Deck Construction DIY Spacers
I recently had to rebuild a small deck. DIY spacers would be needed to provide drainage gaps between the finished deck boards. These spacers would be used to provide the gap then moved to the next row after securing the deck board.
After determining my spacer size I needed to use a quarter-inch gap between boards. I arrived at that after measuring out the distance from one end of the deck to the house wall. One-quarter of an inch added to each course width would leave my last course at under a full-width board.
I used scrap materials I had laying around for these spacers so the cost to me was nothing. My parameters for these spacers were first that they be 1/4″ in thickness. The second parameter was that I did not need to keep holding on to them during construction. The last parameter is that they not fall into the gaps and impede my progress.
The search for materials
I started to look for the proper width materials. I use an old radial arm saw that I move around from time to time. It has a plywood base at the bottom of its legs. This is where I store my smaller scrap materials that I think might be useful for later times. This is where I first started looking for spacer materials.
Parameters for these spacers
I found the perfect spacer in an old paint stirring stick for five-gallon paint buckets. It was exactly 1/4″ in thickness.
My second parameter was that I did not need to keep holding on to the spacers during construction. I thought that if there was something resting on the previous course attached to the spacer that would fill the bill of this parameter. I found a short section of 2×4 material. Attaching the spacer material to the 2×4 material would be easy. In my case, I have a small brad air nailer. I could use that to hold the two materials together. If you don’t have an air nailer you can use small nails and hand nail the materials together. If you prefer screws, predrill the holes in the thin material so that you prevent splitting.
The last parameter was that the spacers do not fall thru the gaps during construction. This was already covered by my choice of using a 2×4 block to hold the spacer material.
Putting them together
I cut the material so that it produced four spacers. The spacer material is just long enough to space the deck boards apart but not so long that the spacer extended past the boards when in place. This length worked out nicely when the boards were warped and needed to be straightened. Sometimes the spacers had a good deal of pressure against them and the shorter length took less time to pry the spacers out from between the deck boards.
I measured nothing but the thickness of the spacer material. the length of the spacer material was cut using my eyes to determine length. It was the same for the small 2×4 blocks. I just “eye-balled” the length and cut away. These spacer blocks were a one time use thing and after this project, these spacers were going into the trash with any scrap material not worth holding onto for other projects.
What I learned from my DIY spacers
My spacers worked well at spacing the boards. They stayed put wherever I placed them. Having the spacers be shorter in between the deck boards is a good thing especially when they have pressure on them from bowed boards. Making the top the spacer extend above the 2×4 block longer will help. It creates a handle for removing them when they are under pressure from bowed boards.
Related Article: Deck Construction How To Straighten Bowed Boards
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