we end on a full board. The gaps are normally 5mm, but we can adjust them to 4mm or 6mm without being noticed. Then we will “fill” the section between each long side of the pool and again we need to ensure that we don’t end on a half board, by adjusting our gap to 4mm or 6mm. The final result will be a deck with full deck boards and no wedges.
The grassed side is easy enough in that we can protrude over the end of the paving to end on a full board and terminate our deck there. On this end we will install a screen of 1.8m high the length of the deck. So we will tie our upright posts for the screen into the posts for our deck to secure the deck into the ground with concrete to prevent any slippage, and at the same time providing an upright of 1.8m for our screen.

For a free no obligation quote on your wooden sundeck, pool deck, balustrades, screens, cladding, walkways etc. please contact us on 082 496 5444 or use the contact us form below.

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Balau Wooden Sundeck Built in Kloof, Durban

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Wooden Sun decks Durban

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Here’s a balau wooden sundeck we’ve just built on Kloof, just inland of Durban.

We used a 19 x 90 balau deck board on this wooden sun deck at the client’s request. We normally use a 19 x 68 balau deck board as they are considerably less expensive per square metre than the 19 x 90 balau deck boards and we can pass that saving on to our clients. Granted it is quicker to install a deck board that is wider as you need less boards per square meter (in this instance 15 boards per square metre using a 68mm wide board and 11 using a 90mm board), but not by that much that it warrants paying 35% more for it. 90mm boards are about 35% more expensive per square metre than 68 mm boards.

Wooden Sun decks Durban

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When screwing down a 19 x 90 deck board I put two screws, per board, in each joist line, one in each shoulder. I have seen other deck builders putting one in

Wooden Sun decks Durban

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every alternate shoulder. It does work, but if you do get a board that is particularly prone to warping it will warp where the one screw has been left out. It is not a huge cost or effort to put a second screw on the opposite shoulder of each board at each joist line. Obviously the wider the board the more prone it will be to warping. Why they are more expensive I haven’t yet worked out because good balau is good balau is good balau. If the wider boards we taken from a different part of the tree, the heartwood vs. the sapwood, then I would understand the price difference, but they aren’t. It is a preference, at a price, that’s all.

Wooden Sun decks Durban

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We ran the deck boards all in the same direction on this wooden deck. With this deck we ran the deck boards parallel to the edge of the pool meeting each other at a 45° angle on the corners. It is far easier to run them all in the same direction as you will never get a problem of matching the cut ends. If one board is cut at 46° and one therefore at 44°, they will be of different lengths and will not match up. In this instance you need to install a barrier between then (one deck board’s width) to hide any difference in length between cut ends. But I’ll write another article about that later. Running them all the same way on both sides of the deck eliminates this problem.

You need to be careful though to start installing your deck boards in the middle of the deck and not on one end. If you start on one end, you may very well reach the 90° corner and find that you have to rip a deck board in half to cover your space. This is unsightly and will result in that deck board failing more quickly than the rest. So start in the middle and move outwards to both ends and end with a full deck board.

There was also some other work on this wooden deck build in that the client wanted a planter stand built so he could place potted plants in it and he wanted his Jacuzzi walls clad. We battled a bit with the Jacuzzi cladding as the original brick structure that was there was skew and we had to try to mitigate this by building up

Wooden Sun decks Durban

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our substructure to bring it back to square.

The cladded vertical posts you see in the pics alongside are 19 x 90 boards (x 3 of) around a 76mm steel awning post. We needed to build the steel awning post up to get to our 290mm and then attach it to the post. Although it looks very nice to have such bulky wooden posts, it does block the view slightly when sitting at the pool. Why 290mm when each board is 90mm (90mm x 3 = 270mm)? Because we set each corner chasing the other surface. And let’s just forget about the 5mm gap we had in between each board.

For a free no obligation quote for your wooden sundeck, pergola, walkway, screens or other timber construction please use the contact us form below or call us on 082 496 5444.

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Balau Cladding or Screening

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Balau cladding or screening

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Balau cladding or screeningZ

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Balau cladding or screening of brick walls is quite popular and attractive. It takes an otherwise boring brick, plaster or concrete look and transforms it into a beautiful wooden clad structure. It can of course be clad balau or any other timber, but balau being the most popular outdoor timber for cladding of brick walls. Pine is a lot cheaper buy nowhere near as durable and will warp, cup, twist and bow a lot quicker than balau. Balau is very stable and the deck boards will remain flat for a lot longer.
We use either the standard deck boards of 19 x 68mm or we can use a 19 x 90mm board. The 19 x 90mm board is however more expensive per square metre than the narrower boards.

