When you're installing your wooden deck over this, the floor planks will not be installed directly over the concrete but rather on runners that are installed perpendicular to the house (so water drainage is not blocked). All lines where they touch the concrete, where the two layers of the runners meet and where there are holes left by knots, are all filled up with a high grade exterior use silicone in order to prevent water from accumulating and getting in there.And as with all other steps - any freshly cut piece of wood gets some preservative brushed on to to avoid water damage there as well.Installing the skirtsSkirts are needed on all vertical surfaces, but at this point I only installed the ones on the sides of the floor. Same rules applies as for the screws - get ACQ approved (perhaps even galvanized would work)  nails.GlueI used a fair amount of construction adhesive for places like the floor support, the skirts and the balusters, so you'll need several tubes of it. on Step 6. Just the fencing and grass to fix now. on Step 5, Reply The balusters need to have their bottoms and tops cut at a specific angle for them to sit flat between the railing and still be level, so I just positioned one, used a level to ensure it was straight, and marked it. You can build a raised deck over concrete base in two ways. You can then quickly remove the stair boards to apply silicone where the skirts touch the concrete, and put the boards back on.NotesCupping - if you look down the short edge of a board, you'll see the rounded grain that indicates this was once part of a circle. A deck’s stairway should be carefully planned so that all the stair rises (the vertical height of the steps) and all the tread depths (the horizontal length of the step runs) are equal. Deck How To Build A Deck. Reply Building a wooden deck this way does offer the advantage of not needing to worry about digging foundations, putting in joists, etc, but you do have to worry about the proper slope of the concrete porch, allowing for good water drainage, ensuring any parts that would be subjected to possible water pooling are treated against it, and such. If the bottom or top step is noticeably different in height or length from the other stairs, it will be a tripping hazard. They won't be supporting any weight so don't worry too much about how strong they are.Attach the finished skirts to the concrete using tapcon screws and you're done. Check out the video above for an explanation on scribing and framing your deck and the link below has more information on the building a front deck. If you're applying the deck directly over a concrete surface, use the bricks and temporary support beams to lift any sagging portions of the frame. Step 2 Lay the deck frame over the uneven concrete surface. I used 5/4" x 6" material to cover the sides and for the seating area; basically flooring material, so that the two would match.The frame of the benches is constructed of 2" x 3" beams, and then covered on the sides with flooring material and attached to the deck by driving screws diagonally through the bottom square of the bench directly into the deck. There's about 4" of good airflow underneath the floor, and only the runners are sitting right on top of the concrete. In addition to the glue at the bottom, this will help avoid the twisting and turning of the balusters over time.Use a reciprocating or circular saw to cut the tops of the posts down to the height of the railings. You're very welcome. Note, by the way, that this gap is only really necessary on the front of the porch and not on the sides. Start from the front of the step with full width boards and work your way towards the back, ripping the final board to the proper width with the circular saw (or, preferably, a table saw if you have one).When the steps are covered, use some bristol board to outline the exact shape of the skirts on the sides of the steps. Since our concrete was in good condition and would offer a solid base we decided to keep it and just cover it all with wood. Cut PVC trim boards to wrap around stoop using circular saw. Railings can be installed in many ways and designs, but I picked one that was relatively simple and looked good. Put the joist extension back into position, bridging between the slab and the pier block. It looks like they could be a bit wider? 10. I honestly can't remember exactly what length of screws I used for the bench frames, so you might be right about what I used. Run bead of hot-melt glue across miter joints and press trim board against stoop. Glad you liked them. 5 years ago. When you go buy your supplies, make sure you get at least 10-15% extra of everything, because some beams will have unsightly knots, will not be perfectly straight (even straight ones might warp a bit in the sun if left unused for a few days), etc. I really don't remember the exact number. Since the floor planks are a bit over 0.5" thick, and I was going to use 2" screws, I needed runners that were at least 2" high so I wouldn't risk bottoming out when attaching the planks. But I don't want it so long as I wont be able to get cushions to fit. I guess what I'm asking is with cushions on top, could it stand to be a bit longer? The curves will either point up or down, and this is important to keep in mind. Most of the time you will need to break the concrete apart using a sledge hammer or jack hammer and haul the debris away. Bridge from the slab to the pier blocks with a wider joist board. Simple deck step design which can be made in a little over an hour. My floor is 6" wide, so I bore the holes 1.5" from each edge. The only thing I'd suggest doing differently (as I've learned this over the past couple of years) would be to make the storage in small, movable sections instead of one large piece like I did. Install the ledger first, and slip proper flashing to stop rot. The bottom 2" x 4" will be raised off of the floor (just set it up on a scrap piece of the same material to get a good height set up).Start by cutting all the posts to length. If you're going to build something like this, remember this really important rule: an extra ten minutes spent putting in better water protection at this point will save you from headaches, lots of hours and $$$ in replacement materials down the road. It is much faster to mark the line, use a circular saw for what you can reach, and a handsaw for the rest. between the concrete and the runners), and use plenty of wood sealer on all the cut ends. a scrap 2" x 2" to space the balusters, and a scrap piece of flooring to space them away from the edge of the railing. Attach the wood-composite decking to the top of the concrete stoop using the same masonry anchors. Keep this stuff nearby as you'll be using it often.Tools I most certainly don't envy people who had to build stuff before the advent of power tools. on Step 5. Once you have a complete template for the skirts, lay it on top on a 2" x 10" board, transfer the shape, and cut. Thanks. Move the 2" x 2" spacer over, add another baluster, and screw this one in too. http://www.sweetmanstimber.com/decking-timber, Reply A href='http: //www.sweetmanstimber.com/decking-timber ' > http: //www.sweetmanstimber.com/decking-timber ' > http: how to build a deck over concrete steps... 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