5 Tips for Building a Durable Deck 

I'm definitely favoriting this video. I've seen soooo many decks that after just 4-5 years are already in need of some TLC.

Soaking the end of post in "end sealer" solution is new tip to me. I like it!!! Thanks for sharing.

I did not know about copper in treatment and the joist tape. Learned something today. Thanks,

I have been doing the joist tape for year using ice and water menbrane, I always get good complements from the inspectors .I like your method

Great video!!! But seriously!!!!watch 4:00 to 4:30 with the sound off!!!😂😂 Nice Deck!

Is it sad that I watch this channel sooo much...that I already knew all of this?

Replacing my rotted siding and ledger board now. The idiot that built the deck nailed the ledger board to the house and never flashed or anything. These are all great tips that I plan to follow. Especially the Deck to Wall 5/8” ledger spacers.

Matt, you should do a video comparing the different types of pressure treated material.

Worst timing ever... just yesterday I finished extending my current 6x24 deck out to 18x24. Now Matt tells me how I should have done it 😭. If only this video had dropped last week... The good news, the first 3 of the 5 tips I did anyway, and while I agree in theory with putting peel and stick on top of the joists I think it’s probably overkill (the existing 6x24 deck I built in 1988 without any joist protection and it’s still in excellent shape) and while 12” centers may be needed for Trex-like products, I’m using real wood decking and 30 years experience shows that 16” centers are fine in this application. Not saying that either tip is a bad idea, just that I’m ok with the fact that I didn’t do it. The more I think about it, I suspect I *will* use joist protection if I ever build another deck...

How come you didn’t install a flashing over top of the ledger board to prevent water from getting in there in the first place?

That deck is amaze-balls but I can not imagine how expensive it was

The chemicals and or salts from the pool will splash over the edge onto the galvanized hangers and bolts and cause them to deteriorate pretty quickly. They definitely will not last the 30-40 years you claim.

WARNING..... It’s never a good idea to use any type of galvanized or other zinc finished fastners with today’s pressure treated woods containing copper. The zinc and copper when combined with the acid (naturally occurring in wood) and water will create conditions similar to a wet battery. The low electrical current will cause the zinc to very aggressively “deplate ” towards the copper in the wood. I’ve seen G185 completely deplate in as little as two years when used with ACQ pressure treated woods. ACQ has a particularly high copper content but even pressure treating solutions with lower copper content will still produce a low current which will eventually strip the zinc. If you want a long lasting deck..... spend the extra and use stainless steel fastners when in contact with pressure treated woods containing copper.

Going 12" oc is so little extra money to have a deck with no bounce. Most decks you are talking 3 extra joists. Glad to see you show the joist tape in higher rain and snow conditions this is another inexpensive product with longevity. I have seen pressure treated framing rot in 2 years using above grade contact. I would only frame a deck with a ground contact product.

Matt...beautiful project!

Some of the nicest clean built decking I've seen 👍

I hope the future vids show RAILING installed.......😱

Like the idea of the spacers. Worked homeowner claims for 30 years. Literally saw hundreds of rotted ledger board which in turn rot out the sills. Nice job.

Maybe its not done yet but where are the railings??

I think of all the decks I've f'd up over the years lol. I've never used joist tape and I work in Seattle! Yikes!!! Although rot only occurs if it dries out so since it's always rainy I might be okay

You can treat wood as much as you want it still will rot away in the end. Had it with my deck which became a death trap before I rebuilt it. Used recycled plastic wool and composit decking material. Seen plenty backyard fixes with wood on TV. Want to see what they look like in 5 years. Guaranteed not the same.

Great work, that deck is going to last a lifetime!

Nice deck, you should however buy your guys a string line and show them how to use it. A keen eye will spot the bows in the installed deck boards (Pause at 7:17 and look at the furthest end, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th boards from the outside edge are installed like bananas).

Great job. Years ago I had my local aluminum guy make me caps for the top of my deck joists. 2" X 1 5/8" X 2". I held them in place with a couple of galvanized roofing nails until the deck boards were installed. 35 years later and no signs of water damage. The other idea I had was to apply an aluminum "L" shape fascia piece on the backside of the ledger board against the wall side. It provides a continuous cap and moisture protection when affixing it to the wall. I finish it with a silicone bead where the aluminum meets the wall. Again, 35 years later and the ledger board has no sign of any type of water damage.

Beautiful deck and I love the view from it, but isn't there any code regulation for a safety railing, due to the height of the deck above the ground?

Don't build it out of wood . A concrete retaining wall or stone wall with fill and a concrete top last forever. don't ever have to worry about rodents underneath or weeds, rotting wood staining or sealing the wood.

