4 Years ago, after replacing our 70 year old wooden floorboards in our house, we decided that there was still some life in them yet. So, we decided to use the boards and joists to make a decking in the garden. Considering it is untreated pine it's lasted really well, but has some areas where it's suffered external exposure and rotten. The time has come to change it, and fresh from our Scandi visit I'm feeling fully inspired do replace it with something more interesting.
With help from Raph and Etta, we needed to move the wood store and proceeded to take up the old boards and assess the damage to the joists below to see what would need replacing.
Next we applied a layer of bitumen primer, which I had in the shed and then a coat of red exterior wood paint to the joists to give them some water resistance. Some joists needed replacing and because of the new pattern I needed to put in quite a lot more.
I bought some damp proof course to lay over the joists to help with surface rain water. It is inexpensive but could really help extend their lifetime. Next was starting to lay the herringbone pattern. I bought the decking in 1 metre lengths to save cuts and laid them ungrooved side up for a less patterned effect as we couldn't afford hardwood, so for inexpensive softwood you get a similar look. The first couple of pieces of wood dictate the ease of the entire pattern so I had to make sure to get them at a right angle to each other and to the frame underneath. It then goes down fairly quickly, just slowing for cuts at the edges.
Then we just had to put the wood store back, level it up a bit and fill it with wood. Here is the finished product, which we are absolutely delighted with. I think it is probably about 5-6 times more work than just laying them in straight, long lengths, but why would I want to do it the easy way, hey?
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