Decking questions please help

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Nursejane38

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Hi I am building some decking (with the help of my young son) myself as we can't afford to hire someone. I am quite good at DIY and have a lot of the tools needed already but I have a couple of questions.

It is floating over grass so I will be cementing posts into the ground and I would like to know..

1) if I am digging a hole 300mm by 300mm and the post is 100mm x 100mm won't that leave cement sticking out from the front of the decking? The frame will be attached to the post and then the decking board but I'm not sure that will be 100mm thick so wouldn't the concrete be visible?

2) the decking is going right up to the fence so the holes will have to come in a bit so how do I attach the frame if there is little access as the fence is there and as the post is not right up to the fence do I just put the decking boards hanging over the gap? (That seems wrong) Also the fence is not panels so I can't move it.

If this doesn't make sense I will try and do some drawings to explain what I mean.

Thank you for any help you can provide.
 
Nursejane38 said:
1) if I am digging a hole 300mm by 300mm and the post is 100mm x 100mm won't that leave cement sticking out from the front of the decking?
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Yes. You don't have to have cement all the way up to the soil line though, do you? It could be slightly buried. But you don't want timber in contact with the ground, so you probably want to use concrete posts if you're bothered about longevity. See all the threads about repairing fence posts that have rotten right at ground level.
 
You don't need to concrete decking posts in, if you're burying you can backfill with rammed earth/stone/gravel. Or you can have the posts non buried, sat on a bit of a paving slab or whatever
 
Thank you I will use concrete and use gravel. Regarding the posts if they are up against the fence how will I fit the base to them? If I attach the frame to the inside of the post there will be a big gap from the frame to the fence so I don't know what to do. I will send drawings asap I am on shift at the moment
 
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