
California builder Richard Houghton is my kind of guy … literally. And he’s your kind of guy too, if one of our recent Reader’s Surveys – which found that more than 80% of PDB readers (or at least the PDB readers who responded to this particular poll question) are over the age of 50 – is accurate. So when he told me that he had come to dread digging deep holes and lugging heavy bags of concrete for footings, I could relate. That’s a young man’s game.
Houghton says that he had worked for years as a union carpenter and plumber before shifting his focus to decks a few years ago. But a few projects into his new gig convinced him that there had to be a better way to support a deck than with hand-mixed concrete poured into holes dug into the ground. An internet search led him to Ozco Building Product’s Oz-Deck foundation system, which Houghton now uses whenever he can.

The system consists of 12-inch-by-12-inch 6-ga. HDG steel deck plates and 36-inch-long Oz-Post post anchors, which are driven through the deck plates and into the ground with a jackhammer. The post anchors are available to fit both 4x4 and 6x6 posts, and can also be used without the deck plates to support fence and sign posts. Each post/plate assembly is rated for a load of 1,600 lb., with a recommended spacing between posts of no more than 6 feet.
The Oz-Deck system is designed to eliminate both concrete and shovels, but on a recent project Houghton placed the posts in shallow excavations instead of at ground level. This was because he wanted the top level of the deck to be flush with the inside floor of a home that had been built on a slab. The company says that decks as high as 8 feet above grade can be supported with their system, but in general, Houghton limits his Oz-supported decks to no more than 2 feet above grade in order to avoid the diagonal and lateral bracing that would be required with a taller deck.


Houghton says that in the right soil it takes about a minute to drive in one of the Oz-posts with his electric jackhammer (which he picked up from Harbor Freight for about $600). The posts can also be installed manually – and tediously – with a sledge hammer. Ozco offers installation kits for either option, with both including a spacer that fits inside the post base. The jackhammer version of the kit, which also includes an installation bit for a standard 1 1/8-inch jackhammer chuck that fits inside the spacer, costs about $50.
Occasionally, explains Houghton, he’ll run into a rock or root and have to back out the post and relocate it; something to keep in mind if you’re building in bony soils. Getting approval from your building inspector may be a problem too, though Houghton reports that that is much less of an issue now than it was when he first started using the posts. Ozco says the system is suitable for use anywhere in the country for building a freestanding deck, but Houghton adds that he occasionally will use Oz-posts with ledger-supported decks, since he builds in an area with no frost. This works because the process of jackhammering the posts into place also compacts the soil under the plate and around the post, minimizing seasonal movement.

To give you an idea of their bearing capacity, Houghton is currently working with an engineer on plans to use Oz-posts to support a freestanding hot-tub deck. Still, there are limitations, which is why Houghton estimates he uses them on about 50% of his projects. In addition to restricting his use of them to low-level decks, Houghton also avoids using them on sloped sites. Depending on quantity, Houghton says he pays between $32 to $35 per post/plate assembly.