Which decking man..

gabyjane

Ok we have had 3 quotes for our decking (not going with one at all)..all the same price. We decided on one and then he got a different job but is still willing to do it, it will just take more time..we will call him decking man 1!

Decking man 2 came today and completely conflicted what the first person said so we were wondering who would possibly do the better job!

Decking man 1..a proper decking installer but dh's friend too, he came round and did the measuring etc and i liked him, he seemed to think that digging the turf out and levelling it off so as not to have to get rid of it (keep costs and work down) would be fine, he agreed to level it to the patio we have so we could walk straight on..all fine happy with him..obviously now he has a new job we are awaiting him having the time to come round but are in no great rush! The soil was no issue though from what i can remember.

Decking man 2 came today, and measured it out, he measured it out to sit a lot higher than we want against the fence (would overlook next door practically as new build and low fences!)..i said i wasn't keen and he said he would have to hire a skip and get rid of most of the soil as having it under the decking will ruin it if we wanted it lower? the decking we wanted was fine but he started changing the plans quite a bit when all we want is something quite simple! after a long while of letting him know we just wanted plain straight boards decked he said they would have to be put on proper hoists etc.fine..he priced up there and then and came up with either the same as decking man no 1 or £150 less if we can remove the soil ourselves..we have decided we cant as would be way too hard and time consuming.

So questions being..does it matter if the soil is under the decking? obviously not touching but will it affect it? no 2 says yes..no 1 says no..I like no 1 and we know him etc (not that well but still)..no 2 was very insulting to our fences and new builds etc (like a lot of builders are!) so i took a dislike to him due to this too as not really his prob at the end of the day!

Help & thanks!!

matt987106

go with number 1

it doesnt really matter whats under the decking as long as its not touching the timber, i did the same on ours, moved some of the soil and filled in a slope and then put plastic membrane over it all and then decked it all ( sat on 3" posts )

job done

leo~saphira

no 1 from me too.

When me and the old man did my decking we moved all of the soil out of the way (from the holes and frame) did the deck and posts. Stuck all the soil back into the frame (under the new deck) with weed barrier on top - 5 years later no problems what so ever (okay, odd blade of grass but easy to pull out)

gabyjane

Thanks for the replys. When no 2 started talking about gettting skips in etc plus possible council planning i looked at dh as if to say 'what?!'..he just came across as odd i think..can't put my finger on it apart from being rude with a couple of things but?..the reason i asked was dh wants him and i want no 1 as he is going to take longer i am wondering if dh is right..grr! Will await no 1 coming back to give us a time frame and go from there!
Thanks x