Non-Combustible Deck - Materials and Pricing/ plus terrace materials
Any thoughts on non-combustible deck materials for a legal 3-family with a deck being built off a pretty high parlor floor (in front it’s a normal raised first floor, one whole flight up becuase the ground floor is at grade; but the property slopes downward and so the parlor floor is an extra 6 steps down to grade, beyond the one flight). Our architect included McNichols galvanized steel and subway grating in our bid package, and potential contractors have told us that doing it this way doubles or triples the cost and have suggested Diamondback steel, painted black. We can’t afford to double the price of a regular deck. I’ve seen a decent number of basic iron decks with ipe infill and that sounds appealing, but – it’s an open question whether we can use fire-rated ipe wood for the infill and possibly the stairs, apparently the city doesn’t usually sign off on it even though perhaps it should because it really is fire-rated, it’s a higher level of ipe (but then again it’s also more expensive), and our expeditor thinks it should work and architect might be willing to sign off on it. Any thoughts? Pictures? Also, any suggestions as to how to pave the terrace area at the bottom of the deck? the deck stairs will lead back to the garden, and half will stay green/grass/plants and the other half will be terrace, but I don’t want it to be too hard a material becuase there will be kids running around and I don’t want people to fall to get too hurt. is there a terrace material that’s not overly pricey or too hard-surfaced, but still nice for putting a table and chairs on?
jeanmarine2
in Decks and Porches 12 years and 4 months ago
9
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9 replies
snowman2 | 12 years and 4 months ago
I friend did a steel pan with bluestone set in 4″ of concrete. Looks great, near 0 maintenance, dry underneath. You need to account for drainage.
needmtg | 12 years and 4 months ago
With a deck 18′ off grade, not sure you need light through the decking. Why not go with the subway grating, then add outdoor wood tiles to within 3′? They are easy to install, you’d just need a way to contain the open edges. Bluestone pavers for the yard look great and can be installed over sand base. Don’t worry about children falling, that’s just part of growing up. My various tenants over the years have had 6 kids and no one’s gotten hurt.
dazednconfused2 | 12 years and 4 months ago
We often spec the subway grating bar-grille stuff, but I always have my reservations with that stuff. It looks great, lets light in, and can be virtually maintenance-free, but it hurts to walk on with bare feet. As an option, one deck we’re doing now with Lopopolo will have metal slats laid flat, like a fire escape. It lets in the same mount of light and is much easier on the feet.
jcarch | 12 years and 4 months ago
jeanmarine2 – the grass pavers would prevent chairs/table legs from sinking into the ground, so you can have a ‘soft’ area that’s as stable and functional as pavers. If you’re doing pavers, be sure the contractor puts in the proper substrate and compacts everything correctly. Otherwise, the pavers can settle unevenly over time. jcarch ———————— James Cleary Architecture
jeanmarine2 | 12 years and 4 months ago
meme2, what materials were used in your deck? It looks like steel railings and stair treads filled with cement? Hard to tell but yours is the nicest deck I’ve seen thus far, and the one I could most imagine a variation of for our house, so I’d be interested in knowing who did the work, what the materials were etc.
jcarch | 12 years and 4 months ago
A few things to consider for the decking: Subway grating isn’t really that expensive…but galvanized material is much higher priced than raw steel. But with the galvanized you’re looking at zero maintainence going forward. With painted steel, you’ll have to scrape and touch up periodically, and deal with rust. Subway grating also lets light through so that the rooms beneath the deck aren’t as dark, and you don’t have to worry about drainage. And lastly, the open grating panels are self supporting over pretty long spans, so you tend to need less support structure beneath them. It’s not an open question on whether you can use Ipe w/in 3′ of the property line. You cannot (you used to be able to, but no more). Ipe isn’t fire rated – some manufacturers have a flame spread rating for their Ipe product, but that’s irrelevant, as the code says anything w/in 3′ of the property line has to be non-combustible, so the fact that Ipe burns slowly doesn’t help you…it can’t burn at all. You could do compacted crushed stone at the bottom of the stairs, or they make geo-pavers, which are open plastic cells which get embedded in the soil, and you can then grow grass over them. Goggle ‘grass paving’ and you’ll see lots of options. Nice terrace meme2! jcarch ———————— James Cleary Architecture
brucef | 12 years and 4 months ago
Nice deck. Is that cantilevered with no visible means of support?
meme2 | 12 years and 4 months ago
meme2 | 12 years and 4 months ago
we spent over 10,000 but it was a curved deck same steel and trex/ Trex i would never again will change to IPE or teak in a couple of years.