I spent most of this weekend constructing a new deck that adjoins the old deck by the pool. This is phase 27 in the 4 year long backyard project. Building the small deck was surprising easy. I wasn’t 100% sure I possessed the skillz necessary to do it on my own, so I recruited dad to help devise the plan, acquire materials, and get me started. I enjoy showing how things are done, so here is how to build a simple deck:
Normally you would start by setting some concrete posts for the deck to rest on. Since there was already concrete underneath several of these posts, I skipped this step and went straight into building the frame. Make sure it's level and square. If your building in a predetermined space which happens to be off-square, then you'll have to deal with that as I did.
Next, use those deck brace things and attach the cross bars, which probably have a real name besides cross bars.
If your deck is awesome like mine and has to go in a space that is not square, you will have to cut at least one board at an angle. I decided to make it the next to the last one, both for aesthetics and to hopefully prevent the narrow end from splintering over time.
Now all that's left to do is screw in the planks across the top and trim them to length with the skill saw. Now the deck is done!
The last step (not pictured) is the call mom and ask her to power-wash the existing deck since it now looks worse than ever with a nice new deck connected to it.