What works quite well too when cladding brick walls with timber is to have differing widths of boards. So one might start with a 19 x 68 board, and then install a 19 x 90mm board and then a 19 x 30mm board.

When cladding brick walls with timber it is best to keep the gaps to about 5mm. Normally with screens we leave a 20mm gap, so that you can still see through the screen if you walk right up to it, but with cladding there is nothing really to see on the other side. So keep the gaps to 5mm to have a nice tight compact finish.

This was a job we did in Westville for a corporate client who was renovating their reception area. It was initially a brick portico sort of structure that had small blue mosaic tiles stuck to it. The blue mosaic tiles were painted black prior to us cladding so that they would not be visible between the gaps. We simply installed cleats of 19 x 68 deck boards in balau on to the tiles which had been painted black and then on top of that we installed the cladding. We had to be careful not to protrude the cladding more than about 45mm from the wall as it would have caused the main door to snag on the cladding.  On the corners we mitred the edges at 45° to give it a nice neat finish.

There was an access control system that we needed to work around. The company installing it came to site on the same day that we clad that area and we worked with them to cut out the necessary areas so that the various control panels could be installed neatly on our timber cladding.

The job was finished with closing the screw holes with epoxy, sanding smooth and sealing using Timberlife Satin Wood 28 Base, an oil based deep penetrating timber preservative that repels water. Because it is oil it can never peel or flake making future maintenance easy and inexpensive. You simply clean the timber and apply more oil.

For a free no obligation quote on your timber cladding requirements, wooden sun decks, pergolas and other outdoor wooden construction, please contact us on 082 496 5444 or use the contact us form below.

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Solid Wood Floors – All Brown Teak End Matched

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Solid hardwood floors

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These solid wood floors were installed in Hluhluwe in a house that was being renovated by the new owner on a farm. We used all brown teak, end matched. Most of our teak in South Africa comes from Zimbabwe and they are not allowing teak to leave the country without being machined there. So they were machined in Zim, exported to Gauteng and then shipped to Durban and then up to Hluhluwe. We always allow our timber to stand on site for at least two weeks to acclimatise to the humidity and conditions in their final resting place. This eliminates problems further down the line of boards swelling after installation which cause popping of boards.

Because it is quite difficult to get long lengths of teak, these boards were end matched. They varied in length from 450mm to 1m. To avoid waste in installation the manufacturer will machine them with tongue and groove joints on all four sides so that instead of cutting the ends off to line them up with a bearer, you can simply install them end to end between two bearers because they are tongue and grooved on all four sides. The amount of waste that would be created if they were to be cut would amount to almost half of the total floor area. With lengths of 3m plus, this is not necessary as the waste is far less as a percentage of the total wood being used.

Solid hardwood floors

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We had two areas to floor, upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs there was a mezzanine type floor that had been installed already with wood joists and shutter ply. We installed bearers on top of this and then nailed our floor boards on to them. Downstairs was a concrete substrate which we fixed bearers to using hiltis. It is vitally important to get this substructure of bearers completely flat and level. So spend a bit of time on getting this right as the rest of the job will run smoothly if this is done correctly. The easiest way is to install one bearer on one end of the room and another on the other end of the room with both being level in both directions and to each other. Then run fish line between the two in intervals of about 500mm. Now you can set all your other bearers flat and level to these two, the result being a completely flat and level substructure.

Once the bearers are down you can start installing the boards from one end of the room. We used a specialised hardwood floor nailer, which I have written about here. Because this machine, or tool, is designed at a 45° angle, it cannot be used for the first or last floor boards. On the first one you must use a 40mm oval nail through the tongue (pre drill the pilot hole in hardwoods such as teak) and counter sink it is so it is invisible. From here you can use the hardwood floor nailer. The last board, or last few boards, will also not be able to be installed using this tool as the wall will get in the way. You also can’t successfully nail by hand as you did on the first board, so you will need to face nail the board. That is to drive a nail through the face of the board into the bearer and then neatly close the hole with a suitable filler to match you wood colour.

The next step is to sand the floor flat. Even though these hardwood floor boards are machined precisely to fit snugly into each other through the tongue and groove joint, they do sometimes vary in thickness by a quarter mm and this needs to be sanded flat using a floor sander and 40 grit paper. Teak is extremely hard so this part was slow going. Once it is flat you can then use a 100 grit paper to get rid of scratch marks left by the 40 grit and get the wood to a smooth finish ready for sealing.

