Above Ground Pool Deck Build - 16x18 Deck for 24 ft AGP

magiteck

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May 20, 2020
1,000
Neenah, Wisconsin
Pool Size
13600
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Solaxx (Saltron) Reliant / Purechlor R5
Hi everyone,

Creating a thread to document building of my deck for my Above Ground Pool. First... lumber is ridiculously expensive right now. I've been working on these plans since last fall, and from when I initially priced everything out the lumber cost has increased by at least 50%. But when you've promised the wife a deck, she's going to get a deck. At least doing the work myself (and enlisting my teenage son), I'm spared the contractor fees. After I'm done abusing my body I might regret that, but alas here we are. Just in materials I'm estimating this will be about $3k. Another $500 or so in tool/equipment purchases and rentals.

These are the plans I drew up for the deck:

And here's the ground prep, with the footings dug. I covered the ground with crushed gravel to prevent growth underneath the deck. Once the footings are poured I have to spread and level this better, but for now at least I've got a solid surface to work on:

And here's one of the footings. I had to be careful digging with the four by the pool to avoid the bonding wire. This one came a little close. You can also see how much the holes love to fill with water... my little utility pump is getting a work out:

Concrete landing framed for the bottom of the deck stairs:

So far the weather looks to be holding up for me to do the concrete work this weekend. I wasn't happy with any of the rental options locally for a mixer, so I bought this bad boy for $300 delivered from HD. It'll get put to the test soon.

Thankful for the 3-car garage to hold all of this lumber. I haven't even bought the deck boards yet and there's so...much...wood.

Not to mention the pile of remaining gravel in my driveway, pallet of Quickrete plastic-wrapped in my driveway, and multiple piles of dense clay I need to get rid of. My neighbors must love me right now. But hey, I have a permit. :ROFLMAO:

More to come as things get underway. All the ground prep wasn't so glamorous, but we should be getting close to the "fun" part!!
 
Man, you’ve got some close to the surface groundwater! I live on top of the Floridan Aquifer and I have to go a lot deeper than that to get to water!

What kind of lumber is that? And are you looking for another gig after this one? LOL
 
Man, you’ve got some close to the surface groundwater! I live on top of the Floridan Aquifer and I have to go a lot deeper than that to get to water!

What kind of lumber is that? And are you looking for another gig after this one? LOL
I think most of the water is surface runoff, though the clay soil is still decently wet from the spring snow melt and rains so there may be some seepage. Even with a tarp covering the area, when water starts to pool on the grass if finds whichever way it can to get underneath. And the clay retains so much water and gets so saturated that it pools a fair amount before it can soak down.

The lumber is #2 Southern Yellow Pine treated lumber. Most of it is 2x10. It's the "cheap option" for outdoor lumber... currently at $40 per joist :confused:.
AC2® 2 x 10 x 16' Ground Contact Green Pressure Treated Lumber

As for another gig... I'd like to say my construction days are done after this. But for an excuse to go to Tampa, hmmm..... :LOL:
 
Your holes are dug but if its ever needed again, I bought this auger from Lowe's, fully expecting to get a few holes dug before going back and demanding a refund. But it worked amazing. Right through dirt thats 50% golf ball sized rocks and full of small roots/vines. I'm happily keeping it and will never dig another plant again. Or mailbox, fence, etc. Happy as a clam for $250

You have 12 inch holes and this is 8 inch but it does pretty well widening the hole by moving it on a 45 degree angle in all directions.
 
Your holes are dug but if its ever needed again, I bought this auger from Lowe's, fully expecting to get a few holes dug before going back and demanding a refund. But it worked amazing. Right through dirt thats 50% golf ball sized rocks and full of small roots/vines. I'm happily keeping it and will never dig another plant again. Or mailbox, fence, etc. Happy as a clam for $250

You have 12 inch holes and this is 8 inch but it does pretty well widening the hole by moving it on a 45 degree angle in all directions.
Nice. I’ll keep that in mind for any future/smaller jobs. I rented a big towable auger which dug decent enough, although the rental unit was in rough shape. I ended up using a 10-inch auger bit for my 12-inch holes. I tried a 12 but it got stuck in the clay way too easily. I think I paid like $120 for the 24 hour rental. The worst part was it dropped almost everything back into the hole, so I ended up needing a manual digger to clean it out anyway. It was an awful job and I hope to never do that again, lol.

I’ll hopefully have a concrete mixer for sale in a week or so if you’re interested. :ROFLMAO:
 
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I’ll hopefully have a concrete mixer for sale in a week or so if you’re interested.
I'm debating doing the EXACT same. I see them on OfferUp from time to time. (1 month old for 15% off) We aren't the only ones. :ROFLMAO:
 
Busy weekend!

First, my $300 Concrete Mixer worked great. Took a bit to get the hang of things, but eventually fell into a rhythm and it just kept chugging along great.

Stair landing and all of the footings are poured, and I’ve got the post anchors attached and ready for the posts.


Not sure how much I’ll get done this week, but I took off the following week to hopefully get most of this thing built.
 

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It. Looks. Amazing.

but did you really think this through ? Now that I’m seeing it, it’s really sinking in. You coulda flown to Hawaii and stayed there longer than the pool will last for less than the amount of lumber in the photo. 2X12s are trading on the gold exchange at $1500 an ounce. :ROFLMAO:

But it DOES look awesome so there is that.
 
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Looking great!

It's always so foreign to me to see backyards without solid privacy fences. I like the open feel I get from your pictures, but then I think about how annoying it would be to always have to have proper clothing on whenever I go in the backyard. Plus I don't want my neighbors up in my business ;)
 
Looking great!

It's always so foreign to me to see backyards without solid privacy fences. I like the open feel I get from your pictures, but then I think about how annoying it would be to always have to have proper clothing on whenever I go in the backyard. Plus I don't want my neighbors up in my business ;)
Midwestern hospitality. ;) Great as long as you don’t hate your neighbors. Thankfully, I don’t hate any neighbors.

The majority of the houses in my neighborhood don’t have any fence. Those that do typically have either a chain link like mine or an equally see-through wooden fence.

There’s a family with a bunch of young kids diagonally behind us. I always feel bad when we’re out in the pool and they’re in a little kiddy one. I feel like I should invite them over, but they’re quite a bit younger than our kids so it just feels awkward. Maybe some day - we’ll see. First world problems in any case!
 
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Inspection passed with flying colors. Quotes from the inspector...
"You're making my job easy!"
"It almost looks like you followed our instructions. You'd be shocked how rare that is."
"I've seen builders do much worse."

and my personal favorite...
"Would you do it by yourself again?" - to which I replied, "I told my teenage son that the next deck I build better be at his house."

Now time to go spend $1,000 on deck boards. :censored:
 

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