Wooden terrace around the pool

If you have a summer residence, you will certainly want to equip it so that the time spent here is remembered for a long time by vivid impressions.

Someone makes a mini football field, someone has a tennis court, someone is closer to the soul of his garden. In the same article will be considered how to equip the space around the pool to be comfortable not only in the water, but also near the pool itself. And for this around the pool you can build a wooden terrace, which will accommodate a table with chairs, and a chaise longue, if desired, you can even put a barbecue.

In a word, resting near the water in your yard will brighten up your leisure time, and the guests you invite to yourselves will not remain indifferent to such an original solution for arranging a recreation area.

Preparatory stage of construction

To begin with, it's best to make a sketch of the structure that you will need to build. The plan will help to calculate the amount of materials, visualize the final material and take into account the various important details of the building.

The first illustration shows a sketch of the pool around which a wooden terrace will be built. Since in this particular case the pool is not immersed in the ground, but is above the ground, the platform around it will be quite high, and the steps will be led to the terrace. All around the perimeter of the wooden terrace will be installed guardrails:

• railings( in Figure 1 they are shown in green);
• fence, or Privacy Screen, is what this design is called in the west( in Figure 1 it is shown in red).The purpose of this element in creating a closed recreation area from prying eyes.

Take into account the direction of the boards.

Supports

We are considering a terrace project on supports, each of which needs an individual foundation.

Consider the option of arranging concrete supports with a diameter of 12 inches each.

Feet	Centimeters	Inches	Centimeters
1	30,48	1	2,54
2	60,96	2	5,08
3	60,96	3	7,62
3,5	106,68	3,5	8,89
4	121, 92	4	10.16
5	152.4	5	12.7
10	304.8	12.7	32,258
11	335.28	11	27.94
12	365.76	12	30.48
15	457.2	15	38.1
20	609, 6	20	50,8

1. According to the project, pits of the corresponding diameter and depth of about 4 feet are digging.
   

   When preparing, the wells must have the same depth - 4 feet or approximately 123 cm.

2. Afterwards, so-called "sleeves" made of a roofing material fastened with a sticky tape are inserted into these holes. Above the ground, they should protrude about 1 foot.
   

   A roofing felt is installed and inside is placed a frame of three reinforcing bars connected with

3. wire. In these "sleeves" concrete is poured, and metal connectors are installed on top, to which wooden supports will be fastened.
   

   The solution is brought in by the wheelbarrow and poured into the formwork with a shovel, ramming or piercing the mix with a deep vibrator

   

   An example of fixing a bar to concrete supports

To avoid digging holes again, make a sketch with the dimensions showing the coordinates of each support. It is better, of course, to do this on the site plan, especially if there are plants in the construction zone or communications are going through, then you do not have to uproot the tree or repair the water supply.

Figure 2 shows the location of the concrete supports( Footings), as well as their coordinates. If the support falls on a water pipe, or a tree grows nearby, simply move the support slightly to the side. It is better to calculate and draw on paper than to face unpleasant surprises in the process of construction.

Having marked the location of the supports on the site, dig holes for them and concret them. Do not forget to install connectors for poles in raw concrete supports. After solidification of concrete, fix the vertical supports in the metal connectors. As supports, use poles with a cross section of 4x4 inches, since the height of the terrace is less than 6 feet. If the height is more than 6 feet, poles with a cross section of 6 x 6 inches should be used for supports. Metal connectors should be set to the appropriate size.

The third figure shows a diagram of the concrete supports used in this project.

Beams. Layout longitudinal

Further, according to the project, it is necessary to install on vertically located beam supports. This is the next step to build a terrace around the pool.

In accordance with the load, beams or double beams are installed. In the case where there are no more than 12 feet between neighboring beams arranged in one row, the beams are placed double, as in this considered project, where between each two nearest beams not more than ten feet.

The cross-section of longitudinal beams can be different, starting from 2х4, and ending with 2х12 inches. This choice will depend on the number and distance between adjacent lines of longitudinal beams. It is best to use as few supports as possible, respectively, and the lines of the beams will also be smaller, and the distance between them will be greater. But you do not have to dig a lot of pits for support, which is not so easy to erect.

The fourth picture is a diagram of the beams. The size of these elements is 2 × 10 inches.

Transverse beams

After longitudinal beams have been installed on the supports, transverse beams are installed on top of them. At this stage, it is important to maintain an equal interval between stacked beams. This value will depend on two conditions:

• how deck boards will be laid( across the beams or at an angle);
• from what material the deck board will be made.

If the boards are at an angle, the distance between the neighboring crossbeams is 12 inches. If the deck board is laid perpendicular to the beams, then the distance between the beams will be either 16 or 24 inches.

Transverse beams are installed at a distance of 24 inches if the following materials are used for the deck board:

• ironwood( Ipe Wood),
  

  Tile Wood board

• tiger wood,
  

  Tiger wood

• resin board.
  

  Wood-polymer composite board

These rocks have very high strength, and slightly deform to bend under vertical loads, so the beams can be located at a considerable distance from each other.

