• Help Support TNDeer:

Floor for a deer blind

S

Snowwolfe

Well-Known Member
TNDeer Supporter
Joined
Dec 2, 2013
Messages
5,773
Reaction score
3,600
Location
Alaska
I want to make a floor for under one of our deer blinds. It will be 8x8 and will be made from pressure treated 2x6's. The floor will only be about 4 feet off the ground, legs will be 4x4 PT posts braced Only needs to support one hunter 95% of the time. The other 5% that will be 2 hunters. Plan is to use good screws and joist hangers so it will last.
How far apart would you space the joists? Would you choose PT plywood or PT 2x4's for the floor surface? If plywood, how thick would you go?
 
Snowwolfe said:
I want to make a floor for under one of our deer blinds. It will be 8x8 and will be made from pressure treated 2x6's. The floor will only be about 4 feet off the ground, legs will be 4x4 PT posts braced Only needs to support one hunter 95% of the time. The other 5% that will be 2 hunters. Plan is to use good screws and joist hangers so it will last.
How far apart would you space the joists? Would you choose PT plywood or PT 2x4's for the floor surface? If plywood, how thick would you go?
Click to expand...
I'm planning something similar. Going 16" centers isn't gonna make much difference in material cost, so I'd go that route, along with advantech or whatever sub floor is being used these days.
 
16" on center for joist...advantech is awesome if you can find it....but any sub floor material will be plenty strong.....but if floor will be exposed to weather you could go with 3/4 pressure treated plywood.....if regular sub flooring is used I'd paint or stain it good to extend life...... another option would be to use treated deck boards.
 
I went 6x6, as my 8x8 that fell over (long story) was too big for a single hunter, hard to cover all windows, which I have to do, without a lot of movement.

I used these TimberLOK 8" deck screws, supposed to be stronger than standard screws and rival lag bolts.
9DML3de.jpg


I also glued them with outdoor wood glue. Used 6x8 uprights, price was too close not to...well this was the case in 2017.
XlkgfSa.jpg


Since it is only 6x6, I went with 18" center (ish), I put one dead center, then center on each side. I used hangers, and deck screws on the ends too. Used deck screws instead of nails, seem to hold tighter.
yicb5nd.jpg


Topped that with pressure treated plywood, but that was unnecessary as I used good paint, and the sides come to the outside so it never gets wet. Used deck boards for my old one, turned out to be real heavy though.
f2HfzJL.jpg


This could sit two, if need be, but it can also be covered by a single hunter with little to no movement.
LNPl7MV.jpg


Oh, and if I do this again, I would pour footers, then use a base like these, my first one rotted inside the cement, slowly tilting until I tried to repair/replace them, then it fell over.
09585335.jpg


I tried it this way this time, but would have been better with the above.
xADtEyo.jpg


My old one:
2K7nHM3.jpg
 
We just completed 2 shooting houses last weekend and got them out sitting on leveled cinder blocks. Both are 4' x 6'. One had a marine grade pressure treated plywood floor with no floor joists. The other was regular sub flooring with 2 floor joists evenly spaced length-wise. We also did what DR stated and used paint on the whole bottom of that one for protection.

All of our other shooting houses have 2x6's as floors. I'd get what's cheapest right now. I bought all of our wood 2 years ago before it went crazy high (fortunate) and got plywood because we built these air tight with great stuff foam and plexiglass/weather stripping.
 
Snowwolfe said:
I want to make a floor for under one of our deer blinds. It will be 8x8 and will be made from pressure treated 2x6's. The floor will only be about 4 feet off the ground, legs will be 4x4 PT posts braced Only needs to support one hunter 95% of the time. The other 5% that will be 2 hunters. Plan is to use good screws and joist hangers so it will last.
How far apart would you space the joists? Would you choose PT plywood or PT 2x4's for the floor surface? If plywood, how thick would you go?
Click to expand...

I may have misunderstood.....I assumed being 8x8 you were talking about building a platform to set up a portable blind on? If so and the floor will be exposed to weather in off-season I'd go with treated material and stain it.... If your building a permanent shooting house on top...any subflooring with do with it being out of the weather.
 
Just building the floor and setting a portable blind on it. The area around the blind is very muddy. Tossed out a bunch of gravel last year and its a temporary fix at best. If I build the floor then I might as well put 4 feet posts under to give us a little advantage. I'll dig out a hole where each post is and pack some gravel so it doesnt sink much.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top