# Forum Home Renovation Paving  Pulling up deck/spa and replacing with pavers

## jusrus

Hey all, 
New to the forum.  Had a read and seem like a friendly place. 
As per my post in the introduction forum, we're about to do a bunch of renovating/redecorating around our terrace house in Fitzroy.  Originally built in the 1810s, in 93/94 the previous owner added a second story, and fully renovated the property.  Did a great job, but its been 15 years, and a few things have gone awry and/or need updating. 
Our first task is our small backyard.  Roughly 3m x 3m (yep, FItzroy properties are SMALL!), it currently has a pretty rotted deck with a spa taking up a ridiculous amount of space. 
We're going to take out the decking on Wednesday, and get rid of the spa by the end of the week.  While we don't really know what's underneath (gulp), but due to the nature of the deck, until we pull it up we won't know.  Only one way to find out eh? 
The front section of the house is on a slab, and the back on stumps.  We are hoping that the deck is on separate stumps, but again, until we rip up the deck, we won't know. 
I'll take photos tomorrow to give you all an idea of what's there at the moment. 
But, as you might expect, we've already got a few questions regarding the paving end that you all may have an opinion on? 
1.  Presuming that the joists from the decking are connected in some way to the house, we are also presuming that we could take them out without effecting the structure of the house - are we crazy? 
2.  If so, can we build a small retaining wall where the house meets the existing deck, and fill around the joists?  Or will they eventually rot and cause headaches? 
3.  As its such a small area, we're presuming a gentle (1 cm per metre of paving) slope towards the corner away from the house towards the laneway the house borders should be suitable drainage? 
4.  In the back half of the house on the laneway side, there are airholes in the wall - which I assume/presume/feels like masonite.  These go all the way to end - including the deck.  Obviously we will have to fill these if we are to fill with rock/soil/sand etc as part of the decking.  Will this effect airflow under the rest of the house? 
The reason we are doing this all ourselves is that no one in the area seems too keen to take on such a small job, with so many unknowns.  I'm figuring that if after we pull up the deck we come across something too scary for us to deal with, we may well hire a professional! 
Interested in any or all opinions. 
Justin.

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## Bloss

1. Probably not connected at all so likely OK, but put some pics up after decking is off. 
2. Probably not the right way to deal with it, but let's see what is there first. 
3. That's probably enough slope, but so long as the water can get away to the lower side. If there is a fence or other barrier then a downpour could see water build up on the path and going where you do not want it. 
4. Wall likely to be fibre sheet - maybe asbestos unlikely to be masonite, but you never know. Holes are important for underfloor ventilation especially in older building low to the ground as this one is. Again some pics would be good. Might be that you can fill the holes and put  some new in up higher, but you might have to from up some little barriers so that the new path etc does not block the holes.

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## jusrus

Hi Bloss, 
Thanks for the reply. 
I spent the day ripping up the deck - pretty sore now!  I haven't taken the joists out yet (they're rotted, so shouldn't be too much of a drama).  Looks like the spa is going to be a pain though!  Seems as though its concreted in - would this be right? 
Anyway.  Here are a few photos  :Redface:   http://s666.photobucket.com/albums/v...eck%20removal/ 
I should have taken a better one of the back of the house/start of the deck.  Will do tomorrow. 
In photo 1, you can see the whole yard (yep, its small).  The plan is to pave on a slope towards the far right corner.  There is a door there, that runs out to a laneway, where water can do what it wants - there is a City Water drain just outside, so the majority would flow there.  In photo 4 you can see the view towards the house underneath.  That floor joist is just the wrong side of the back door. 
While the decking joists aren't connected to the flooring joist for the house, they do seem to go underneath the backdoor.  Hmm.  Could be a pain. 
Re earlier points. 
1. Should be fine as they are seperate structures? 
2. We are going to have to do something to keep the soil/rock/sand in place.  All edges apart from the back wall are purely holes! 
3.  Again, think we'll be fine running to the back corner, thru the door to the City Water drain? 
4.  Fibre sheet seems more likely.  It was installed in 95, so I doubt it would be asbestos????  Scary.  But surely VERY unlikely? 
So now the next task (tomorrow) is to attack the spa.  Might just break it up I think.  Not sure if there's a better way if it is concreted in? 
And some more questions! 
5.  The spa electricals and plumbing seems very simple.  Should we get a plumber/sparky in to get them disconnected/removed, or do it ourselves? 
6.  Ideally we'd like to keep the tap in the back right corner (by the door).  These pipes were running under the deck.  Can we simply bury them and pave over the top?  Will we have issues when we compact the soil/sand? 
7.  Any tips/guides or suggestions for the retaining walls (is that the right term) to put our paving foundation in? 
Whew.  Think that's all for now.  Don't know how people do this for a living - I'm buggered! 
Thanks...Justin.

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## Bloss

> Hi Bloss, 
> Thanks for the reply. 
> I spent the day ripping up the deck - pretty sore now!  I haven't taken the joists out yet (they're rotted, so shouldn't be too much of a drama).  Looks like the spa is going to be a pain though!  Seems as though its concreted in - would this be right? Probably has a bed of concrete under it, but usuall mortar and not too hard to lift.
> Anyway.  Here are a few photos   http://s666.photobucket.com/albums/v...eck%20removal/ 
> I should have taken a better one of the back of the house/start of the deck.  Will do tomorrow. 
> In photo 1, you can see the whole yard (yep, its small).  The plan is to pave on a slope towards the far right corner.  There is a door there, that runs out to a laneway, where water can do what it wants - there is a City Water drain just outside, so the majority would flow there.  In photo 4 you can see the view towards the house underneath.  That floor joist is just the wrong side of the back door. 
> While the decking joists aren't connected to the flooring joist for the house, they do seem to go underneath the backdoor.  Hmm.  Could be a pain. Joists were probably been run under the older part to pick up an existing bearer. You could just cut them flush to the outer wall and then cover them with whatever sheeting or cover you intend using.
> Re earlier points. 
> 1. Should be fine as they are separate structures? Yep.
> ...

  Hope that helps.  :2thumbsup:

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