Also to the durable and stable materials used for deck boards, include polymer boards. Their advantage also lies in the fact that they do not need protective coatings, and also do not have knots that reduce the strength of materials.

This project uses a rather soft material, namely a cedar deck board. Therefore, the transverse beams will be fixed with an interval of 16 inches.

For crossbeams, beams with a cross-section of 2 x 8 inches are most often used.

Figure 5 shows how the frame of the wooden terrace around the pool with installed cross-beams will look.

After the beams are installed, they should be connected together, as shown in Figure 6, so that the structure becomes solid and as stable as possible.

Steps

The next step in the construction of a wooden terrace will be the installation of a skeleton for the steps. The basis is kosoury, which are located at a distance of 16 inches from each other.

For their manufacture a board with cross-section 2х10 is used. To ensure that all steps are the same in length and height, you first need to make a template for one step, and then sequentially mark the steps on the workpiece for Kosovra.

For the convenience of lifting and descending the steps, the dimensions of each step must be the same first, and secondly, in the height and depth of the step they must be in certainborders. For height, these are sizes from 6 to 8 inches, and for depth - from 12 to 16 inches.

There are, of course, and non-standard sizes of steps, but most often they are made within the limits that are given above.

Bottom of all Kosowers are connected by one board for the stability of the structure. Figure 7 shows the frame of the terrace and steps.

Basis for railings and fence

Before laying a deck board, you need to install poles for railings and fences. As posts, a beam with a cross section of 4x4 inches is used. The height of the fence is 6 feet, this is enough to make the rest area closed. But the height of the handrail can be of two sizes.

1. If the height of the terrace is less than 6 feet, then the railing is 3 feet.
2. With a terrace height of more than 6 feet, the railing increases to a size of 3.5 feet.

The distance between the posts of the railings and the fence should not be more than 6 feet, so that the structure is sufficiently reliable.

In Figure 8, the pillars for the railings and the fence are already fixed to the main frame of the terrace.

fencing Deck board

Now you can proceed directly to laying the deck board on the terrace surface, and also to trim the steps. The board is not installed in any way without gaps. When swelling from moisture boards increase in volume, and if there is no gap between them, they will float on each other. It's like if you lay a laminate close to the walls, leaving no gap and space for expansion.

The boards can be fastened with screws or nails, this is already convenient for anyone and what tools are available. If you are going to nail the deck board with nails, then an automatic gun for hammering nails will facilitate this task. They will work faster at times, and most importantly, your fingers will remain unharmed.

When laying the deck board, it is not necessary to measure each of them to within an inch. On the edge of the terrace, the board may hang slightly, just after the whole terrace is covered, you will need to walk with a saw on the contour and cut off excess. The result of laying the deck board is shown in Figure 9.

The same decking board is laid on the deck surface as on the terrace. Also, steps can be sewn up with vertical boards so that the inner frame is not visible. Such steps are called closed type, and it is exactly such steps that are made in this project( Figure 10).

Railing and fence

When the deck of the terrace and the steps are laid, you can proceed with the installation of the handrail and the fence.

The design of these structures is very diverse, and the materials that can be used to make the components of the fencing sections can be different.

For example, sections for railings can include the following elements:

• glass partitions;
• vertical or horizontal baluster made of metal or wood;
• combined inserts.

The easiest way is to assemble the sections for the railings first, and then simply install them between the respective supports. But for this you need to accurately measure the apertures between the poles, in order to correctly manufacture the sections and not to be mistaken with the dimensions.

In this project, sections are used, along the contour of which there is a bar cross-section 2x4 inches, and inside is inserted glass. Glass should be taken at least 3/4 inch thick. Figure 11 shows one such section.

When all sections are made, they can be installed in place, as shown in figure 12.

Since this terrace is not high, as handrails for the steps on the top are made handrails forhands, so it was more convenient to climb and descend, not being afraid of losing balance. If the terrace is above 6 feet, then it is desirable and along the steps to make full-height enclosing sections.

For sampling a board with a cross section of 1x6 inches is used, which is horizontally packed to the supports at 0.5 inch intervals. The easiest way is to stuff it from the outside, as it is quite difficult to dock the boards and supports from the inside, and you will have to make additional stiffeners. The thirteenth illustration shows the final result of the construction.

Naturally, after all the work, it is necessary to apply a paint coating that will protect against moisture and termites, respectively, the terrace will last much longer.

For this type of construction of terraces, the deck board is changed every 5-7 years, but the frame will last for decades if you make it from specially treated wood called pressure treated wood and has a characteristic green color.

Very helpful in building the construction of a three-dimensional model on the computer. With the help of this model, you, first, can visually see the end result and look at various design solutions, as well as make changes before you begin construction. Secondly, with the help of such a model it is easy to calculate the material, and not to buy excess, which will help to save considerably.

Successful all construction and pleasant rest!

Video - Laying of the terrace board near the pool

Video - Mounting of the terrace board on the fasteners Twin

Video - Example of mounting the terrace + plating