Grilling Area on Deck: Fire Resistant Materials?

MadCityJim

MadCityJim

Knows what a fatty is.
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Hey Guys:
As the snow slowly melts from my backyard, the wife and I are starting to plan a remodel of the deck in our backyard. The whole area immediately outside our back door is either wood deck or swimming pool. The deck is low, only 1-1.5 feet off the ground. Right now in a corner between the house and the porch, I have set a 3 x 6 area of brick pavers directly on the wood deck and this is where I use my smoker and kettle grill pretty much year round. Putting the pavers on top of the wood really shortens the life of the wood deck as they keep a layer of moisture on the woods that rarely drys. Not a big issue up to now since the deck was at the end of its life and we just moved in a couple of years ago.

So this year we are going to remodel this section of the deck, and I'm looking for suggestions for materials to do a larger section with a fire resistant material to make grilling safer and less likely to end up with burn marks from dropped coals etc. I have an area that sort of defines itself that's about 10 x 12 that I'm looking at. I'd still like it framed so it's at the same level of the rest of the deck.

Do any of you guys have any suggestions for me?

Jim
 
New House form the Suckling Pig Incident:
Here's the big view:
img_0441.jpg


Here's the area I'm thinking for the Cooking area:
img_0442.jpg

img_0441.jpg
 
I cringe when I look at pictures like that. Having cookers with live fire inside them puts you one mishap away from burning down your house. It's one thing for grilling where you are going to be tending the cook and right there, but for smoking this thing will be there a long time w/out close supervision, perhaps even overnight while you sleep. I can't speak for you but a layer of brick on top of the deck would not be sufficient for me.

My suggestion - not what you want I'm sure - would be steps as close to the back door as possible to take you to ground level where you could situate cookers in absolute safety.
 
I'm not exactly sure how fire resistant the "Trex" or "engineered wood" decking planks are, but I'd guess moreso than regular wood. They're at least the same thickness and look of your current wood planking. Just an idea.

Only other thing I can think of is to perhaps cut out and remove the portion of the wood planking that you want to replace, use a marine grade plywood (read water resistant) that would be thinner than the current decking planks, then lay in dry fit tiles or pavers or something. You could drill holes in the plywood to get rid of collecting water after rains.

I assume you have the 5/4" boards (which have probably dried/shrank to a pretty consistent 1" thick? If that's so, then you could use 3/4" marine plywood, then lay in 3/16" terra cotta tiles or something like that. Just lay them in there dry, then you can remove to clean if you want.

OR, you COULD actually use thinset mortar or mastic to actually adhere the tiles to a substrate and then grout in between them if you want to go to that extent.



Just my first thoughts.
 
Have to a agree with HankB on the proximity to the house. I appears (maybe just from the shadow) the there may already be some heat damage to the siding?

Either way it is kind of a odd space with the larger deck attached.
You could:
Remove the 10x12 deck area, block it up (perimeter) fill with compacted soil to about 10" from the top, add Compacted TB, and do a brick paver finish (herring bone pattern)?
In the event the rest of the existing deck is remodeled, you could lower the new part to closer to pool level and the paver patio would be a accent area and slight step up.
OR-
Frame up a "grill/smoker" holding area out of treated lumber and top with Durock and ceramic tile. The whole unit would rest on 1" treated furring strips so not to hold moisture/ice.
I think this may look pretty cool if placed by the ginormous brick chimney with beer holder ledge?

Will keep ideas coming, Thoughts?
 
HankB said:
I cringe when I look at pictures like that. Having cookers with live fire inside them puts you one mishap away from burning down your house. It's one thing for grilling where you are going to be tending the cook and right there, but for smoking this thing will be there a long time w/out close supervision, perhaps even overnight while you sleep. I can't speak for you but a layer of brick on top of the deck would not be sufficient for me.

My suggestion - not what you want I'm sure - would be steps as close to the back door as possible to take you to ground level where you could situate cookers in absolute safety.
Click to expand...


If you use a maverick you'll know if there is a temperature drop aka if something is seriously wrong.
 
Is that vinyl siding or hardy board? I would never put a heat source that close to vinyl and it makes me uneasy even if it's hardy board. I'd be much more concerned with the closness to the house than I would about the deck surface. Smokers and grills should be 12 ft from structure.
 
Sorry. I'm with the move it away from the house group, then talk about what to set them on.
I about shat when I saw the pictures.
 
I can't see the 3rd photo, which must be the one everyone's reacting to. I'm only seeing the first two.
 
As the project progresses, the siding on the back of the house will be replaced with something more heat resistant. I've already warped it in a couple of spots. The ginormous Chimney is going to be framed into wood shed with deck above. A corner of the chimney will remain exposed.

I'm sketching up the area and will send for a quote on the aluminum decking. I don't know if that will make the budget. On one site, an 8ft aluminum deck board was $72.

I'm also interested in some sort of tile. I'm hoping to here from someone with experience with underlaying the tile in a cold climate like Wisconsin.
 
If your budget is near enough for Aluminum decking, tear it (all) out and pour the whole thing (or the area in question) in stamped concrete??
 
You use that smoker next to the siding??

Why???

Do you have a hotline to the fire dept?.

Aluminum decking > buy a piece and put it in the sun for a while and see how scorching hot it gets. Bad option

Trex or engineered decking......add your name to the lawsuits filed.

Stucco next to the deck......wil absorb water unless installed correctly and maintained.

Best option......cheap and easy

Stop being careless.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Here is a Picture of the Stamped Concrete we had done last summer on the Patio area








E5333008-0305-49A7-B8EF-FA5D442F16FA-2518-00000666FFBB73A9.jpg
 
A Little closer view of the concrete


EE354B71-C37D-4617-920B-0FAB50F5269D-2518-00000666FD9AFFDF.jpg



I hope this helps You...it is a big decision to redo all that area...but might be well worth it for Safety Sake !!
 
I really want to keep the smoker & grill close to the house. I'm planning on making the deck and siding a lot more fire resistant. I use the grill throughout the winter and know if it gets moved to the other side of the deck it won't get used in the winter for sure. Probably not very much in the summer either.

Early research puts wood deck at $6/sqft installed; composite at $10/sqft installed; aluminum at $12 installed. Total cost of ownership after 4-5 years is almost dead even regardless of material.

I'm thinking of going to stucco for the walls of the back of the house.
 
I love the look of that stamped concrete, but it will quadruple the scope of work involved in this project. I'm still curious though, what was the cost per square foot on that project?
 
I will have to see if I can find the contract on the concrete Jim...not sure of the square footage....but it was in the 2K range for the deck and a back walk that is not shown !

I also agree with Motley on the Aluminum...we bought an aluminum patio table last year and it get so Hot You can hardly touch it...just a thought on that !!

I think an aluminum deck would be Unbearable

and just plain concrete would be cheaper that the stamped...the stamped in Very Labor Intensive !!
 
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