90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other, or
is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the screws
be placed?

Thank you.

Bob

On Sun, 3 Jun 2012 23:31:59 -0400, (Bob) wrote:


90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other, or
is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the screws
be placed?

Thank you.

Bob

If you want something that will last much longer, take a look here
http://www.advantagelumber.com/

They have the tongue and groove. Call them and they may be able to
answer your questions.

"Bob" wrote in message
...

90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other, or
is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

Although covered by a roof, the deck surface is going to get wet
(unless you live in Arizona) so you need to plan how it can drain
and dry as fast as possible. This is usually done by spacing boards
slightly apart.

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the screws
be placed?

Screws piercing the top surface are not the only way to fasten
deck boards. You can fasten them at the sides or from below, to
maintain the deck surface smooth and unmarked.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On 6/3/2012 11:31 PM, Bob wrote:

90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other, or
is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the screws
be placed?

Thank you.

Bob

My question is will it fit in with the character of the house? T&G looks
a lot different than 5/4 decking.

On Jun 3, 11:31*pm, (Bob) wrote:
90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other, or
is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the screws
be placed?

Thank you.

Bob

When I built my deck with PT lumber, I took into account how wet the
wood was. I left no gap between the boards and within a month or so I
had a 1/8" to 1/4" gap between all boards. Had I gapped them from the
beginning, small dogs would have been able to fall through the
resulting gaps after the wood dried out.

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jun 3, 11:31 pm, (Bob) wrote:
90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other,
or is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the
screws be placed?

Thank you.

Bob

When I built my deck with PT lumber, I took into account how wet the
wood was. I left no gap between the boards and within a month or so I
had a 1/8" to 1/4" gap between all boards. Had I gapped them from the
beginning, small dogs would have been able to fall through the
resulting gaps after the wood dried out.

Same with PT fence pickets. The probable fix is to let the dry completely
before use. How long that will take is unknown.

On Sun, 3 Jun 2012 23:31:59 -0400, (Bob) wrote:


90+ year old house. Will be replacing the front porch floor. It does
have a roof over it. Floor is 20+ years old.

Floor is now tongue and groove. I plan to replace it with 5/4 x 6
premium grade decking from HD.

My questions are, can the boards be placed tight against each other, or
is a minimum gap needed? If so, how much gap?

When screwing down the decking, how far from each edge should the screws
be placed?

Thank you.

Bob


I can't answer you but I love the old houses with those porches. My
Aunts had one near Utica, NY and I just love them. We don't have
that in most homes in around Houston, Texas.

I might suggest to see what the new decking that marinas use. I think
it's some kind of composite that obviously must resist rain, salt
water, traffic, etc... . Also you might consider if whatever you
use will it stand up to high heels just in case. I realize you won't
have much of that but the hardness and spacing may come into play
here.