VIDEO: Steve Maxwell shows how to build a great deck foundation
Robert Koci
Videos Canadian Contractor canadaStuff We Like editor Steve Maxwell provides a detailed description of the perfect post saddle installation
In this video, Canadian Contractor contributing editor Steve Maxwell (“Stuff We Like”) provides a detailed description of the perfect post saddle installation for a deck.
Steve recommends 12-inch diameter footings, because you have a bit more leeway in aligning the posts properly.
He also recommends you use footings that are wrapped in black polyethylene plastic. Why? Because the polyethylene wraps prevent “frost jacking.” Frost jacking is where frozen soil grips and lifts the footing. In a cold climate like Canada, that is a serious concern. You definitely don’t want your deck footings to be lifting up out of the ground. The polyethylene wrap makes the footing too slippery for Jack Frost to get ahold of.
Steve also recommends using “hot-dipped galvanized” U-channels on the top of the footings. Don’t use plain steel ones. Even the electroplated channels don’t provide the corrosion-resistence that hot-dipped galvanized hardware will provide. Same deal for the carriage bolts: use hot-dipped galvanized ones.
There are lots more tips on this video.
If you’re going to build a deck for a client, do it the right way – this way – on the footings and hardware connectors.
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Nice little video. I see home owners continually use sonotubes with no base pad, or belling of the bottom , to increase the load area on to the soil. Also -in the write up you refer to hot tipped instead of hot dipped galvanization. Just a rewrite error, as the video is correct.
Steve, thanks for your comment. The typo-error on hot-dipped (not hot-tipped, you are right) was all mine, now corrected. I really appreciate you drawing that to our attention. Good point on the base of the footing tubes. Thanks to Steve Maxwell for this superb little piece of instruction.
We’ve tried using screw piles on the last couple of decks. Way cheaper then bell bottom concrete sono tubes. Zero excavation but you want to be around during the process to ensure close alignment of the screw pile caps which are height adjustable.