Building a sun deck

When building a sun deck, there are a few things to keep in mind if we want to build a solid and long lasting deck. Here we talk about whether the soil needs to be changed, depth of holes, what foundations are suitable. what material is good to use in beams, joists and decking, spacing between beams, etc.

Exhibition sun deck

Here we use the pillar Purk 60 cm high which is supposed to be buried in the ground.

Soil

First, it is necessary to examine whether there is a need to change the soil. Soil can either be made of frost-free filling and does not rise in frost or it is earthy and porous and therefore retains water and rises in frost.

Earthy and porous

If the soil is earthy and porous, it is necessary to dig holes and replace the soil around the foundations. If this is not done, there is a possibility that the platform will lift and even skew over time if the lifting is not even in all places.
Dýpt á holum er gjarnan um 60 – 120 cm eða niður fyrir hugsanlegt frostmark. Síðan er fyllt með möl undir undirstöðurnar og meðfram þeim og þjappað.

Frost-free filling

If the soil is frost-free and firm, you can choose foundations that go directly on top of the soil. They can also be dug directly into the soil if more stability is needed for e.g. fencing.

Earthy soil

The soil is dense and absorbs a lot of water

Frost-free filling

Soil allows water to pass through and does not rise in frost

Foundation

The size of the elements depends on the soil and usability.

Earthy and porous

Here it is best to use Purk 60 cm or Teit 80 cm. They are then buried and the soil around them replaced. The foundations are often left standing e.g. 10 cm above the surface of the soil.

Frost-free filling

For a sun deck, you can use Álfur that is 30 cm high. It is then placed on top of the frost-free filling. There is no need to buried the pillar because the soil will not lift.

Fences

For fences around the sun deck, the choice is Purkur 60 cm or Teitur 80 cm. They are then buried, the pillars are often left standing e.g. 10 cm above the surface of the soil. The choice of pillar depends on the type of soil, the size of the fence, the distance between the poles and the wind pressure.
It is recommended to have no more than 120 - 140 cm between poles in fences that are up to 2 meters high.

The design of the Dwarves

The design of the Dwarves is such that when they are buried, the weight needed to pick them up again multiplies. Thus Purkur has 50 kg own weight but if he is buried then it takes over 300 kg to get him back up

Álfur

30 cm high - 30 kg - Towing weight 70 kg

Purkur

50 cm high - 50 kg - Towing weight 300 kg

Teitur

80 cm high - 65 kg - Towing weight 600 kg

Beams, joists and decking

A platform is built up with foundations, on which the beams sit on, they are the frame for the sun deck. On top of the beams, joists are then placed across on top and are considerably tighter together as they are the basis for the decking, which is the final piece of the deck.

Beams

For beams, 45×145 or 45×195 mm permeated pines are often used. The choice of the size of the beams can affect the distance between the pillars, so it has to be considered that the distance between the pillars will not be greater than that the deck will start to swell when walking or jumping on it. In other words, if you choose a more powerful beams, you can have a longer distance between the pillars.
The beams are attached to the pillars with the connector Bjálkaskór 45. Bjálkaskór 45 has the property that it is easy to adjust the height and direction, so the accuracy of the installation of pillar does not have to be as accurate.

The distance between beams is usually 1.6 meters but can be 1.2 - 1.8 meters.

Joists

On top of the beams, joist made of permeated pine, 45×95 or 45×120 mm, are placed across, but their size usually depends on the distance between the beams. The distance of joists is between 40 - 60 cm. The most common is to have 55 cm.

It is a good idea to use a roof anchor to attach the joists to the beams.

Decking

The sun deck can then e.g. be cladded with permeated pine 27×95 cm or other cladding timber according to each individual's choice. It is best to use stainless steel screws to fasten the cladding material down. There is a 5 mm gap between the cladding boards so that water does make its way down and due to expansion in the timber.

Beam

Joist

Decking

Roof anchor

DWARF CALCULATOR

The Dwarf Calculator calculates how many Dwarves / pillars are needed under the sun deck. The calculator calculates the number and takes into account whether the house wall is used as a mounting for the beam. It is enough to fill the length and width in meters. Other values are set to the most common setting. It calculates a square deck.

Prerequisites - Explanations

Length in meters: Length of sun deck in meters
Width in meters: Width of sun deck in meters
1 side against the house wall (length): Mark here if one of the sides is up against the house wall
1 side against the house wall (width): Mark here if one of the sides is up against the house wall
Distance between pillars: Most common is 2 meters but can be 1,6 to 2,5 meters
Distance between beams: Most common 1,6 meters but can be 1,2 to 1,8 meters

We are building a sun deck

We built a sun deck to take with us to the exhibition Living Home, which was in Laugardalshöll in 2019. This deck was made to show our solutions, but it is worth remembering that the pillars should be buried in the ground. However, we had to be able to take it with us to the show, so it is all above ground.

In other respects, it shows how you can take advantage of the solution from us and how easy it is to set up a deck in a short time.