I live in upstate RAIN DOOM AND GLOOM New York, and I built a pressure treated 12x20 deck with 4x4's planted into the ground at the frost line (almost 3 feet deep) with 2x8 pressure treated joists 1 foot off the ground with pres treated 1x6x12 deck boards and they were NAILED with twist nails treated 2" and guess what? 34 years later, outside of normal fading to gray.....the deck looks like the day it was built. Not one board had to be replaced, no sagging, had enormously huge phat.....aunts and uncles all over it over the years, no "edge taping sealing", not extra treating over the years of the deck boards, no railings warping or getting loose, stairs look the day they went in. Nothing. Plain, old fashioned carpentry. OH, and 16" on center joists. No special "Yellawood" sold here or back then. Just...whatever Lowes was selling. Go figure.

My deck are 12" on center or less and did it in 1993. The deck is the most solid deck I ever stepped on. Standard deck feels bouncy and flexes too much. It's a pain to put in the nails for the brackets back then with a hammer... not enough room to swing your hammer. Today, just use the pneumatic palm nailer or impact screw gun if you opt for screws designed for joist hangers. Great tips on ground contact lumbers and others. Syrprised you didn't mention roofing membrane and aluminum flashing against the house for water protection.

Matt, I am building a second floor deck and want dry space underneath without doing a under deck solution. Do you have a video for insulation. Thanx

"yellow piss wood".... environmentally UNfriendly BULLSHIT!!.....the crap lasts 5 years...including the "ground contact" variety....yet I have the older pressure treated lumber that is still in great shape form 1994 for both the joists and deck boards (2x6).

On ledger boards up against a house I put galvanized flashing that tucks up under the siding and then goes over the joists like an L. Under it is self healing peel and stick window tape and a bead of roofing tar. The boards on top might eventually rot, but they seem to dry out pretty quickly and there's no damage to the ledger/house.

Build it from galvanised steel with one inch thick concrete decking. Quicker, cheaper and way more durable.

Breathing protection probably good when cutting and making dust with high copper content, I've seen a lot of folks no being careful when removing antifouling bottom paint off boats on other social media feeds

tip 1,2,3,4,5. don't use wood. use steel. its better all around for very little extra cost. the materials can be purchased at any drywall supply store. deckadvisor.com/2012/06/20/goodbye-wood-deck-framing-hello-steel-deck-framing/

Umm..your deck is not to code with no railings...I'm an arckitekt you know.

That’s a mighty fine looking deck!

that is one beautiful deck you have built there. I noticed that flashing was not needed due to a pool application. and the lack of a rail system. I never liked relying on the structure for support, which I have done in the past. now I always have posts two or three feet from the structure. thank you for the video.

Very cool and strong. Will make a great helipad for evacuating someone after they fall off the edge.

Why anyone would bother with a ledger board is beyond me. It’s the weakest link rot-wise. I build my decks free standing. Having to add a couple braces is worth it.

Don't fprget 4 and 5 4. Moisture 5. Poor Installation

Rust isn't rot? Seems like rot to me, if its rusted and you clean it material will be lost. Can rust thru!!! And when did they start spelling square with a C? Video is a joke!

I tore out a yellow wood deck last week. It’s junk just like all treated since 03 or so. Find marine grade lumber. It’s like the old stuff.

Dude, you were awesome in Hi-de-hi! And you developed an American accent... and moved to America... and got younger.

Guy found fancy ways to charge his customer an extra $12,000. I approve 👌

When I was single I bought a house with a deck that ran the full length of the house because I was looking to get married and the ladies love a man with a huge deck. I'm thinking our marriage will benefit if I build another big deck out back.

Any tips for making plumb supports to bottome plates that are anchored, I just cannot see how the measurements are presice enough to be able to tighten the plate down, without having to kick it around to get it plumb, and hammering the dam tekko nails thrown it off two

How did you get away with no railing? Does it basically count as a dock?

Do you have any tips for not being on the "fix " the build crew, where someone took it to gaptown....

Would have loved to see that space under the deck made usable. Imagine a sloped pavement, LED lighting from the stone to deck joint seam, a couple of beanbags, a small spiral stair on the side of the deck from above to down below, and a bottle of wine overlooking that view.

Joist tape is horrible! It holds in moisture in the wood joists and eats away at any pvc or recycled plastic so you can’t use pvc or composite. It’s asphalt base and reacts to plastics.

I’ve actually used roofing tar on my post and painted on heavily and then let it set up on it so that it’s almost dry then I put it in the hole And poured concrete around it and made sure that the concrete was below the top of the roof and Tara my posts and that’s given me over 20 years of life already counting what are your thoughts on that if you ever seen it?

