# Forum Home Renovation Pergolas, Gazebos, Strombellas & Rotundas  another low line deck

## havabeer

hi everyone, 
as per my backyard tidy up thread here: https://www.renovateforum.com/f82/ti...ckyard-121735/ 
i'm considering ripping up an 8x5 meter section of averagely laid pavers and thinking about installing a low line deck. the paved area currently has a roof over it which is about 2.2m at its lowest so already under the height i'd prefer i don't want to raise the deck up to far from the current ground level. i know one of the problems with low line decks seems to be air flow and the fact timbers can stay quite moist. so has anyone ever considered building them out of the metal box section like this: Boxspan Light Structural Steel Beams; bearers, joists, rafters - Spantec    
anyone think of a reason i couldn't remove the current brick pavers and basically sit the metal joists on cement pads on the already compacted road base under the pavers, with a cemented in stirrup in the middle (to help with rigidity). connecting them to both the house and the already installed roof uprights, basically this @ 400 - 450mm centres. box span tables here: http://www.spantec.com.au/wp-content...pan-Tables.pdf basically says i need a 200mm section for a 5.3m continious span, i figured if i went down to the 100 - 150mm section but added further support underneath it shouldn't be an issue     
the only thing i don't have yet is a price on the boxspan, but at least the can fab it to your exact length so no wasteage, the decking on top will most likely be hard wood so pre-dilling each hole would have to happen anyway, but i can't imagine it being timber cheap. it just appeals to me as low maintenance, and dead straight from the factory. 
thoughts?

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## OBBob

Interesting. I can't answer your questions but one thing to be wary of is the bounce, especially in those steel beams. Not an issue if you provide enough supports.

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## phild01

You would need to sit them on a moisture barrier, similar to how ant caps are done.

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## havabeer

> You would need to sit them on a moisture barrier, similar to how ant caps are done.

  Very good point actually. A thin section of rubber or plastic on top of the concrete would help with moisture barrier as well as scratching up the gal finish from any bounce or movement. 
found on there website the 100mm section is $14 a meter, need roughly 20 x 5m lengths so it's about $1400 which isn't too bad, I think if I did some shopping around and selling the pavers could have it all done for around 5.5k

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## Marc

That may be ok to save the joist ... sort of, but your deck is still wood and what you need is distance between the ground and the boards. Consider digging down as much as practicable without affecting drainage.

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