Anyone ever built a deck near shoreline?

[RichMagnone]

I am about to take a 10 day vacation (the first of my career) and have intentions of building a deck near the shore of my summer cabin that connects to the dock. The area is quite rocky and sloped, although I have a pretty nice flat space very near the water to build on. My fear is that once I begin digging the holes for the piers, those holes will fill with lake water as I would assume that the groundwater will not be very deep. Has anyone had experience with building a deck down near the water? The lake is in Northern WI, so the freeze line is pretty deep.

[larry merlau]

my sugeestion would be to build it like they do in canada, they build on peirs of rock that way it is flexibel and moves with the weather conditions, yet is solid. they even set telephone poles buy stacking rocks around them for approx 3 ft up the pole solid rock base is tough diggin..the water you will encounter can be filled with some redi mix concrete to set the poles if you want to do it that way. check your local regs before begining your deck they may have restrictions that will tell you what the preferred methodes are for setting the frame work.

[Ray Bersch]

Rich,
First, check the local regs - in Maine where I have a summer home, you cannot build within 100 feet of the shoreline - and they do enforce the regs and have made one of my neighbors remove a deck built illegally. Boy, were they mad.

Now, if there is no prohibitation, I would go ahead and dig your holes - you may be surprised to find that they do not fill with water. Even if they do fill with water you still need to get below the frost line - that may be 4 feet or more in your area - and you can pour cement in the water - it will cure. Also, I have a small deck that is built on top of the ground - the posts are set on rocks which are only a few inches in the ground - this results in up and down frost movement over the winter but has not caused a problem at all - one thing I worry about is "creep" from frost movement, but it seems to stay in the same place - seven years so far..... but not highly recommended.

Be careful of ice movement - often when the lake freezes and thaws or even during ice out, large chunks of ice can scour the lake edge and could damage your new deck.

Also, consider cantilevering the deck over posts that are set back from the edge of the water - you should be able to cantilever about four feet without problems.

Good luck and have fun.

Ray

[Steve Inniss]

Rich,

As Larry suggests a crib, or cribwork deck may be a good solution for you. I live on a lake here in Ontario and unless a structure is removeable in fall, ice will destroy just about any conventionally made structures.
The process essentially involves making a "crate" out of larger structurals - typically 4x6 - 8x8 pt wood - and filling it with rocks ensuring it remains level as you go. Then you just add your 2x6 decking to the top. You already have joists in the "crate" of course - depending on the size.

I have lots of info available if you need. -Steve