Holy OSHA violation. Standing on an unfinished deck like that wouldnt fly in my country.

Joist tape here in Australia is code. Great video.

Ever heard of flashing? Gapping your ledger an inch off your house is a really stupid idea.

Rows could have been straighter. But whos looking

You don’t need handrails on a 20 foot tall deck?

The composite looks nice, but it expands longways way too much in the sun.

Great video. That some heavy and expensive framing. What a solid deck. I'd love to see it 100% complete.

Great job on that deck. It was a good bit of extra work but it looks like it got hammered out with ease. Appreciate the tips

Thanks for your show Matt and thanks for the research you do on best products and practices

Matt, I noticed the finished deck board layout is picture framed and has a mid span design to it... was this design driven or product driven? I seem to have noticed more builders doing this with composite decking due to the inherent movement. Another great video.

I dont agree with spacing your deck ledger board 1" off the the house (of what ever structure you are attaching the deck to) this puts all the stress on your bolts. In this case you used all threads which are not as strong sheer value. If you flash and seal the ledger to your structure properly and water/vapor barrier the building being attached to, then you will never have to worry about water getting in there. The bolts are designed to hold the desk from falling outwards not vertically. You should be using a 16D or greater nail or equivalent deck screw (concrete all threads in your case here) to secure it vertically to the structure.

Silicone calk and flashing keep water out is the first tip

Was rebar added to the piers? If so, how many per pier and what thickness was the rebar?

How awesome. I am literally starting my deck framing for my dream home after Labor Day. 12” OC and joist tape will definitely be on mine! Thanks, Matt!!!

i never thought of connecting my joists to the beam i always sit them on top

Hey +Matt Risinger quick question... What tape would you advise? I used Grace Vycor in a section of my deck 2 years ago and wasn't impressed with the sticking ability. I was at Lowes the other day and ran into the normal Zip Flashing Tape that it's used to tape the Zip board seams and that thing seemed to be sticky as hell. As you would say "tenaciously sticky" ... I was wondering if one could use that? it seemed to be a good alternative and actually cheaper.

What’s that tool ur worker used to keep screws firmly still while drilling it in?

In my opinion azek makes one of the best deck products I’ve ever seen

in a 6 x 8 shed will the doors open wide enough for a riding lawnmower?

What materials did you use for that invisible rail? 100% air or is it a mixture?

I've been watching several videos related to how built a deck , and you put all of them in one great video , nice job CAMO ( from old house great school) also one guy use deck spacers for the ledger

I am going to hang LUS46 hangers off my fascia board, do I: 1) Apply deck tape sandwiched between the fascia and the backside of the hanger? (will be using SDS screws) or 2) Wrap the 4x6 beam in deck tape prior to setting it directly inside the hanger?

Matt, Not trying to be Bob the builder here, but we primarily focus in roofing and decking. Mfm peel and seal is a great product that can be used to flash a ledger board. This is our go to Product. We will also cut down grace peel and stick.

I frame my decks differently but I like that you're oversizing and underspacing the joists. I also like that you're using ground contact lumber. Rated and unrated has been on shelves for years and nobody knew it. This may be changing since this video was produced. Nice hustle man. And, get 10 deck builders in a room and you'll get 15-ways to build a deck, some claiming joist tape is necessary and others not. Probably a number of variables go into this. Where I build, I add it to any deck I resurface.

LOVE those Camo Edge Fasteners!!!

*.....Sure...Great Idea 💡, lets DRILL HOLES INTO the SIDE of an OLD POOL...!*

Great video but tab down your joist hangers

@2:44 except building codes (IRC & DCA6) do not allow for brick like that to carry any load except for the weight of the bricks above it.

How many years a person can live after diabetes?

As the corrected video states, Yellawood is not available nationwide. Not Seattle, not Los Angeles.

in new york, its code to put the post into the concrete in the ground...

yikes to that deck - guessing its' unfinished with no railing. But the workers....wouldn't want one of them slip off - bye bye company

I use plasti-dip on my end post!! Water bye bye

IMO, 1/8" spacing behind the ledger board is not enough. Over a short period of time, that will be filled with organic material and you will lose your airspace. My method is to use a 5/4 x 6" PVC product like Azek vertically, spaced appropriately and attach the ledger board to and thru to your rim joist or other attachment point. When decking, make sure to leave the gap.

Do you use NADRA certified contactors for your deck builds? The statistics on injury and death from deck, porch and railing collapse is staggering.

Hey Matt! Love your content, thanks for sharing. We moved into a home in the Wimberley area and have a second floor deck with suspect framing. Do you have any recommendations for a local company that services Hill Country to inspect and reinforce a second-floor deck with a primary focus on safety and sound construction principles?

