Archive for the ‘decking area’ tag
Garden Safety – Make Sure Your Decking is Safe no comments
Decking provides an ideal place to socialise with friends and family. If fitted correctly it can also really help to improve the look of your home and garden. However, unless you choose a respectable company to install the decking, you could end up with a potential safety hazard. This could be a serious problem if the decking is not on ground level.
How to Check Your Deck
If you have recently had your decking installed then there are ways in which you can tell if it was done correctly. The best way would be to hire out a professional to inspect it for you. They will know what to look for and they will also check that it complies with health and safety regulations. The biggest advantage, however is that they will also be able to give you a good idea of what to look for in the future. This advice can be invaluable at helping you to spot the first signs of wear and tear.
The inspector will also tell you your decks capacity limit. This is something that you don’t always consider. However it makes sense that if the decking is situated off the ground, it will have a maximum weight limit. If you are socialising with friends and family and there are quite a lot of you, it could cause the decking to become unstable. Therefore knowing your decks maximum capacity is definitely a good idea.
Another thing that you can look out for yourself is how far apart the vertical bars are. By law they should be no further than 100mm away from each other. There should be a balustrade for safety too. Another fairly obvious thing to look out for is instability. Does the decking feel sturdy? Are there any visible signs of wear and tear?
Of course, it isn’t just new decking that needs to be considered. The longer you have had your decking installed, the more likely it is to have become weaker over the years. It is definitely a good idea to have older decking inspected to see whether there are any potential problems with it.
Overall decking is popular and it is easy to see why. There are many advantages to having a decking area in your home. However, you will need to consider a number of factors before you have one installed and safety is a major one. Make sure that the contractor that you hire has a good reputation and always ask to see a portfolio of their work.
If you have a raised decking area or are concerned about safety, Richard Burbidge do a great range of decking balustrade