Betterwood offers several options for building your own wooden terrace: with Wooden tiles and prefabricated terrace elements installation is quick and easy. The construction of a wooden terrace from individual planks requires manual skills and is more complex. Therefore, we divided the construction process into six steps. In this way, even non-professionals can build very good wooden terraces from decking boards themselves. It is always crucial that you plan enough time for your project so that you can work calmly and precisely.
1. Select material
You choose from our teak, cumaru or garapa wood species Decking boards for your wooden terrace out of. You need a wooden substructure and deck screws or choose one hidden screw connection. The crowd you can use that terrace planner from Betterwood to calculate.
2. Prepare the substrate
Depending on the location of the terrace, the subsoil must be prepared and the substructure planned. On a slope you need strong construction timbers (e.g Cumaru substructure 90x90mm) and when laid on grass, the floor must be levelled.
3. Lay out the foundation
The right foundation for a wooden terrace depends on the subsoil on site. The substructure must be laid on a level, firm and statically load-bearing base. If the wooden terrace is laid out on a softer surface such as earth or lawn, paving slabs should be used as foundation stones. If a greater construction height is to be achieved, this can be achieved with pedestals. In the case of a terrace on a slope, a structural engineer or architect should be consulted to determine the distances between the support points.
4. Lay out the substructure
The construction timbers are laid transversely to the future running direction of the decking boards. The distance between the construction timbers is important: a maximum of 50 centimeters measured from center to center. Also check the even height of the construction timbers with a spirit level. Unevenness can be leveled out with pads between support points and construction wood.
5. Screw decking boards visible or hidden
The joint size depends on the type of wood and the width of the decking. A visible screw connection is less complicated than a hidden screw connection. Pre-drill the holes before screwing, as all decking boards come with Betterwood are made of very resistant and hard wood such as teak, cumaru or tatajuba. Ream the drill holes with a countersink so that the screw heads can be countersunk flush in the wood.
6. Maintain wooden terrace
Every outdoor wooden terrace turns gray over time. In a particularly humid and shady environment, algae and fungi can also colonize the surface. To counteract graying and to protect against algae and fungi, see Betterwood various wood care and cleaning products. For our teak, cumaru and tatajuba decking boards, the manufacturer BioMaderas individual care products developed, which after long test phases the best results have achieved.
You will find detailed building instructions for wooden terraces here. If you would prefer to have the work carried out by a craft business, we will be happy to provide one for you terrace builder convey.