Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction girder height above water line??

Can someone tell me if there is a rule of thumb as to how far above the full pool water line the bottom of the girders should be?

My girders will be set on 6 by 6 posts and I will have a spillway drain for excess water runoff. As a result, I would expect that my water level would not rise very much higher than the full pool mark because I would think that the water could run out of the pond as fast as new water is running in in the case of a storm, etc. Thus, how far above the water line should the bottom of the girders be placed on the pole?

Thanks.


Also, if you use the hidden fastners to attach the decking boards to the joists, in the event that you have to replace a board at some point in the future, would you have to take up all the boards from one edge of the deck to get to the board that needs replacing? By the way these hidden fastners look, it looks to me like you would have to take them all up to reach the board that needs replacing. Is this correct?

thanks all

regarding beam height, I used 6" over normal pool. I know of no standard distance, but 6" seemed to be reasonable to avoid the tallest possible wave that a high wind might produce in our BOW. In the end, 6" could have been overkill and 3" might be just fine (assuming you are using treated lumber for the framing). Lower is always best, particularly when drought drops the normal pool level significantly.
Regarding the hidden fasteners, I see a need to replace a decent decking material as a minute percentage of risk. Even then, you would cut it out in similar fashion to removing a damaged section of hardwood flooring....by cutting the length of the damaged section with a circular saw and working off both pieces from the center at the cut. To replace, you would either have to resort to face screwing (screw heads could be countersunk and plugged if you could not accept the look), or use another type of hidden fastner system that is mounted from the bottom (a galvaninzed mounting bracket system that will require access from the bottom of the deck to set the final screws that pull it down tight, readily available in many home improvement stores)