Above Ground Concrete Deck Footings

When you pour concrete footings hold the cardboard concrete form tube about 12 in.

Above ground concrete deck footings.

Up from the bottom of the footing. And that usually means lots of deck footings. Some are made with notches designed to hold standard size posts beams and joists. Next set a pressure treated wood support post rated for ground contact on top of the pad and backfill the soil into the hole.

Precast concrete deck blocks are popular for building decks. Once the hole is dug to the appropriate depth the concrete is poured in to form a strong pillar. This footing method involves pouring a concrete pad at least 12 thick at the base of your hole. However most concrete deck blocks can only hold 4x4 posts not 6x6s and they have no lateral strength at the base of the post.

Above ground deck piers are precast tapered concrete blocks with a wide base that are intended to rest directly on the ground or a concrete base. Do this by nailing the sides of the tube to the center of a tic tac toe grid of 2x4s at the top of the hole. How a weekend diy er installed six deck footings for an above ground pool deck in 45 minutes. All of this means tons of work digging mixing cement and money.

Concrete footings are dug and poured directly into the ground. Place concrete tubing forms in the holes and level the footings about 1 inch above ground level. They should be in rows parallel to each other. There is no need to extend a footing below the frost line as is required for standard decks.

Learn everything you need to know about installing concrete footings to support your deck. Precast blocks that are available at home improvement centers usually are 12 inches square and 8 to 12 inches high. Check out our deck footing frost map to help you understand how deep your footings will need to be excavated. So you may want to build a deck that is lower to the ground.

Here are your options. When constructing a deck in an area that receives minor amounts to no frost these piers often serve as suitable deck footings. There is no frost line since this is a freestanding deck. According to the main code provision for footings the only requirement for building a deck that is freestanding is that it must have a minimum footing depth of 12 inches below the undisturbed ground surface.

This type of footer requires a good deal of work as you have to dig below the frost line which can be over 70 deep in some parts of the country. Then dump concrete through the tube into the bottom of the hole. Use a posthole digger or power auger to dig six holes for footings of 8 inches in diameter and 12 inches deep. Every above ground pool needs a deck.