Outdoor Living: DIY Floating Deck

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Hey there!

Well after painting and staining we were on a roll upgrading the exterior of our home 🙂  As I mentioned before the outside of our house matches the inside in that it is small, but I saw our backyard as an extension of our home rather than a separate space. To achieve making it feel like a connected living space I think it’s important to define areas and give them purposes. One area where we knew we wanted to create such a space was in front of the double doors leading into the shed pictured below.

We wanted a patio of some kind and decided on a floating deck. For the deck I researched the materials we would need to make it, measured our space, and came up with this list:

• 8 concrete deck blocks
• 3 inch weather proof deck screws
• stain
• 21 deck boards – we used Severe Weather Max Radius Edge Pressure Treated Southern Yellow Pine Deck Board (Common: 5/4-in x 6-in x 16-ft; Actual: 1.25-in x 5.5-in x 16-ft)frame boards from Lowe’s
• for the frame we needed 2 treated- 2x6x16s
• 6- treated 2x6x10s

To complete the project we also needed:

•  a table saw
• an extra long level
• a power drill

Here’s the part where y’all think Ed and I are crazy lol. We have a truck with an 8 foot bed and (with the help of lots of tie down straps) we hauled those 16 foot suckers 30 miles home, on back roads of course! Yes, this was us, livin on the edge (even hanging over it a bit ;P)

The first thing we did when we got em home was build the frame of the deck to the size we wanted and marked where we would be placing the concrete support blocks.

Because the shed was so new the ground was quite unlevel, more so than it looks, and in order to make the deck level with the door we actually had to dig. So yes, in order to make a floating deck we had to make a sinking deck lol. Unfortunately for us the day we decided to do this was particularly HOT and it hadn’t rained in a while so the ground was HARD, which made the work extra fun lol!

So we dug holes for the concrete blocks to sit in and then we made sure they were level individually, and level with one another as well. They also keep the deck off the ground and are what make it appear to ‘float’. We trenched out (and when I say ‘we’ I really mean Ed as I played more of a supervising role during this part) the spaces where the boards would lay because again the ground was too high for the deck to meet at the bottom of the shed so that the doors would open flush with the deck. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this was a giant unforeseen, yet necessary, time-consuming pain!

We did use water to soften the ground a bit but what a mess, right? The concrete blocks keep the deck in place as well as keeping it level. The leveling part was the most difficult to get right. Here’s how it went; dig a little here, check the level, dig a little there, check the level, and repeat for what seemed like an endless amount of time. And that was how we wrapped up day 1. Sigh, wine break anyone? 😉

 

After a little more digging and checking, day 2 went more smoothly than the first. And it wasn’t long before the frame was put in place. You’ll notice the keg, which was empty and used for rolling the deck frame into place because it was so heavy and awkward. I know you’re probably thinking 2 things:  First of all “Why do you have an empty keg lying around?”, well as I mention in our ‘About Us’ page Ed brews his own beer as a hobby. And secondly I’m positive you’re impressed and thinking “Now that’s ingenuity!” 😉

 

 

After the frame was in place we began laying out the deck boards. Once we figured out spacing we began screwing them into place and it started looking like a floating deck! Yay!

 

Several screws and some grey stain later it looked like this 🙂

I stained this deck the same color as the one that is attached to our house. I used paint brush to get down in the cracks and then attached my paint roller to our broom handle and rolled on 2 fairly thick coats letting the first dry completely before applying the second.

Now at this time I was doing the blue and yellow thing inside so I wanted to bring those colors into the backyard as well. It has changed since then as I’ve slowly transitioned to a neutral palette both inside and out and I’ll be sharing updated pics with y’all in a couple of weeks 🙂

And this was the view from our sun room when the project was completed!

 

The floating deck was a perfect choice for us. It created a space where we now can eat, have extra seating for company, and just generally enjoy a place in the yard we weren’t able to before. Not too shabby for weekend’s worth of work and about $500. It’s not to late to get out and DIY your own backyard project before winter! Can’t wait to share more with you! Thanks for stopping by our little blog!