Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Building a new Dock

40 years ago, it was sheet steel thin enough to cut with tin snips that was galvanized on both sides. IIRC the strips could be joined together with crimped seams, but I've never installed any, just removed some when moving and restoring an old corn crib. Nowadays ???

JohnK.. I just built a pavillion out of white oak & would offer this.. I believe you will have to pre-drill all your holes before being able to use deck screws. Not a big deal, but something to consider when working with oak..du

Regarding the oak, you need to put an eyeball on the stock....or get a trusted opinion. First of all, verify the dimensions...particularly the thickness. If it is exactly 1" thick and rough sawn, you will be OK for deck boards that are supported by 16" O.C. Next test: if it is not split and cracked, knots are tight, and the boards are flat and straight, take it. (At this point, I must remind you that I have no experience with the weatherability of of oak in exterior applications. Based on the approval and input from others that have, I assume this part to be a given)
Do you have power surface planer (or a pal with one?) One very lite pass on each surface will knock down the rough texture and not remove too much stock. You will not remove all the saw blade marks, but who cares?

david u...a question to you about these 1" thick boards.
If they are cupped a little, will they crack when he puts the screws to them and forces them flat?....or, are they pretty forgiving?
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John...a note about cupping
If david u thinks you are going to be OK with a little cupping, you might have to re-think the surface planing procedure. As you can imagine, surface planing cupped surfaces is a waste unless you remove enough stock on both surfaces to get a consistently flat board....usually leaving a considerably thinner board.

I used oak boards for my decking 20yrs ago. Replaced it last year mostly due to the portion of the deck on the north side of the house. I used green boards & butted them with no gap. Worked fine except for the north side, there they never dried enough to leave a gap & rotted.
My advise would be to use 5/4 or thicker boards & make sure they will be gapped btw boards.
Brettski is right on pre drilling holes. That is a must. IME oak doesn't cup as bad as treated pine, at least it wasn't a problem with my deck which was apx 800 sq ft. Also as they weather the roughness softens & isn't much of an issue even barefooted.

Ric
Do you think that 1" oak stock attached to 16" o.c. will be too weak for suitable support? I would think that 1" thick oak is easily equivalent in strength to 5/4 southern pine. John's deal is 1" thick boards; I would hate to wave him off of a good deal if it will work.
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(edit; thanks for the kudos on pre-drilling, but that credit goes to david u and Bing)

I don't think 1" will be weak & IF you can judge each board for clearness (no knots or sapwood) they will prob. last fine. IME 5/4 or thicker boards would simply last longer because they would be more forgiving if there is a defect.
I used 3/4 kiln dried oak boards on my covered front porch & they are plenty strong enough.

... sorry, I should have read the whole thread closer.

Hello again, there is a picture of these boards on craigslist kansas city,mo. I do see knots in the pictures ,but they appear to be decent boards. Thanks guys

I also found an auction going on this weekend with treated 2x8's 2x10's and 2x12's. I haven't received an answer as to how many yhet ,but I may hold out until this auction is over. It is just so hard to wait when I get my mind set on doing something. I really want a large dock for my family to hang out on. My pond is 2 acres and in my front yard. I can just for see a small enclosed building or something attached to the dock to hang out in when the weather is bad and do who knows what in it. I was talking about cleaning fish and storing poles in it ( ok maybe I wasn't) ,but there will be room for that too. Anyways wish me luck on getting some good wood to build this thing. Thanks for all the help ,John

Hello, I found a guy that says he has 39 - 2x8 between 6 and 12 ft most over 10ft, 23 - 2x6 over 8ft and 8 - 4x4 post all treated for 200.00$. I am assuming this is probably a good deal. What do you guys think. It would be a great start to my lumber pile for this dock. The way I figured it I would be using 2x6 or 2x8's at 8 foot lengths for the deck. The guy from the auction also called today and stated there was at least 50 boards in the pile I talked about above. I think between the two I could have this thing built at low cost with a bunch left over. Thanks

Pressure treated lumber has always been my choice for exterior framing; period. It also winds up being my choice for decking for 2 reasons: lasts (virtually) forever...and...is the most affordable option.
Some notes on PT lumber.
I don't know the specific percentages of vendor compliancy or specifically when the change(s) occurred, but current PT from home centers is arsenic free. The old PT (maybe 8 - 10 years ago...?) was not. We have had some discussions within this forum regarding the potential of toxicity within a pond, particularly for the old stuff. As I recall, we wound up with no certifiable scientific evidence to point to yea or nay. Also, if it is the old stuff, you will definitely need to wear a face mask during cutting to eliminate the potential of breathing the dust particulate. Personally, I have built many decks in my younger years with "the old stuff" and never wore face protection. I'm still here typing...b'pamZ:Lfm:.........
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(kidding)
Also, the correct fasteners for the new PT is stainless. You can "get away" with galvanized, but it will react with the copper chromate (?) preservative and will eventually corrode.

