Who is ready for a little DIY deck?! We were! We decided to build a deck on our front porch and I’m so so happy with how it turned out. Our house looks way better from the front now – it’s such a natural extension off the walkway to our front door. There’s more space for people to hang out and talk by the front door and I love it! Here’s how we did it!
Demo
We started off by removing all the gravel out here. After that was done, we cut into our lawn where we wanted our deck to be, and I plowed a bit with a rake to loosen the ground and level it out.
For the deck, we decided to use these beautifulll cedar planks!
The Base
Next up, we laid down landscape fabric and I nailed in landscape pins with my dead blow hammer. We made a little divot in the center and on the sides, and filled them with paver base so the deck would be level with our walkway. This is where our concrete deck blocks would sit! We put 4 concrete deck blocks in each divot for the planks to sit on.
Then we built the frame out of joists and secured some blocking (smaller perpendicular pieces) between the joists to create the frame. We also installed some joist hangers to make sure everything was secure.
The front of our house was already starting to look better with the framing – like it was always meant to be there!
Next up, we added some flashing tape (basically just like waterproof tape) for an extra layer of protection against wood rot. I went over it with this rubber roller to make sure it adhered fully to the wood.
The Deck
Next up, the actual cedar deck planks! Jake found this awesome tool that allows you to screw the boards in from the sides, so you don’t really see any screws on top of the deck. It’s so cool!
Sealing & Fascia
Once all the planks were installed, I applied a clear sealer over the wood using a stain applicator. Cedar is the most gorgeous wood, I had never used it in a project! The sealer on top of it actually looked amazing!
The for the final touch, we installed the fascia (horizontal boards that run along the lower edge of a structure, giving it a finished edge)! We sealed that as well.
Then we put our outdoor furniture out here and BOOM BABY – we’re done! Here’s what the front of our house looked like before:
And here it is after! 😍
Here are all the tools & materials we used for our DIY Deck Build!
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