Building the perfect deck
In early 2002, we put a large above-ground pool into our relatively small backyard. We quickly realized that we needed both a deck by the pool and a much easier way to get into/out of the pool than the attached “up-and-over” ladder. This is a re-hosting of that original page that described what I did.
UPDATE: We were named one of the “Deck of the Month” winners from DekBlocks!!! (archive.org copy)
We bought a 24′ above-ground pool for the backyard recently… knowing that we’d need to put in some sort of deck or access to get in and out! The pool is really big and takes up most of the back yard, so the deck would have to be placed to the side.
The problem, however, was that the ground in the Texas hill country is very unpredictable, as far as digging post holes goes. You can sometimes dig without incident, while sometimes you dig down 6 inches and hit solid bedrock!
I knew that I didn’t want to deal with digging that many post holes for an elevated deck.
Yuck!
Fortunately, I stumbled across a solution, while browsing the Internet for deck plans.
DekBlocks (with a website of free plans at http://www.deckplans.com/ (archive.org copy)) has a really nifty product!
I had the upper deck framework done in just a few hours. It is an 8’x8′ square platform just under the top lip of the pool frame (about 5′ above the ground). It was straightforward to get the 2″x6″ support beams leveled and framed then “cross-brace” the entire structure. Once the deck surface planks were added, it was an extremely sturdy platform! And now… on to the lower deck section!
By this point, the major construction was complete, with the lower deck section combining with the upper to make a 16’x16′ deck surface.
I was working on adding the railings, stairs, and trimwork in this picture.
I’ll need to do some more tree-trimming after everything’s complete… this deck is really getting big! 🙂
And it’s complete!!
Well… pretty much complete… I still need to add a small intermediate step from the ground to the first deck, but it’s not that large of a step right now!
All-in-all, I’m well chuffed with the way it turned out. I think I’ll finally get to start enjoying the pool, now that the temperatures are starting to rise!
With the addition of lights, the deck becomes even better!
The water’s great!
Come on in!!!
Contact me if you have any questions!