Solid hardwood floors

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Vacuum ALL the dust up and vacuum again to make sure that ALL dust is off the floor prior to sealing. We also use a flat broom. The same broom you see them using in shopping centres. This broom moves dust around in one steady motion rather than the normal sweep motion that causes the dust to become airborne and settle again where you have just swept. From time to time you need to vacuum the broom to get rid of the dust and continue sweeping.

3 Coats of a good quality polyurethane sealer is required. Sand lightly with a 200 grit paper to remove any hairs or fibres that would have been raised after the first coat. If using a water based sealer you can dilute the first coat with water so that it penetrates the timber. There are many sealers that can be used. We prefer the water based ones as they dry quicker than the others and are friendlier in their behaviour.

For a free no obligation quote on installing or just sanding and sealing your solid wood floors, please contact us on 082 496 5444 or you can use the contact us form below.

Solid hardwood floors

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Solid hardwood floors

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Wooden Pergola Built in La Lucia, Durban

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Wooden Pergola Durban

Wooden pergola with thatching laths

This was an interesting wooden pergola we built in Durban. Most often pergolas are built using planed all round pieces (PAR) in the traditional pergola design which is vertical posts to support the structure and horizontal purlins of varying width and thickness to cover the top. Wooden pergolas don’t really offer any functional benefit as the rain still comes through and it offers limited sun protection depending on the density of the purlins above. This one however offered both protection from rain and sun yet still allowed light to come through.

We built a structure using H3 CCA Pine which is guaranteed for 50 years against rot and insect infestation. On top of this we placed polycarbonate roof sheeting which we got from Modek. We used their bronze translucent one so that it breaks the sun yet still allows light through and of course offers protection from rain. It is best to use custom-made lengths so as to avoid any joins which would need to be waterproofed. It is not sufficient to overlap them in the direction of the fall. Because the angle or pitch of the roof sheeting is relatively gradual, the wind can blow the water backwards, up hill and through the joins. So it must be waterproofed to avoid any leaks. It is therefore much better to use one full length, the same length as the structure itself.

Once our roof sheeting was on we installed thatching laths beneath with no gaps between them. These laths vary in diameter from 20mm to 35mm. So one needs to install them head to toe to limit the size of the gaps between them. This way they become quite dense so that one can’t see the structure or roof sheeting from beneath, but they still allow enough light through. In other jobs we have installed them with as little as half a laths diameter gap, but that still allows quite of lot of visible roof sheeting from beneath. It is therefore better to stack them tightly up against each other.

After these we clad the sides to cover or hide the pine we used with balau deck boards. The balau is a much better looking wood in terms of grain, colour and the straightness of each board. Balau is very stable and will tend to warp or cup less than pine over the years. So the appearance of the structure will remain flat and square a lot longer than pine.

Wooden Pergola Durban

Wooden pergola with thatching laths

The final product was a rustic looking pergola which offered protection from sun and rain yet still allowed natural light through. The client later installed a sound system and lights beneath. They had a pizza oven installed and a gas braai with a bar area which made for a very nice outdoors entertainment area which was protected from the elements.

For a free no obligation quote on pergolas or other decking needs as well as floors or laminates please contact us on 082 496 5444 or you can use the form below to e-mail me.

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Nailing Solid Wood Floor Boards

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Nailing solid wood floor boards down can be a time-consuming job if done manually. When nailing tongue and groove floor boards down, one needs to nail the nail through the tongue at 45° and counter sink it slightly so that the next floor board can be slotted in over the nail making it invisible.

If this task is done by hand then one needs to nail it and then use a punch to counter sink it so that you don’t damage the tongue. As the hammer gets used it picks up small traces of oil from the nail and eventually it starts slipping off the head of the nail which will damage the board or the tongue. To avoid this one needs to occasionally sand the head of the hammer to remove that oil and to rough the head up a bit. Just a quick light sand will do the trick.

The nail that would most commonly be used for nailing solid wood tongue and groove floor boards down is a 40mm oval nail. The nail is fairly thick in diameter and if a very hard wood like teak is being used you may need to pilot a hole first so that the oval nail doesn’t split the tongue. With softer woods it is not necessary. You will also need to hammer the board tight up against the preceding board so that there are no gaps and then drive you nail in.

