Do you want to build a small deck for your grill?
Once you get your gill, you’ll want a special place to put it so you have enough room to grill. You also don’t want the smoke to interrupt your guests.
In this article, you’ll learn how to build a small deck for your grill in one weekend.
And this is perfect for a grill or a smoker.
In our case, we’re using it as a smoker, but the end result is the same:
To have a small area that you can put your grill on and you can work comfortably from there.
Items Needed:
- Wood
- Decking boards
- Level
- circular saw
- Drill
- Structural Screws
- Decking Screws
- Pea gravel or concrete
- pressure washer (optional)
For this project, you’re going to need the wood that you’ll need to use for your decking. You’ll also need a leveler, some type of cutting device. A circular saw works well for this small project.
You also need a drill, structural screws, deck screws, concrete if you’re going to concrete in your posts. You can also use pea gravel or crushed concrete like what we use.
Then, if you need to clean up your deck then you’ll also want a pressure washer as well.
And once you have all that then you’re ready to start. First thing you want to do is measure out the area where you want this to go.
How Close To Your House Can You Put Your Grill
You want to clear the house and a good rule of thumb is 3 feet, but really 10-12 feet is a good idea if you really want to be safe.
For us we wanted to go to the side of the house off of our main deck we actually already have a deck and we just wanted to fill up this space around the corner.
Because our smoker when it’s smoking, we just don’t really want that around on our deck. And that might be the case for you as to why you’re doing a grilling station.
So this is a perfect little nook off the side of our house that we’re going to build this off of. for us. We also decided to use just the width of the deck that we already had.
And then we just did a little bit of length and you just kind of want two to three feet on all sides of the grill as a comfortable working area for you.
Clear the area for the deck
The next thing you want to do is simply clear out the area. If you have weeds or grass, you want to remove all of that.
For our case, we have crushed concrete that we had laid down so we put some of it out and then you want to measure out and cut your framing boards and then screw them together.
Construct the frame
So you want to make kind of a box system for this and then go ahead and install the joists in the middle.
Now we used older wood that was laying around and so you see we’re using clamps to move some of the board around since it was laying out it had gotten a little warped and so we’re putting it together before we screw all the joists in.
Installing deck posts
And now it’s ready to install yours if it’s a free standing one, you’re going to want to dig your holes next, because we’re adding this to an already standing deck, we simply are using this one side as our ledger area as our ledger board.
And we’re going to screw it in with structural screws and build off of that because this deck already has to dug in posts right there.
If you don’t have a deck that you’re extending from, then you’ll want to dig four holes.
Make sure you use your level air to make sure that everything is level before you screw it in.
Once that side is ready on the other side. We went ahead and started digging our holes. Now the one on the right is fine.
It goes straight up against the corner, the inside corner of the frame.
The one on the left the hole was a little bit off because the foundation of the house the concrete underneath there comes out about four inches.
So you see our hole is offset by about four inches, we simply didn’t want to mess with the house foundation.
Next thing you want to do is as you’re digging your holes, you’ll want to go at least two feet down so that you can put your posts in at least two feet.
And from here you can either choose to fill it with concrete.
Our main deck posts all have concrete, but since this is much smaller, we just used crushed concrete and we packed it in really well.
Next thing you want to do is screw those posts in to the frame.
Level it make sure everything is nice and level. And then the next thing you want to do is simply add your boards.
You want to measure it out and make sure that you have the right length.
What some people do is they’ll get close and then they’ll use a circular saw all the way down, we were able to measure this out pretty well and use it as a template.
So we got all the boards the right length
If you come to the end, you may have to rip your final board if your boards are not spaced out and you might have too much at the end.
We got really lucky and this whole thing worked out well without having to rip the final one.
Now all the boards are on the final thing is to go ahead and secure all of the deck boards.
You can use deck screws, that’s usually what we use.
However, in the last project that we used and building our own deck, we actually use the Camo hidden deck fastener system.
It’s just a fancy way of saying that the screws go in the side and I really like the look at that because there are no deck screws in the face of the board so it’s a nice clean look.
But since yours is a very small area, just get some deck screws and you’ll be good to go.
And then because our boards are older that we had lying around We went ahead and did a final pressure washing to clean it all up.
Is it OK to Grill on a Deck?
Yes. Most grills are on legs, which is tall enough to keep any heat from getting to the wood. And you usually keep the cover on while cooking, or if the cover is up, you’re tending to the food, so if something did fall out, you’ll be ready.
As a safety precaution, it’s always good to have a fire extinguisher nearby, in case of grease fire or if something goes wrong. This is true whether your grilling outside or cooking in your kitchen inside.
What do you put under the grill on deck?
If you’re worried about dropping grease or other liquids on the deck, you can put a grill mat under the grill to protect your deck.
These usually have a barrier that keeps grease and liquids from soaking through. You’ll probably want to pick it up when you’re not grilling simply because having the mat down can trap water and discolor your deck area underneath.
Final Look Deck on Grill
What do you think? We were able to do the whole project in one afternoon because we had all the supplies needed and really like how it turned out.
Let us know how your project goes.
We hope this article helped you build a deck for your grill. If you need lighting ideas, then you may also want to take a look at deck lighting ideas for your backyard.
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