A Back Deck Story: Chapter 5 | The Skirting
I get so excited when I reach the finishing stages of a project. Building and installing the skirting is the beginning of the end of this deck build. Skirting serves as a barrier to debris and medium to large animals making a cozy home under your deck. It also covers up the ugly mechanics and structure of the deck. Often, the easy way out is getting ready made lattice from the lumber yard and tacking it on. This option serves the practical purpose of keeping large animals and debris out from under the deck and takes a lot less effort, but it just doesn’t look so pretty and definitely doesn’t fit the look on an old house.
A summary of what I did:
Used 1/2” thick (actual dimensions) premium pine boards because they don’t typically have knots in them. Knots have tannins that seep through the paint and I did NOT want to deal with that.
Joined the boards with screws using a pocket hole jig to make a frame for the lattice.
Cut the frame along the bottom edge to follow the slope of the ground.
Primed it using an oil based primer on ALL sides then followed with a coat of paint. This is crucial because if the wood isn’t protected from all sides, when the parts which aren’t coated will absorb moisture and the whole board will bend and warp.
Build the lattice by cutting 1/4” strips of pine and stapling them together. (I should’ve also used glue. Do as I say, not as I do. Use a good wood glue.)
Used a sprayer to prime and paint the lattice with a latex based products.
Attach lattice to the back of the skirt frame. (Again, use glue)
Mount skirting to the deck frame.
TA DAAA!!!
Am I super thrilled with how it turned out? Meh. I still need to add trim to the corners and under the stairs. The frame is definitely too wide. But it’s better than the store bought option. Now that the tutorial is out, you all know the step by step of how to make a much nicer skirt than what you see here.
The video below will give you a good visualization of the steps outlined above.