This is all very time-consuming so one would tend to try to use a pneumatic tool to drive these nails in. A normal brad nailer won’t work as you won’t be able to get the head of the nail to be counter sunk so that the next board can be installed without a gap. Also the brad nails are not ribbed so tend to pull out over time. They also have a very small head so can pull through the tongue over time.

There is a specialised tool for this job. It is a dedicated hardwood floor nailer. The video above is pretty self-explanatory in how the tool works. The nail is a hook shaped nail which is driven in at 45° and counter sunk. The nail is also wide but not thick. It is designed to enter the tongue with the width in the direction of the grain and the thickness, which is not very thick at all, against the grain. So splitting of the tongue is reduced to a minimum and the hook prevents the nail from pulling through the board. These nails are also ribbed so they do not pull out over time.

Solid wood floors

Nail for pneumatic nailer

The machine is also designed so that the shaft that pushes the nail in, is used to counter sink the nail. The same applies to a normal brad nailer, but because this tool is designed at 45° it is able to reach all the way into the corner of the tongue.

Because the tool is struck with a hammer, the tool also pushes the board tight up against the preceding board as it nails it down. So any gaps between boards are closed, slightly before the nail is driven through the tongue.

A very useful tool if you are laying many floor boards but cost prohibitive if you are not.

Please contact us for your solid wood flooring needs, laminates, wooden decks and wooden fences by calling us on 082 496 5444 or using the contact us form below.

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Wooden Post and Rail Fencing Durban

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Wooden Post and Rail Fence Durban

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A wooden post and rail fence is an attractive boundary to your property. Although they have large gaps between the rails and posts they can be made secure by adding weldmesh as we did in this one in Summerveld. Wooden Post and Rail fences are traditionally associated with horse farms as in their normal state they successfully keep horses in without having to build a completely closed off boundary fence.

With a few fencing techniques they are relatively easy to install in that one simply needs to dig a hole, place a post, add a rail and then place the next post.  Of course you need to be careful that the top of each post is in a flat and straight line until you get to a point where the ground starts falling faster, at which point you would start a new line. So one would start with the first post and then dig a hole for the last post. Both posts can be set permanently. We use decomposed granite and cement mix so that the post is stable, without the need for concrete. This will prevent the posts from falling, or being knocked skew, over time. The decomposed granite is cheap in comparison to Umgeni sand and works just as well. The mix is a relatively weak mix (1 bag to 4 barrows), just enough to stabilise the decomposed granite without wasting cement.

From your first post dig all your other holes in a straight line. It is not absolutely important to get the holes the right distance apart. Rather set them 50mm or so shorter than they have to be to accept the rail as you can always cut 50mm off the rail to make it fit, but you can’t add a piece on to the rail. If you’re unsure dig shorter lines of posts so as not to find that half your holes need to be re-dug. Marking all the holes at the same time and digging them will save you time, and if you are using a breaker to get through rock, as we did on this job, then

Wooden Post and Rail Fence Durban

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you can get finished with the breaker on day one rather than incur a hire charge for second day or more.

Then you simply place the rail in the pre cored hole in the first post and set your second post. It is better to use a nail, at 45° to secure this rail to the post so that it doesn’t move.

You will see from the pics in this article that every so often the top of the fence changes line to remain parallel to the ground. Don’t change it too often as this will give the top of the fence an uneven appearance, but change it where necessary to remain more or less parallel to the ground.
If the ground is fairly steep you can battle to get your rail in the post as the pre-cored holes are cored at 90° to the post. So you may need to trim the end of the post to get it to fit properly.

There are various types of posts that you can buy. Ends are the posts that have only one hole cored in them. Intermediaries are those that have two holes cored at opposite ends. There are also 90° bends and 135° bends that can be used for either a 45° corner or a 135° corner.

The posts come in various lengths so you can install a 900mm high fence, a 1.2m, 1.5m and so on. You can opt for a single rail, double rail or triple rail. Obviously you won’ get a 900mm high fence with three rails but they are available for the higher fences.

There are two different types of post and rail fence. Some of the poles are grown

Wooden Post and Rail Fence Durban

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and manufactured in KZN. Others are grown and manufactured in The Cape. The Cape Timber is better as it is less prone to splitting, but, at the time of writing, there were not many companies bringing them up from The Cape due to volumes and cost. Be careful not to mix them though as the cored holes are often drilled in different places and the diameter sometimes varies.

Once you posts and rails are up you can install weldmesh on it to keep the dogs, or the kids, in or the neighbours’ dogs out.

