How do I prevent woodlice under raised decking in courtyard garden?

Question

I have a brick-floored courtyard 14' x 14' which is much lower than my back door and also my back gate, so I lose a lot of space to steps. I want to put in a raised deck about 2' off the floor to gain space, but I have heard that woodlice may live in their thousands underneath as it will be damp and dark underneath (rodents are not a concern here for various reasons).

How do I avoid woodlice infestations when building the deck?

Answer 1

By woodlice  I believe you mean the common, grey, isopods capable of rolling into little balls. They are dependent on living in the damp but with proper spacing between the planking and a two foot gap to the courtyard flooring you should be able to provide air movement to keep the underdeck area as dry as possible. Concrete pier blocks to hold the support columns will keep the decking from direct wicking of moisture and air flow should dry the wood quickly.  The isopods cannot directly eat wood they eat rotting wood that has  fungus growing. But since fungus spores will only grow in the wet it comes to the same problem, keeping the wood mostly dry when it is warm enough for the spores to germinate.

Brown rot eats cellulose white rot eats lignin but both destroy wooden structures. Treat with fungicide.

http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/Woo...

Are there any downspouts that empty here. Can they be rediracted? Are there any puddles that form on the bricks? This may indicate the drainage needs to be improved before a deck is built.

I also presume you will be using some form of wood treatment to preserve the wood and repel water penetration but if not an alternate choice is the composite or synthetic wood/plastic decking.

Fir or hemlock wood must be treated even if it comes treated   because this wood is resistant to penetration by the chemicals. Be sure to treat the cut ends very well.

Composite wood

http://www.toolbase.org/Technology-Inven...

http://www.toolbase.org/Technology-Inven...

http://plasticlumberyard.com/