Our Work: A Brand New Deck For Our Clients In Greta

Our client was in the process of putting the finishing touches on their newly built home, and had initially contacted us about building a Catio. 

During the estimate for their Catio we got chatting about what other types of jobs we do here at Squarepegs Handyman, and our clients were very excited to discover that we take on all kinds of projects. 

After completing our clients’ Catio for them, we also paved their pool area which included tiling a large water feature at one end, we installed the very large capping stones on their retaining walls (around 40 stones weighing around 70kg each) and tiled their entryway and rear patio.

However all these jobs were small compared to the final job of building their deck which connected the house to the pool area. This deck was the answer to endless mud being dragged into their new home by their kids fresh out of the pool and they were understandably very keen to have it finished. 

Custom Built NewTechWood Deck

Work on the deck was delayed due to the large custom-made aluminium pergola needing to be installed first, but once this was completed it was finally time!

Hearing Our Clients Out The Entire Way through

During the design phase of the project we had a few things to consider. These considerations mainly involved the choice of decking boards, and our clients had three stipulations; they must be zero maintenance, they must fit in with the look of the house and landscaping, and they must meet Bal 29 fire rating, since the house backs onto bushland and falls into that bushfire category. 

The zero maintenance request naturally led to a composite board to eliminate the constant staining or oiling of timber, and these happen to come in light grey, which perfectly matched the grey paving around the pool, and the concreting they had already had done on the driveway. 

With these two features covered, the bal 29 rating was all that was left. We first looked at ModWood, a product I recommend and use often, but the standard ModWood is not rated for bal 29, and the flame shield variant of ModWood which is rated to bal 40 was excessively expensive and not required. For this reason, as well as aesthetics, we landed on the terrace boards from NewTechWood.

Designing And Building a NewTechWood Deck For Our Clients

NewTechWood is a product that has a hidden fastener system, comes in an attractive light grey, and met the required Bal rating so was a perfect fit. 

The ground level of this deck was only 300mm below the required decking height so we had this excavated to 450mm below the subframe to allow plenty of ventilation, and once this was completed work was ready to begin. Thanks to the team at NHS ordering all the materials was a breeze.

For the deck’s subframe we used FLAMEfixx pine, which is an amazing product that gives the fire rating of hardwood with the weight and ease of using pine. This also served to lower the expense for our clients. 

Building With Composite Decking

Before we built the subframe we finalised the plan for decking board placement. Due to the added expansion requirements of composite decking boards we ran them in full 5.4m lengths with a breaker board. This way we avoided having to have end to end joins which required an 8mm gap.

The 15m length of the main deck meant that we would have one of the runs cut down. We chose to cut down the centre run, as the client was very keen on symmetry. 

The Decking Is In The Details

There were several round downpipes which we cut boards to fit, and luckily the posts for the pergola were square which made them easy to lay around. The final product looked great and ran across to the pool retaining wall with no gaps.

The extra decking that wrapped around the paved patio added lots of space to the future bbq area, and the finished product is one of our favourite decks we have built to date.   

Best of all: Our clients were elated with their new deck and it has been our privilege to maintain and ongoing professional relationship with them.

Squarepegs Handyman Does Decks

We absolutely loved having the opportunity to work on this deck for our incredible clients in Greta. Decks are some of our absolute favourite projects to work on and it means the world to us to have the opportunity to work with such lovely people in our amazing community.

Whether you are looking to have your deck sanded, stained, oiled or completely refurbished; or you’re looking to have a brand new deck built, Squarepegs Handyman is here to help. Contact us here to organise your free, in-person quote with Handyman Sean (aka The Newcastle Deck Guy). We are SO looking forward to working with you.

WHERE WE WORK

You’ll find Squarepegs Handyman in and around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, the Hunter and beyond. Contact us to find out if we service your area. 

We cannot wait to work with you!

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