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August 26, 2020 · 2 Comments

How to Build a Small Freestanding Deck

Crafts/DIY· Outdoor· Paint/Wax/Stain

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If you’ve wondered how hard it is to build a small freestanding deck, this post is for you! See how we transformed a small area in our front yard for a sitting deck.

Woman sitting on chair on deck in front of house with cat in the window.

I can’t wait to show you how we (mostly Aaron) made a freestanding deck in our front yard. The sun disappears from our backyard early afternoon so we wanted a place where we could sit out front and enjoy the afternoon sun.

There are a few things to consider before determining if a freestanding deck is right for you:

  1. This type of deck isn’t attached to the house so you don’t need to do anything to ensure it’s attachment. It’s basically a floating, detached deck.
  2. We live in a very mild climate zone (Vancouver, BC Canada) and have very little frost so the decking posts we use only needed about 6 inches of drainage rock underneath instead of deep footings. If you live in a colder climate, you will probably need to dip deeper footings. Check with a local professional.

Let’s first let’s see what our yard used to look like.

I’ve mentioned many times before (here and on Instagram) that our exterior needs a lot of work. We’ve done a few things like paint the back patio concrete slab with stripes and I painted the brick pavers at the front door but really that’s just lipstick to what really needs to get done, and that’s an entire overhaul.

Future plans:

  • widen our driveway
  • new pavers on driveway or poured concrete
  • new pathway to the front door
  • new front door step
  • re-stain this fence (like our backyard)

Here is what our front yard area looked like before.

Front yard area with gardening tools.

I had just done some pruning a few months back and took some quick pics with my phone. These ‘shrubs’ went for years without pruning and now they look like trees (they’ve looked like this since I purchased this house).

This whole area is going to be changed, the driveway will extend into here a little bit and we’ll take out these shrubs and add some hydrangeas and boxwoods.

Pruning shrubs in front yard.

Here are the painted brick pavers I did about three years ago now. The paint has held up great on the pavers but not the wood. The pavers are slowly sinking and the whole step and path and driveway need to be redone.

Front door area with black door and white and painted brick pavers.

Can you spot the little kitty in the window?

We got a kitty a couple of months ago she’s the cutest thing ever!

Wait for the next photo…

Shrubs removed from front yard and cat sitting in the front yard.

She is an indoor cat but definitely wanted to get outside 😂.

Cat hanging on window screen, man raking front yard.

Prepare for the FreeStanding Deck

The biggest part of this job was just clearing the shrubs and levelling out the ground area. There is quite a large slope to this area which is hard to tell in the photo. Getting rid of the roots of the shrubs is important so the shrubs don’t regrow through your newly made deck.

Map out the area you want to create and spray paint the ground then start digging out the shrubs or grass.

We decided on a square size of 8×8 feet but the width of our house was a bit smaller than 8 feet so the deck is 91″x96″.

Next you want to make sure it’s square and level but using wood markers and string. They mostly just help with as a guide to see where to place everything, to make sure it’s square and it’s an easy way to ensure the ground is level.

Preparing ground for a deck with string and wood stakes.
Level ground area ready for a deck build.

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click to read my full disclosure policy.

building the freestanding deck

Here are the major supplies needed to get you started on your deck.

Supplies:

  • 4-way deck blocks
  • 2x6s 8 feet long (for joists and decking boards)
  • 2x10s 8 feet long for fascia (the ones listed are 16 ft long so they could be cut in half)
  • drainage rock
  • landscape fabric

Next you want to measure out where you’re going to put the 4-way deck blocks. Aaron added 6 to this space.

Dig a hole 6 inches deep and pour drainage rock into. I didn’t get a photo of the hole being dug and it looks like by this photo that rock is just sitting on the ground but I assure you it’s 6 inches deep 😉

Then you can put one of the 4-way deck blocks on top of the drainage rock.

Man laying down drainage rock to build a deck.
Placing decking block down preparation for building a deck.

Then put a 2×6 in to make sure they are lined.

Make sure to use pressure-treated wood or cedar.

NOTE: The 2x6s were actually laid out in the other direction and the decking boards went on top in the other direction. See photo below.

4-way deck blocks in ground in front of grey house.
Photo of joists getting ready to build deck.

Next lay out landscaping fabric over the ground and drainage rock. You’ll want to lift the decking blocks up, lay the fabric down and plop them on top of the fabric. Make sure they are all lined up again.

The landscaping fabric ensures no plants to grow up under your new deck.

4-way deck footings on top of drainage rock.
Man lay landscape fabric down in preparation of building a deck.
Man laying deck footing down over drainage rock in yard.

Lay down drainage rock over the fabric, enough for it to be 3 inches deep.

Drainage rock over landscape fabric.
Drainage rock over landscape fabric in front of grey house in front yard.
Decking footing on drainage rock.

Now, I had surgery during this week where Aaron was finishing the deck, unfortunately, and this is the only photo I got of him building the actual deck.

Man building a deck out in front yard.

So before you start laying decking boards, you’ll want to add your 2×6 joists to the 4-way decking blocks like this:

Deck joists over decking footings.

Then build the fascia (a square box) and attach it to the end of the 2×6 joists.

Freestanding deck with fascia in front.

Then you can start screwing in the decking boards on top with decking screws into each of the joists (one board will have 2 screws at either end screwed into the joists and screwed into the middle joist as well for a total of 6 screws per board).

Man building a deck in front yard. Photo taken through screened window.

It looks good, doesn’t it?!

Newly built deck with girl walking on it.

Next we sanded it down for a smooth finish.

Deck without stain in front yard.
Freshly sanded deck.

And stained it with Behr Premium Solid Colour Waterproofing Stain and Sealer in Slate.

Behr Premium solid colour waterproofing stain and colour.

Aaron did such a great job! Especially as he was taking care of me as a patient and building the deck at the same time.

Black freestanding deck in front of grey house with cat in the window.

We have more to do with landscaping and will get rid of that extra landscaping fabric around the fascia to make the whole area look beautiful.

Black deck in front of grey house with two black chairs.

Then hopefully in the spring it will be onto getting a new pathway and driveway poured.

Two black chairs on black deck in front of house that is grey.

We’re so happy with how it turned out! It’s been great enjoying a glass of wine out here in the evening with the late sun.

Black stained front patio.

Check out how we made built and tiled the front step over the painted brick pavers!

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Make sure to pin it for later!

How to Build a Freestanding Deck.
How to Build a Freestanding Deck graphic.

Click in case you missed:

How to Build and Tile a Front Step

How To Prep and Re-stain an Old Fence

How To Paint Paver Bricks

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Comments

  1. Naush Samama says

    September 3, 2020 at 9:35 am

    Jamie, your deck looks awesome ! Thank you so much for sharing all the details of how to build it. We want something similar in our backyard but that has been put on the back burner – for – like forever 🙁
    Thanks to your explanation – I can show hubby, how it can be done.
    Your kitty is the cutest ! Don’t cats just make the cutest poses !!
    Jamie, Every Monday, we host the Meraki Link Party, thru till Thursday. We’d love for you to share your post with us at https://doodlebuddies.net/2020/08/31/meraki-link-party-3/
    Many regards
    Naush

    Reply
    • Jamie says

      September 5, 2020 at 11:22 am

      Thanks so much, Naush! We took forever to finally get this deck built too!
      I’ll definitely check out your party, thanks.
      Jamie

      Reply

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