Deck over slabs...

firstborn

firstborn

firstborn

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,596
Location
Nottingham
I moved in over a year ago and my job for this summer is to sort the patio area as it's unsightly but solid and not touched since I moved in. An initial thought was to deck over the area, bringing it up to just below the threshold of the patio doors.

Any issues or major things to consider?

8CLWUbg.jpg
 
I have a similar question as a property I am considering has vast amounts of decently laid crazy paving. I'd lay it on a plinth rather than just resting it on the concrete of course.
 
I'd start by giving the existing slabs a good jet wash and get rid of the weeds. It'll be much cheaper then just adding decking and once it's all clean you might find you like the existing patio.
 
Don't bother with decking, takes way too much maintenance and starts to look shabby really quickly. Unless you go for composite decking anyway, but that's obscenely expensive.

Get yourself a good jet washer and give the slabs a clean.
 
Yes, I was going to lay a frame down first to bring it level with the patio door threshold which sort the drainage and was going to go with composite. I will give it a clean first and see how it looks.
 
Easy, use these on top of patio slabs. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255374530730
I'd lift any slabs where feet won't be sitting to increase drainage.

Only issue will be building a frame thin enough not to put the level of the decking above the door. But that's easy enough to do, just use more legs so you don't have any long spans.

Then you just need to tie it into place with a couple of anchor legs into the soil at the corners and with a couple of bolts into the brickwork of the house.
 
I did a relatively simple decking on my last house. I used 40 plastic legs + 10 into the ground with postcrete.

I lifted the slabs first and re-used them where I put legs and around the edge of the decking.

Before
Decking0.jpg


I built the outer frame first with posts into ground and onto the brickwork, then added the joists. Contractor working hard.

Decking1a.jpg


Then added the plastic legs to help take the weight (this is only half of them fitted)

Decking3a.jpg

Finished.

Decking4.jpg


I did cover up the gap under the decking later, but I'm sure you can imagine what that'd look like.
 
I’d avoid decking at all cost personally. Horrendous stuff to maintain. It looks good for about a year. Then it becomes infested with rats. No idea what people’s obsession is with taking a permanent easy to maintain solution and to stick a temporary, high maintenance layer on top.
 
Problem once you start jet washing slabs is its almost like once you take the top layer off the dirt gets back into them really quickly.

I'm in the same situation as the ops, slabs look awful and whoever did it the first time just put them on mud, now they are not level some are also cracked.

I'm half tempted to concrete it, if you do regular then put another layer on top with a higher cement and use some nice sand, polish and even etch lines into it you can get a really nice finish.

I'd need to put some rebar in the main layer.

Otherwise I'm tempted by decking but I'd use composite, and that'll probably end up costing a fortune.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
I’d avoid decking at all cost personally. Horrendous stuff to maintain. It looks good for about a year. Then it becomes infested with rats. No idea what people’s obsession is with taking a permanent easy to maintain solution and to stick a temporary, high maintenance layer on top.
Click to expand...
In the process of ripping up the decking in our back garden. It was here when we moved in back in 2014, and was already slippy as hell. Washed it all down to get rid of the algae, and it turned out it was largely rotten anyway.

I think it was in place for around 10 years, but the previous owners stuck it down and then did nothing to maintain it. I'm going to put some sort of patio in its place.
 
I use this instead of pressure washing. Much quicker, over a year and the slabs are still clean:

Sodium Hypochlorite 15% HIGH Strength Patio Block Paving Driveway Cleaner Washer | Algae Weed Moss Mould Blackspot & Lichen Killer Remover | Chlorine Shock Treatment of Pools & Spas https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087X9D1HF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5QJEDAZRW1RXKQG6KZFK

Karl said:
In the process of ripping up the decking in our back garden. It was here when we moved in back in 2014, and was already slippy as hell. Washed it all down to get rid of the algae, and it turned out it was largely rotten anyway.

I think it was in place for around 10 years, but the previous owners stuck it down and then did nothing to maintain it. I'm going to put some sort of patio in its place.
Click to expand...

We have similar, but worse since we have a summer house and shed on it. It’s going to be an expensive pain once it finally rots through - it’s already been patched up once. The summer house is also wired. Eventually I’ll just slab the whole area and add some decent drainage.
 
We have a slabbed area and decking, both the slabs and decking get slippery where they meet as it gets no sun, otherwise occasionally the decking can get slippery directly after some rain, like immediately after, but otherwise I find no difference

Maintenance is higher for decking, but it looks nicer, feels nicer so its worth it IMO. Our cat will always sleep on the decking as opposed to the slabs.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
I’d avoid decking at all cost personally. Horrendous stuff to maintain. It looks good for about a year. Then it becomes infested with rats. No idea what people’s obsession is with taking a permanent easy to maintain solution and to stick a temporary, high maintenance layer on top.
Click to expand...
Infested with rats, that old myth gets trotted around everytime someone asks about getting decking…………
 
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