Decking in Burns Beach
Northern Decking Co builds composite decks and pool surrounds in Burns Beach, a City of Joondalup suburb that began as a 1920s camping resort and grew into a coastal estate in the 1990s. Decks here face the ocean, so boards are chosen for salt air and every fixing is stainless steel. The contractor visits, measures and quotes free.
- Postcode
- 6028
- Council
- City of Joondalup
- Coastal lot rules
- Apply
- Last reviewed
- October 2026
Decks that suit Burns Beach homes
Burns Beach is older than it looks. It began in the 1920s as a camping and health resort, and a scatter of holiday dwellings from before and after the Second World War survives near the original caravan park. Suburban housing only reached it in the early to mid 1990s, wrapping the old village in streets of larger family homes. The result is two kinds of house facing the same ocean, and two kinds of deck job.
Decks for the village core
The holiday dwellings are small, close to the water and built for weekends, and their decks are often the most used room in the house. An owner who wants to keep that character usually asks for a low, open deck with no fuss: a frame on stumps, boards run toward the sea, no balustrade where the deck sits low enough not to need one. The existing frame gets a hard look, because salt air has had decades to work on it. If it is sound, new composite boards go on with stainless clips. If it is not, the contractor says so and quotes a new frame.
Composite in the front row
The case for composite is strongest on a Burns Beach deck in full western sun with salt spray on the breeze. Hardwood needs oiling more often here than anywhere inland to hold its colour, and a missed coat shows. Composite does not rot, does not splinter and does not need oiling, and the lighter colours stay cooler underfoot on a hot afternoon. Hidden stainless clips give a clean surface with nothing to rust or streak. Our composite decking page explains the boards and how they are fixed.
Pool surrounds in the 1990s streets
The family homes from the 1990s are the ones with pools, and a pool deck here has to cope with salt from two directions, the ocean on the breeze and the water in the pool. A textured, pool-grade composite with 316 stainless fixings handles both, gives wet feet grip and ties the pool to the alfresco. The barrier comes first in the design, so the deck neither shortens the fence’s effective height nor gives a foothold in the non-climbable zone. Where the deck rises over 500 mm to meet a raised pool edge, in the City of Joondalup a deck within 7.5 m of a side or rear boundary needs a privacy screen at least 1.6 m high, so the contractor designs the screen and the barrier together.
Hardware that outlasts the salt
Every piece of metal on a Burns Beach deck is stainless steel, 316 grade this close to the water: screws, clips, joist hangers, stirrups and any balustrade. Frames are kept clear of the sand with air moving underneath, because a frame that stays damp after a sea mist is the one that fails.
What to know before you build in Burns Beach
City of Joondalup
- Building permit requirements depend on the deck. Confirm with the City of Joondalup on 9400 4000 before work starts.
- For a single house or grouped dwelling, development (planning) approval is not required for decking 500 mm or less above natural ground level.
- Decking over 500 mm can avoid planning approval if it meets the R-Code setbacks for the lot's density.
- A deck within 7.5 m of a side or rear boundary needs a privacy screen at least 1.6 m high.
Salt air
Burns Beach is a coastal suburb, so the fixings, hangers and stirrups are stainless steel and the frame is detailed to dry out. Composite boards suit lots within reach of the sea breeze; hardwood works too when it is oiled and fixed properly.
The ground
Burns Beach sits on the calcareous sand of the Quindalup Dune System, named in the City's foreshore plan as a relict beach-ridge plain, and the foreshore shows limestone cliffs above narrow sandy beaches. That describes the reserve rather than the house lots, where footings usually go into sand, and the first hole tells the contractor whether rock is close enough to matter.
Bushfire map
Check your lot on the DFES Map of Bush Fire Prone Areas. If it is inside a mapped area the deck is built to the BAL requirements of AS 3959. We do not say here whether Burns Beach is or is not bushfire prone, because the map runs through suburbs and is revised.
How it goes in
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Footings
Stumps go into footings in the sand. Some sites in the far north hit limestone close to the surface and need core drilling.
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Joists
Joists go across the bearers at the centres the board maker specifies, typically 450 mm for hardwood and tighter for composite.
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Boards
Boards are laid from the house out with an even gap, fixed with screws or hidden clips.
Questions from Burns Beach
Can you deck an old Burns Beach holiday shack?
Yes, with a look first. The older dwellings in the village core have had decades of salt air, and the frame under an existing deck may or may not be worth keeping. A sound frame takes new composite boards with stainless fixings. A rotten one is replaced, and the new deck can keep the low, open shack feel if that is what you want.
What deck lasts longest on the Burns Beach coast?
Composite with stainless hidden clips. It does not rot, does not splinter and does not need oiling in full western sun and salt spray. Hardwood works if you will oil it, and whichever board you pick, every screw, hanger and stirrup is stainless steel.
Do I need council approval for a deck in Burns Beach?
For a single house or grouped dwelling in the City of Joondalup, development (planning) approval is not required for decking 500 mm or less above natural ground level. Decking over 500 mm can avoid planning approval if it meets the R-Code setbacks for the lot's density. Building permit requirements depend on the deck. Confirm with the City of Joondalup on 9400 4000 before work starts.
Can a deck go around my pool in Burns Beach?
Yes. A textured, pool-grade composite with 316 stainless fixings is the usual choice, and the deck is set out so it does not shorten the effective height of the pool barrier or give a foothold in the non-climbable zone.
Nearby areas we cover
Read about composite decking and pool decking, or our guide to what affects the cost of a deck. All areas.
Get a free quote in Burns Beach
Send your details. The contractor calls you, looks at the site and quotes in writing. No obligation.