Northallerton's exposed decks

The vale around Northallerton is open. Hedges and the odd tree break the view, and then the wind comes across the fields as if the garden were still part of them. Our team builds for that, in the town's outer plots and in the villages. This is not a sheltered stone court, and it is not a city yard.

Wind on an open plot

You feel the exposure at the visit, not on a postcode map. A garden behind a row of houses may be calmer than one that looks straight at a field. Ainderby Steeple is the open kind. Romanby has more houses to interrupt the gusts, and still has plots on the edge that take the full weather. We design for the plot.

A frame that is merely adequate in a town will flex here. You notice it as a slight give underfoot, then as a rattle when a board is loose. We brace, we use enough posts, and we fix the boards properly. The fixings are chosen so a board can move a little with wet and dry weather without working loose in a gale. A deck that chatters is not finished.

Shade is often missing. The house may be the only thing that casts any. We will site the table where the house or an existing hedge gives some relief, and we will say if the garden simply has no lee. Inventing a sunny sheltered corner that is not there helps no one.

A frame that stays stiff

Posts go into concreted holes, not into a shallow pin that the wind can work. On ground that holds water, a mean hole is worse, because the soil softens and then a frost lifts what was never deep enough. We do not publish one depth for the vale. The hole decides. The BGS Geology Viewer is the regional picture before we dig.

Joists are spaced so the deck does not bounce in a gust. The underside stays open. Closing it to stop a draught traps damp, which is a worse problem by spring.

Wind does not change the Portal's usual house starting point: 30 cm above the ground, within half the garden, and off the front. Lifting a deck for the view can need an application. Listed grounds sit outside those ordinary rules.

Shelter without a sail

People ask for a screen on the windward side. A low back to a bench, or the hedge that is already there, is useful. A tall solid panel on an open deck is a sail. It loads the posts in a gale and it makes the garden feel like a compound. We will build a modest screen if the frame is designed for it. We will not add a storey of boards and hope the posts cope.

A pergola or a light overhead wants the same honesty. If it cannot be tied down properly, it does not belong on this plot. Furniture that can blow about is your choice. We will not pretend a lightweight set will stay put in March.

A guard is for a drop of more than about 600 mm, not for breaking the wind. The frost page is the companion. Wind and frost arrive together.

Boards in driving rain

Rain here is often driven. A board with no gap holds a sheet of water and then throws it at the house. We leave a drainage gap, and we stop the deck short of the wall so the slot at the house can take what runs off. End grain, the cut ends, is where water soaks and where a later frost opens a check. Those ends are sealed.

Composite does not take water into the board the way bare timber does, which some households prefer on a wet open plot. Timber is right when you want it, if the frame can dry and you accept oil or silvering. This page is not a contest. It is about the exposure. Either board fails if the frame racks or the void stays wet.

The flood map for planning is the check for a low plot near a beck. We do not publish zones, and an exposed hilltop garden is not a flood story. Tell us how open the garden is when you ask for a quote. "It faces the fields" is enough to start. We will visit on a day when we can feel the place, and we will brace it for the days when we cannot.

Questions people ask about exposed decks