- 1). Place concrete blocks or pillars around the deck's area. These will make up the footing for the deck. There should be three in front of the tub and three behind it, with about four feet separating each post. Three more blocks should be seven feet from the tub's front end and be lined up with the other six.
- 2). Connect vertical posts to the footing blocks using drift pins. Four-by-four posts should be used, and their length depends on how high you want the deck to be. Make sure the posts are about six inches off the ground.
- 3). Line 2-by-10 boards called stringers atop the posts and fasten them with carriage bolts. Each post should have two stringers lying on their 2-cm sides. They run across the deck's 16-foot length, facing the tub's front/back. The three posts on each side need 16-foot long stringers, the two middle posts in front of the tub need seven footers and the one behind it needs two footers.
- 4). Nail the support boards called joists on top of the stringers. These 2X6 boards run perpendicular to the stringers and two feet apart from each other, starting and ending at the deck's edges. There will be four 12-foot-long joists in front of the tub and two behind it. There are also three joists on each side of the tub, 26 inches in length each.
- 5). Surround the tub with boards that form the angle bracing. Place one on each side of the tub, connecting to the full-length joists you placed in front of and behind the tub and to the three short joists on each side. Add more support to these braces by nailing a diagonal board to the bracing and joist in each corner, forming an octagon around the tub.
- 6). Nail three-foot boards in between the joists for blocking. There should be a blocking board between each joist near the stringers' positions. Each blocking board should be a foot apart from the other in a zigzag pattern. Finish the deck support by connecting 16-foot-long header boards to the joists along the deck's outer length edges (the 16-foot long edges).
- 7). Lay down the decking surface onto the deck. You'll need about 240 total feet of 2X6 boards to cover the surface with about 1/8 inch space between the boards for drainage.
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