Gazebo on floating deck


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Old 06-09-17, 11:11 AM
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Gazebo on floating deck

I bought a house with a very low floating deck next to the house. There is about 6-8 inches of clearance below it, but it looks like it is all supported on concrete piers on top of poured concrete. I want to build a wooden pergola/gazebo on it. Can I just attach the upright posts to the deck structure? Obviously not to just the top surface, which is some sort of composite decking, but to the framework underneath. It would be difficult to dig post holes under the deck (not least because it is very tough clay soil that needs a pickaxe) and the existing deck structure gets in the way of where the 6x6 posts would descend below the deck surface, so I'd really prefer to get some heavy duty anchoring to the deck itself.
 
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Old 06-09-17, 12:45 PM
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Think about putting the posts against/around the outside perimeter of the deck. Where there is no concrete to anchor a post base, you might want to pour some sonotube footings.
 
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Old 06-16-17, 11:31 AM
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Problem is that two of the posts aren't anywhere near the edge.
 
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Old 06-16-17, 02:13 PM
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Sounds like you will need to remove some decking and dig a pier and place a post base on it.
 
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Old 06-16-17, 05:18 PM
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Post some pictures.
Composite decking does not hold screws well.
If I was faced with this issue my first thought would be to use 2 X 6 bottom plates and build up from there.
That way you could hit the joist below with LedgerLok screws.
 
 

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