On last week’s program Don visited Kosta and Maria Elfes, newlyweds whose bridesmaids were victims of the Bali bombing. Kosta and Maria are trying to rebuild their lives, just as they know the girls would want them to do. In the week’s ahead, Don and the Burke’s Backyard team will work with Kosta and Maria, helping them to plan, design and construct a new garden.
Last week Don showed Maria and Kosta how to design their new backyard, using the Burke’s Backyard landscaping kit. This kit (available in the July edition of the Burke’s Backyard Magazine) makes it really easy to create the perfect backyard and have a little bit of fun at the same time. Once the design was complete, Scott Cam began work on stage two of the makeover – a new deck and entertaining area.
Scott demolished the old deck and built a revamped version with a Mediterranean theme. Treated pine timbers were used for all structural components, while fibre cement (FC) sheeting was laid to accommodate tiling at the next stage.
Posts (H4, 90x90mm) were installed vertically inground in quick-setting concrete to support beams (190x45mm) at deck level, and pink-primed beams (190x45mm) as a pergola above the deck. Scott recommended using either a scissor shovel or hiring a mini-loader with an auger attachment to dig your postholes. He also stressed the importance of painting all cut ends of pink-primed beams with a sealer, to prevent rot.
(Tip: a simple water level can be used to set levels for the deck. Use a clear tube and make sure there are no bubbles in water. If the water level is difficult to see, add food colouring.)
All beams were nailed in position then bolted in place with galvanised cup head bolts (10x150mm). Joists (90x45mm) were skew nailed on top of and perpendicular to the beams, to support fibre cement sheeting (15mm thick) screw-fixed to the joists. (Tips: fibre cement sheeting is very heavy so don’t attempt to lift it by yourself. Use a masonry disc fitted to a grinder to cut the sheets, and a screw gun to attach them to the joists.)
Scott bolted a handrail to the face of the posts (this is a legal requirement on all decks and steps more than 1 metre above the ground). A privacy screen of treated pine decking boards (90x20mm) was nailed horizontally to the face of the posts on the boundary side, to screen the deck from neighbours.
Materials
Equipment hire
The Burke’s Backyard landscaping kit is in the July 2003 edition of the Burke’s Backyard Magazine.