# Forum Home Renovation Decking  Spacing for decking Stumps?? HELP PLEASE!!

## xSnipesBlaze

Hello, 
I have planned to build a deck for my veranda that i have build last year. The size of the decking is going to be 9M (horizontally) by 5.8M (vertically). I really don't know what length to space the stumps!! I have planned to have 6 stumps going vertically and 7 stumps horizontally. Can anyone help me with the spacing of the stumps??? Both the stumps going vertically and horizontally....

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## SilentButDeadly

Stump spacing depends on the size of your bearers...and the size of your bearers is? 
By the by,  if your deck has a vertical component then it is not a deck...it is a climbing wall.  Width by depth is a far more comment nomenclature...

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## Bloss

1. Buy a copy of Alan Staines book "Decks & Pergolas Construction Manual" from here or hardware stores Building and Renovating Books 
2. Read it and then draw up a sketch (to scale is best, for getting advice and for you to work from).
3. Read the info on decks in the Library(see Red info above the sub-forum for links)
4. take a digital pic and upload the sketch here with questions 
You have not given enough info - for example, you gave length (9m) and width (5.8m), but you need to tell us the height and whether you plan on having a pergola. 
That is a big deck and my gentle suggestion unless you come back after doing the basics in 1-4 above is that I reckon you will struggle to do it as a DIYer.

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## zbooynick

Hi xSnipesBlaze, I plugged in your specs and came up with the info below. The wood used is F5 treated pine with deck under 1m in height. Assuming you want to run your boards along the 9m length, use 140mm deep timber, you would need 5 sets of bearers with 4 supports per bearer. In other words 20 holes (5 bearers x 4 supports).   *Timber Requirements*
Bearer - 2 x 140x45 F5 TP laminated, 72mtrs @ $5.85 Cost $421.2
Joist - 140x45 F5 TP at 450mm centres, 121.8mtrs @ $5.85 Cost $712.53
Decking - 90x19mm wide board with 5mm gap, 605mtrs (incl 10% waste) @ $4.95 Cost $2994.75
Total Timber Cost $4128.48   *Screw and Support Cost*
Decking Screws - 50mm 10g screws 2 per joist, 6 boxes of 500 @ $60 Cost $360
Supports - 300x90 Stirrups, 20 stirrups @ $8 Cost $160
Concrete - 0.92m3 concrete delivered, 0.92 m3 @ $340 Cost $312.48
Total Support Cost $832.48   *Total Project Cost $4960.96*   *Support Detail*
Bearers - 4 with a bearer span of 2100mm supported by 300x90 Stirrups
Joists - 21 spaced at 450mm centers
Concrete - 20 holes 300x650 wide and deep

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## Bloss

That will give a 'bouncy' deck IMO - I would close up spaces on joists to 400-410mm at a minimum. 
Plug your info into Forum member Blocklayer's tools here Deck Calculator - Stumps, Bearers, Joists, Boards, Cost - Metric and you can play around with spaces and timber sizes as well as use the actual prices you can get from your local suppliers. Allow for delivery costs too. 
Still do what I suggested above . . . Blocklayer's tool allows easy creation of your 'sketch'!  :2thumbsup:

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## zbooynick

At 410 spacing for joist. All calcs are AS compliant. FYI at 5 bearers and 6 supports per bearer, the costs come out to $5430.* 
Timber Requirements*
Bearer - 2 x 140x45 F5 TP laminated, 72mtrs @ $5.85 Cost $421.2
Joist - 140x45 F5 TP at 409.1mm centres, 133.4mtrs @ $5.85 Cost $780.39
Decking - 90x19mm wide board with 5mm gap, 605mtrs (incl 10% waste) @ $4.95 Cost $2994.75
Total Timber Cost $4196.34   *Screw and Support Cost*
Decking Screws - 50mm 10g screws 2 per joist, 7 boxes of 500 @ $60 Cost $420
Supports - 300x90 Stirrups, 20 stirrups @ $8 Cost $160
Concrete - 0.92m3 concrete delivered, 0.92 m3 @ $340 Cost $312.48
Total Support Cost $892.48   *Total Project Cost $5088.82*   *Support Detail*
Bearers - 4 with a bearer span of 2100mm supported by 300x90 Stirrups
Joists - 23 spaced at 409.1mm centers
Concrete - 20 holes 300x650 wide and deep

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## Bloss

AS or BCA compliant simply means the _minimum_ allowable timber dimensions and spacings and fixings. 
Standards are about minimums _not best practice._ 
If people wish to build to the minimum, or if they are in the industry feel they have to so they can compete with others then they are free to do so. DIYers are doing the job for themselves, mostly are using their own labour so the increased cost of simply building better is marginal. 
I would argue that it is always marginal and that most people will pay for real quality if they have the information to know what that means and that the norm is to build down to a standard rather than up to a price. As my parents used to say too many know the _cost_ of everything and the _value_ of nothing. 
For decks this especially so - and the two examples from zbooynick show this well - for small additional component cost and some additional labour time you will get a deck with much better 'feel'.  :2thumbsup:

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## zbooynick

Totally agree that what ever the minimum is, build to the next level of spec's. As a small example, I quote F5, where as you would use F7. Also, best practice is a long bow to draw considering a trade's best practice is different to DIY'er and even more so different to someone's opinion on a forum. Although let's not get sidetracked and read again xSnipesBlaze's question which in this case was asking for help on bearer size and spacing, not bounce or rigidity.  
There is a bit of software available (someone help with the name) that calcs the "bounce" based on the specifications plugged in. From memory, minimum spec's gave me a rigidity of about 70%.

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## Bloss

> Also, best practice is a long bow to draw considering a trade's best practice is different to DIY'er and even more so different to someone's opinion on a forum. Although let's not get sidetracked and read again xSnipesBlaze's question which in this case was asking for help on bearer size and spacing, not bounce or rigidity.

  mmm - nope - best practice or more accurately good practice is not different depending upon opinion or who is doing the work . . .! In fact most DIYers if well-informed (and have the skills) will build for themselves at a better quality and again if given good advice will try to design and build to get a better result than minimum standards would give. 
It is odd to imagine that somehow advice on size & spacing should ignore how the deck will feel when constructed - I would argue that is the whole point of getting timber sizes right: not meeting a minimum standard, but getting a quality deck built - that's not a sidetrack IMO, but fundamental.

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