After the rain there are many cases when your yard can not be used, as the grass is wet and damp. Warm, cloudy summer days are a loss if you and the children are stuck in the house. You can, of course, use a patio block, a favorite concrete or stone to make your patio, but wood looks like a softer and warmer material to work with. You can add a wooden patio at ground level less than a deck, and it will cost and extend the number of days you can cut, or just sit outside and enjoy the summer months.
You will need a fairly flat platform to build your patio almost as if it were concrete or stone. A small manual sorting can be done, but if you need to use heavy equipment, the area is probably more adapted to the raised deck than the patio. You will need to have a builder level and label to set some heights for the tops of the floor joists when installing them. If you are planning projects with a large number of yards, you may want to consider buying a level of builders instead of renting. One or two days of additional rental payments, because you forgot to return, he can pay for the level.
Adjust the level and make sure that it is absolutely level in all directions by adjusting the screws. Make sure the built-in bubble level is in all directions when you turn your head.
Starting at any corner of the courtyard, make elevations in all four corners. In this example, we assume your first shot is 5 on your tape. Looking through glass glass, the hair on the right side intersects exactly 5 inches or sixty inches. Now read the other three corners. We get 4 -10 ", 5" -3 "and 5" -2 "readings. Only a maximum of three inches in height difference with a high point, and we may need to fill two inches or so at the lowest point. Take a couple more shots in the middle part of the courtyard to make sure that there are no real high points or low points that will cause serious manual work.
Our wooden patio pattern will be ten feet by ten feet. If at all possible, you want to use single-deck beams, as they will result in less framing, and you only need to set the level on both ends of the beam. Once the ends have been installed, you can either fill the middle to support the beam, or even a little so that the beam can sit on the level cushions at both ends. Remember that we are not digging out the entire patio. You just dig enough to make the beams flush with, perhaps, a three-inch trench. After all the beams are installed at the level and the beams of the perimeter are installed, you will again fill in all the free dirt against the beams themselves. Nothing to pull away! If you were tidy in your work, placing all the excavated materials inside the patio area, the only evidence of digging would be a small gap that you created along the edges of the patio for the perimeter beams. These areas will be very quickly filled with lawn.
A ground level patio requires all wood to be pressure treated or another type of wood acceptable for contact with the ground. Most, if not all building departments do not require a permit for the patio, but you have to ask if this is required. Make sure it’s a patio, not a deck. There are no supports, support columns or beams and are not related to the structure. In areas with frost and freezing temperatures, the inspector wants to be sure that no damage will occur due to an explosion in the freeze-thaw cycles. Since the patio is free, there will be no damage to the structures. There are some areas that, due to local zoning rules, require permits for almost everything you do in your property, so it’s always best to ask first.
The minimum floor beam size should be 2 x 6 inches, but I prefer 2 "x 8" PT for the extra rigidity that wider boards provide. It is worth the extra time to install a series of wooden locks to reinforce the deck.
If your patio will be used for bar-b-que grills, and some chairs and a table, the distance between the bars can be from 16 to 16 inches. If you expect heavier loads to pass in twelve-inch centers. Place all beams in your areas, including rim or end beams. It is best to first create an outer box or rims, and set them on a level. A nail or screw around the perimeter is joined together. Screws are preferable since you cannot add fasteners after the beams are buried and the deck is applied. Using the square of the two-legged square, make sure the box has the perfect square, as you can do. Measure the angle to angle to ensure that these measurements are exactly the same. If they are, the box is square. Now, using a level and a tape measure, make measurements at the four corners and make sure that they are all the same. You may have to dig a little or add dirt under the beams, but make sure that you add material under the beams so that the dirt is tightly compacted. You do not want the deck to drop later.
Now that the perimeter scale is flat and square, you can start adding the rest of the full beams. The use of Teco hangers or other types of beam hangers is not really necessary, since the patio is ground level and the beams will be supported by their length along the ground below. If you have them and you want to use them, that's fine. Continue to crop and constantly check that the entire collection remains equal and square. Once framing is done, fill in all the beams with as many materials as possible which you removed at the beginning. Remove all really big stones if you cannot bury them below the bottom of the boards.
I know that you want to start installing the platforms now, but first we will run some kind of landscape wiring under the deck. Find out where you want to add low voltage lighting, even if it is in the future, and run the wires now. It will be almost impossible later on traveling under the deck, and you will use much less wires going from corner to corner under the beams, rather than around the outside of the patio. I installed four 4 "x 4" poles in the corners and ran a wire on poles for future lights, supporting the ends where I planned to place the low voltage transformer.
If you installed full beams on sixteen-inch centers, you should use 2 "thick (nominal 1 5/8") board materials. If you used twelve-inch centers, you can also use 5/4 inch floorboards.
The use of twelve-inch girder centers also allows you to set the board on bias and create interesting projects on the boards themselves. Placing some areas of the board on the diagonals to others can create many different designs. I strongly recommend that you use galvanized deck screws for installing decking. Screws will not drag over time, like nails. Screws also provide a tighter assembly upon completion.
When you start your first deck, the first board hangs over the edge of the perimeter, about one inch. This provides a good shadow line, and any bows in the bath below will not be noticeable. Make sure you allow enough pay on the opposite side of the deck so that the last board also hangs on the same amount. Do this on all four sides. Do not be fooled by the number of screws you use. If you work alone, even with a high-quality screw gun, this work can be very tedious. Take a break or two or come back the next day to finish. If you have a helper, pre-drilling holes for screws reduce a ton of arm strain and help prevent splitting of boards.
Curved areas can be constructed with a little extra edging to maintain flooring and look fantastic when done. If you are creating a walkway in the courtyard, the same framing methods are used as the patio. The frame is straight and square, but by cutting the flooring on a curve, you can create some really nice effects. My second patio, but next to my first, is seven inches lower and twice as big. After heavy rains, when others are waiting for their lawns to dry, we can go out, sit or cook and dry the place to enjoy minutes later.