Gates can be built from the post and rails and hinged using heavy-duty galvanised gate hinges. On this job we had some hoops fabricated from steel to latch the gate which added a nice finishing touch to the job.

For a free no obligation quote on your post and rail fence, other wooden fences, sun decks or flooring needs, please contact us on 082 496 5444 or use the contact us form below.

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Wooden Sun Deck Repairs – Durban

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Wooden sun deck repairs Durban

Besides our main activity of sundeck building in Durban, we also maintain and repair sundecks.

Wooden sun deck repairs need to be performed from time to time and the sooner they are attended to the better. If a wooden deck is constructed correctly these repairs can be kept to a minimum, but from time to, factors beyond anyone’s control can result in repairs having to be made to your wooden sun deck.

The pics alongside show how we repaired this wooden sun deck in The Bluff Durban. It had been built on two posts of balau that were about 2.6m high. One of the posts had, for some reason, sunk slightly, soon after building the deck, but had since stopped sinking. The deck was about 7 years old and the subsiding had apparently occurred in the first year after building it. We were happy that it had stopped subsiding so we were able to use the existing posts to correct it. The client didn’t want us to install a new post because there was a lot of concrete and paving around the base which would have resulted in digging that up in order to set a new post and remove the sinking one.

Wooden sun deck repairs Durban

Wooden sun deck repairs Durban

Wooden sun deck repairs Durban

Wooden sun deck repairs Durban

The reason for it subsiding could have been that there were no horizontal nails inserted into the bottom of the post before it was concreted in. Nailing 6” nails into the wood at the bottom of the post and then setting concrete around the post will stop this sinking as the nails will act as anchors in the concrete. Without them the post can very easily move through the concrete and sink. Another reason could have been that the ground was not completely compacted and the whole level of the ground at that point sunk. Being The Bluff, the latter is quite probable as The Bluff is essentially one large sand dune and is continually moving.

Because the post had sunk about 50mm the top of the deck was no longer level. We jacked the deck up using two scaffolding jacks, one on top and one below, and a 50mm pipe cut to size. We placed a nice flat piece of 50 x 228 timber below to give us a level base and a larger foot print that the scaffolding jack provided.

We took the pressure off the post by jacking it up until both scaffolding jacks became tight up against the ground and the beam respectively. We secured the scaffolding jacks to the beam and the base plate using screws so that it could not slip off once we started lifting the deck. Once the pressure was off the post we cut the post in half and then continued to jack the deck up to our required height checking periodically until the top of the deck surface was again level. Once it was level we installed two pieces of galvanised angle iron on opposite corners of the post using coach screws.

We then filled the cavity we had created in the post, of about 50mm, with a block off wood as a fail-safe in case the angle iron or coach screws ever failed. This way the post could not drop down, in the event of the angle iron failing, as the block would prevent that.

Although it doesn’t look as nice as it would have had we replaced the entire post, it was much easier to do, less expensive and eliminated the problem of digging up the concrete and paving.

For a free no obligation quote on your deck repairs, deck building or maintenance in KZN please contact us on 082 496 5444 or use the contact us form below.

 

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CCA Treated Substructures in Wooden Sundecks – Durban

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Wooden sundecks Durban North

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As I’ve mentioned in previous articles we use a H3 CCA treated pine substructure which the suppliers offer a 50 year guarantee on. In order to activate that guarantee we need to adhere to best practices and there are a few things that we need to do, and document by way of pics. 

Although all decks we build are built according to best practices, when applying for a guarantee we need to document it. So if you require a guarantee please let us know beforehand so we can collect all the documents we need to process it. These include charge sheets and retention records from the treatment plant to ensure that the chemicals used in the treatment process penetrated the timber properly. The charge sheets also document all sorts of things such as how much solution was added to the chamber, how much wood was in the chamber and how much solution much was left over. From this one can work out what the penetration was and can be verified through the retention records.

When the wood is treated it is placed in a chamber and all the air is sucked out to create a vacuum. Solution is then added to the chamber which now takes up the void or vacuum and the solution is sucked into the timber. They call this pressure treatment.

Wooden decks Durban

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CCA is an abbreviation for Chromated Copper Arsenate. The copper stops fungus growing on the wood, which in turn causes the fibres of the wood to break down and rot. The arsenate stops insects from eating it and the chrome binds the two so that they don’t leach out of the wood. There are different hazard classes of CCA treated timber. For a full explanation you can visit http://www.sawpa.co.za (South African Wood Preservers Association).