I did read the post about the wood toxicity. I am not to worried about it. Also if the wood is old it will already have warped or shrank and I won't have to worry about much more of that. So I called the guy and got his answering machine of course and so the waiting game is on. Thanks again

JohnK, the SS deck screws I used were 3" #10 with square heads from McFeely's. I had a hard time finding a source & probably paid too much! Get plenty of bit drivers & use a screw gun if possible. This applies to the PT wood Brettski is talking about...du

I used 3" #10 SS screws with Torx heads, and they were too soft. I looked for some harder ones, but couldn't find any. They were so soft I could take my bare fingers and bend them double. I had to be careful with the torque setting, and kept some vice grips handy for when they occasinally twisted off.

So if you have a choice, find some stronger screws if you can.

Bobad and david u
Man...we could write a book. Don't ya just luv it when a stainless steel screw head decides to strip right when the head just starts to enter the wood? I have tried using screw extractors...that's a laugh.
I will say that I have never had product that was so soft that I could bend 'em in my bare hands, but I often wondered if the torx heads would be better than the #2 square. Guess not, eh Bobad? The one thing ol' cheap-azz Bski did discover...throw out the driver bit every now and then and replace it with a new one. That practice DOES make a diff.

Well, I purchased the load of treated wood I talked about earlier and I almost have enough. Unless I get some from somewhere else I will be headed to the auction this weekend to try and get some 2x10's and 2x12's for the frame. Thanks for the advice on the screws by the way.

JohnK, I'm probably a week late here but I've put in probably 50 or more grain bin floors. If it is plank style, I bet it would make a nice dock. The newer style bin floors are designed to make a smooth surface for easy sweeping. They are perforated to let air flow through or in the case of a dock, water to drain through. They are galvanized and snap together. You wouldn't want to cut many with tin snips, a partner saw would be ideal. The only problem I see with used flooring is that it may be bent up from disassembly and not fit back together well. The snap together very tightly with interlocking Js. Another problem is that if it came from a round bin, there won't be very many long ones and if laid end to end usually leaves a very sharp edge that has to be covered.

I think it's a great idea and will seriously consider it for the floating dock I am contemplating.

Here's a link for the type I used to install http://www.brockmfg.com/uploads/pdf/BR_2051_0308GrainBinFloorsEM.pdf

Hello again, Well no luck at the auction. I did however just pick up 28 CCA 12 foot 2x6's and 32 CCA 8 foot 2x6's for 25.00. I also have lot's of other 2x6's and 2x8's I already collected. My plan as stated above is to build a 16x24 dock. I would like to make it 24 long on the shoreline and 16 feet out into the water. Because the water is so far down right now most of my post holes will be dug above the water line. I am trying to figure out how far apart to space my posts if I use 2x8's for the frame. I have plenty of post's so using a lot doesn't matter. Should I place 1 every four feet or can I get away with eight? Oh Ryan, thank you for the info on bin flooring. I will have to look into that and consider it for future projects. Thanks again guys

I am thinking every 8 foot which would mean 12 post's. I would have 8 foot squares basically in a grid that equaled 16 by 24. 4 across the front. 3 along the side going out into the water. Then 4 across the back and 3 down the other side with two in the middle. Something like this.

24
O O O O

16 O O O O

O O O O

Wow that didn't come out right. Oh well I am sure you guys get it.

O O O O

O O O O

O O O O

O O O O

O O O O

O O O O

I give up!

O O O O
O O O O
O O O O

That's a little better I guess. Anyways will 8 foot apart be ok with 2x8's for the frame? I can possibly double them up or some of them anyways if need be.

John, are you attaching the joists directly to the posts or are you planning to bolt beams to the posts then set the joist frame over the beams? The latter is better because your joists won't have to span as far plus, you can cantilever the joist frame over the the beams about 1.5' without upsizing the joists. It makes it look like it's floating in air a bit.

Most big box home improvement stores have simple CAD programs that they can design your deck/dock for free. They'll usually print you some decent working drawings (usually a 3D too) and a material list. The parameters of these programs can be easily changed to accomodate different sizes of lumber.