Thanks for the info video. I live in NC and on the process of replacing my house 2x 10 outer band and even replacing the second inner 2x10 in some area ! My deck is 12x60 ft long 🙁 they rotted from the ledger board flashing

1. Don't disagree with spacing the ledger off the wall but in 30 years frankly I've only seen that as a problem when the ledger was not flashed properly (keep water out of that joint in the first place).2. I have an issue with epoxied "dowels" for the ledger connection - those should be tested fasteners with a proven rating for both pull out and shear.3. You don't mention the depth of those piers - that's quite a steep slope you've got there and the potential for them all to slide off.Finally I would never build all that structure (let alone walk on it) while its held up only by 2x4's on the flat.

Oh, and BTW, that deck looks shit-hot!

Matt, When i google on iron deck post i can’t seem to find them? where can i order the iron deck posts? And did you ever use helical piles? Thank you! You’re channel is awesome👊🏻 🙂

Matt, can you please add the link for those spacers you mentioned?

Matt, I have important questions for you that are on my mind. Firstly, thanks for the tutorial You provided a couple great tips which I hadn't known about. As the son of a mechanical engineer and myself a micro-mechanical engineer (virtually the same principles) I'd always been a builder and would just for educational purposes and fun would often bat the ball back and forth with my dad about all kinds of builds. However, again I have a question for you, a specialist in the field and not some know-it-all weekend warriors, whom I'm sure will feel compelled to weigh in on nonetheless. My question for you Matt, and for Matt alone, revolves around that I have never believed in the wisdom of tying in a deck into the inner beams of a house where you can't see the nature of how they're holding up over the many years lifetime of a properly, well built tie-in deck. Where I live there are indigenous aggressive termites well known about by the home builders before they built but not by me since I came from another town. However, here you put the deck tie-ins into the admittedly robust walls of a swimming pool on a hill. Beside what little that we could see of the exterior of the bolts what type of terminal ends were anchored into the side of the swimming pool walls, was the bolting system made of a non-rusting material, how deep did they go in and what do you think of the wisdom of putting stress concentrating points in a vital pool wall which previously was uniform (as much as it can be) in a swimming pool where each gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds. The weight of the water and the pull on the wall of the deck represent quite a bit of potential energy. If the deck should be used for purposes unplanned for, eg. too many people crowding on it, their jumping up and down such as at a fourth of July display (yes, I've seen this filmed and the deck collapsing) and or the owners (or next owners if sold) deciding to build on it, eg. a stone hearth or cooking grill, etc.will all the tie-ins embedded hold up against that degree of extra pull and especially not combine with the weight of the water at new stress concentrating points? Beside the loss of aesthetics, would you not do better by adding vertical 6x6 inch supports next to the pool and possibly adding some under deck cross bracing between 6x6's proximal to one another? If you don't have time to answer all these questions, I'd very much appreciate knowing the mechanics of the bolt tie-ins to the pool wall and if they're not merely galvanized but rust proof. Also, how would you calculate the number of tie-in bolts needed? I'd greatly appreciate it if you could shine some light on the parts of the build which you didn't cover in your otherwise very good presentation. Thanks!

Actually, I can think of one reason why it might not necessarily be a good idea to use the more heavily copper impregnated, ground- contact lumber for all parts of a deck. I suspect that the ground-contact Lumber , with more than double the copper content, might be more corrosive and likely to interact with the Fasteners used. It might be best to use stainless fasteners everywhere if the entire deck is built of ground- contact rated, pressure-treated lumber. I foresee a problem with that approach as well, which is that your Simpson Strong-Tie joist hangers and other similar joist hangers for building decks are made of galvanized steel, so now you've got stainless Fasteners being used on galvanized steel joist hangers with heavily copper impregnated decking. Especially in a damp climate, this could be quite a recipe for hastening galvanic corrosion and leading to eventual structural weakening.

I wouldn’t let these guys build my deck. The weak spot in the whole thing is their method of attachment to the wall, unless the brackets and bolts were made of stainless steel. Also, from a design point of view, the deck is blocking the view of that expensive stone wall; at the very least, those ugly steel columns should be reduced in number by using a bigger beam and encased in stone piers.

Useless infomercial for yellowwood.

Did code not require a railing on this deck?

Anyone who builds stuff needs to have some copper napthenate on hand. There is a strong temporary odor but it’s worth it. Anytime wood will have ground contact I use it.

Concrete absorbs water, the spacing should have been 1/2 inch

I have used left over ice and water shield from roofing jobs to do the same thing as the joist tape.