Stockton, Thornaby, Yarm and the villages south of the town all live with the river in different ways. This guide is how a deck should behave if water is on the list of worries.
The river and the flood plain
The Tees is the main river. Low ground beside it is flood plain. Higher streets are not. A postcode such as TS16 or TS18 does not tell you which garden is which. The flood map for planning does, for the address you actually have.
We open that map before we promise a solid plinth or a closed side. If the map is quiet, we still build so rain can leave. If the map shows a concern, we say so in the quote and we design for water moving through, not for a dam.
Gardens in Preston-on-Tees often prompt the question. Ask for a quote with the postcode and we will read the map for that address.
What a deck should do if water comes
An open frame beats a box. Boards with a small gap let rain through. The underside stays clear of a stored pile of timber and of a skirt that reaches the ground. Water that arrives should be able to fall, spread and drain away from the wall.
Posts and pads hold the frame up off the surface. If water does stand for a while, the boards and the joists are not lying in it. Metal shoes, where we use them, keep the end of the post out of the wet. We do not rely on a coat of paint for that job.
The fall of the surface still sends everyday rain away from the house. Flood design and a good fall are friends. A deck that tips back to the air brick is a problem in a normal November, long before any river rises.
We will not bank soil against the house to lift a garden off the map. That can push water onto a neighbour. Lights and cables stay up out of the wet line. Deck lighting covers the fittings.
Concrete yards that shed rain
A concrete yard sheds water in sheets. That can be useful, or it can push a puddle to the door. Before we cover it, we watch the fall. If the yard already tips to a gully, we keep that path. If it tips to the wall, we do not hide the mistake under boards.
Old concrete and flood water meet when the yard is the low point. A deck on top should not become a lid. We leave the edges open. We do not point a solid board up to the house and call the gap finished. Our concrete guide covers when the hard standing can stay.
Broken concrete lets water sit in the cracks. We test it before we cover it. Sound concrete can carry supports. Failed concrete comes out, or the posts go beside it.
Materials that can dry, and the height line
Flood water and the planning test are different questions. A deck kept within thirty centimetres of the surrounding ground is the ordinary householder case. It is not a promise about the river. If the flood map shows a concern, we still design the frame so water is not trapped, whether or not you need an application.
Boards that can dry are the point. Composite does not soak the way bare timber does, and it is a fair choice near damp ground. Timber can be used if it is detailed to dry and you accept the care. Either way the void underneath has to breathe. A soaked frame with a waterproof cap on top is still a soaked frame.
If the deck also needs rails because the ground falls, that is a separate design. Guarding and steps sit beside this page. Water does not remove the need for a safe edge. It adds a reason to keep the underside open under that edge.
Questions we get asked about flood water
Can you tell me my flood zone from the postcode?
We will not guess a zone from the postcode alone. The flood map for planning is the check, address by address. TS postcodes cover high streets and low ones. The quote says what the map means for the frame, not a label for the whole town.
Should a deck be raised so it sits above flood water?
Only if that is the right deck for the garden and the rules. Lifting it changes the thirty-centimetre test and usually brings rails. It does not, by itself, make a house safe. We keep the frame open so water can move. We do not sell a tall deck as a flood defence.
Will concrete make flooding worse?
A hard yard already sheds rain quickly. Covering it with a deck should not block the only route that water had. We keep falls and we leave edges open. If the concrete is the thing holding water, we deal with that before we hide it.
Do you close the sides in to make the deck look finished?
Not where water needs a way through. A fascia can neaten the edge if it stops short of the ground and still lets air move. A skirt to the soil, on a low plot near the river, is the detail we refuse.