Once this pine has been treated it can now get wet without the fear of it rotting because the fungus cannot grow. It is not water that causes rot, but rather fungus. The water allows the fungus to grow which breaks down the fibres of the wood which causes rot. So now your wood can get wet without rotting.

When the wood is treated, this CCA solution they use penetrates the timber based on the pressure they use and the time it remains in the chamber. The longer the time, the greater the pressure and the stronger the solution, the higher the hazard class and more resistant it is to rot and insect infestation. So timber being used outdoors subject to weathering (rain and sun) needs to be of a higher Hazard Class than timber being used in your roof where it is protected from rain to a large degree.

The depth of the penetration is subject to the density of the timber (pine vs. saligna or gum), and the time in the chamber. These retention records mentioned above are obtained from coring a section of the timber on each batch to ensure that the solution penetrated the timber properly. The charge sheets will outline how long the timber was in the chamber, the strength of the solution etc.

Wooden deck guarantee

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So once all these documents have been collated, one can apply for a guarantee from the suppliers of the solution used in the treatment process.

One last criterion is that where we cut a piece of timber we need to treat the end grain with an end sealer approved by the supplier. This is because the solution used in the treatment process does not penetrate all the way through the timber. Depending on the density of the wood it will penetrate about 16mm into the timber. With pine, as opposed to saligna, it will obviously penetrate further as the timber is softer. Timber such as balau cannot be successfully treated as it is too dense. However it rarely needs to be treated as it is naturally resistant to insect infestation and rot due to the resins and oils naturally found in the wood.

By following the manufacturers and SAWPA’s guidelines one can successfully use treated pine as suitable outdoor timber for decking.

The pictures alongside show where we have used an approved end sealer to treat the timber on all cut ends.

For a free no obligation quote on your decking and other outdoor requirements please contact us on 082 496 5444 or use the contact form below.

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Timber Decks Durban – Umhlanga

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Timber decks Durban

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This existing timber deck in Umhlanga Durban had reached a point of no return and our recommendation to the client was that we remove it and replace it. It’s never a good thing to hear that you must throw it away and buy a new one because it can’t be fixed, but often wooden decks are not built as they should be built and they therefore do not last as long as they should.

From the picture alongside you can see the damage done to the posts at ground level as a result of insects. Given another year or so and those posts would have failed and although the deck might not have come falling down, it would have become unsafe and a danger to those trying to enjoy it.  See far below for pics of the finished product.

The existing deck had been built out of pine and I can only think that the wrong H class was used. As I’ve mentioned in other articles, pine used for decking purposes needs to be CCA treated to at least an H3 level and any pieces in direct contact with the ground should be treated to H4 level. You can read up more on the H levels here http://www.sawpa.co.za. In a nutshell though, off the shelf H2 treated timber will not last. And don’t be fooled by the timber yard telling you they will “double dip” it. The pressure between H2 and H3 treated timber is different, so doubling dipping H2 will not make H3, it will make H2 + H2 and it WILL rot. On the other hand if the correct H level is used the suppliers will offer up to a 50 years guarantee on this timber against rot and insect infestation. Who’s building a deck that will still be around in 50 years?

We first removed the existing deck boards so that the joists were exposed. We removed all joists but left the main beam on the front edge so that we could use it as our guide to installing the new beam. We used the existing posts as temporary posts to build our substructure, then installed our new beam and dropped posts to ground from there. We then removed the old beam and old posts and were left with a new timber deck substructure in pretty much the same place as the old one. It made our life easier and took a lot less time.

There was a gate we built and installed along the one side. We used stainless steel hinges on it. I’ve found that stainless steel hinges with bearings in the spine are not that costly. In fact a lot less expensive than brass and, in my opinion, a lot more durable. The solid brass can sometimes be a bit soft whereas stainless steel is a lot harder. This is especially the case when talking about screws. Brass screws tend to sheer of quite easily under pressure.

Timber decks Durban

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It was a nice job to kick the year off with as it was relatively simple. The only hurdle was trying to build 3m in the air on a very steep slope. We used extension ladders but still it makes it difficult and a bit slower because someone has to hold the ladder and keep moving it when screwing down pickets on the balustrade which is time consuming.

For a free, no obligation quote on your timber decking and other outdoor timber construction needs in Durban please call us on 082 496 5444 or use the contact form below.

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Timber decks Durban

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Timber decks Durban

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Timber decks Durban

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