babzog
Well-known member
So, my idea of a fun (company-wide email inspired) vacation is to bust my body building a deck. No relaxing by the lake, sipping pints, smoking smokes, chatting to friends, arguing politics or napping at 2pm. No, I decide to sweat and hurt. I guess it needed doing... I've remembered muscles I'd forgotten I had.
The Backstory.
What we started from last year. The part of the house that's been stripped of siding used to be a kennel. The part just to the right of that was a connecting room that housed a shower for washing dogs, a couple of laundry sinks, a cabinet and lots of unused or poorly used space.
Notice the lovely yellow door. The PO had painted the inside of the kennel (doors and trim anway) this gorgeous neon yellow. Ack! That got rectified in about 2 days time. Nice thing was, this was an exterior door that was mounted inside between the house and kennel - no outside time at all! The "deck" was the original entry deck/pad just spun 90deg, raised and some scraps used for railings. All of an hour went into this fine example of construction.
The bulk of the reno was completed last fall/winter and we enjoyed that fine "deck" for several months. It's done its duty to God and country, time for it to go.
First order of business - rip out that pad! Don't need it, don't want to rebuild the retaining wall that's rotting away. Time for this useless lump to take a hike. Oh... but the concrete is over 10" thick and reinforced with rebar!! Backhoe can't break it, so I take the day off work, rent a saw and after a while of this and hauling off the retaining wall logs that were pulled out, my back says "I'm on vacation" and leaves me feeling nearly crippled for the next couple of weeks. Ouch!
A little chip off the corner when the pad was being moved out from the house.
Finito! She's gone! Just need some grass in there now!
Someone enjoyed checking out the "Big digger!".
Now, I hire a mason to fix things up - repair the corner, parge the bare spots, heck, run around the house and fix all the loose and cracked parging which you're at it! Nice job (can be seen in the next pics).
The Present.
Time to run a new phone line to the shop. The existing line stopped working a couple of years ago and I've not gotten around to replacing it yet. So, I order 150' of direct-burial CAT5e (might as well extend the network to the shop if I'm running a wire anyway) and get to work on digging up the shop power/phone line where it exits the house.
Ah, I see why the phone line stopped working (it's not an outdoor wire):
K, new cable installed through the old silly-cone and sealed with tar:
Stake marks where the cable transitions from driveway to lawn:
About 20':
Project supervisor yelling at me (he's a bit hard to see in the window... look for the eyes):
I needed a 4' level to ensure that I had the correct slope from the house and that long spans were level, etc. HD has a $20 cheapie aluminum level, imported form Lord knows where, that was super cheap (crappy). Soft aluminum, really twisty and had a 1yr warranty. For $23 more, I picked up this nice level. Very rigid, made in USA and carries a lifetime warranty. Accurate to .0005". I hate crappy tools, esp those whose accuracy you require so the extra money spent was well worth it.
Blocks in place, carefully positioned, levelled and aligned:
Beams in place. Beams are constructed from a 2x12 and a 2x10 sistered together then slipped into the notch of a deck block (the 2x10 had to be slightly shimmed to avoid falling forward).
Frame was assembled on the ground then muscled into place. Whoops.. beams are too close, frame of deck rocks. Have to space them further apart. Muscle fame off beams, have smoke, drink pint, reposition blocks and bleams, muscle frame back on.
Peanut gallery is overseeing the construction, offering much needed advice and soliciting vast quantities of information:
Ah, project supervisor showed up again, late, to check on progress. He's not happy that the front corner of the deck feels a bit spongy so his minion (me) has a smoke and a pint and enjoys a Plato moment.
It was around 3pm on Wed now. I head over to the sawmill to pick up some cedar. Well, turns out I know nothing about sawmills or how they work. Next time for cutting (at this one anyway) is next week, and he didn't have much stockpiled. Okay, head over to another fella I know. He cuts more often but won't have it ready for a day or so. Okay, lesson learned, local sawmills are not like HD - gotta plan and order in advance. S'okay, I have much grass to mow anway.
Thu, I touch base, no wood sawn today on account of being called out on township duty. Will be ready tomorrow (Fri). Friday noon-ish, I pick up the cedar. Very nice stuff! Planed on one side to 1.5" thick and it just smells awesome!
The deck structure is now in place, blocking is installed for the perimeter deck boards, cross braces are in place between the beams to prevent them from racking and a mini-beam is in place to shore up the front. She's solid as a rock now!
Cross brace detail. Once these were plugged in, all movement stopped.
Now... the monsoons were forecast for the weekend. I'd had enough delays this week that I needed to get the deck boards installed. So, my Dad and I were up to past 3am last night getting the decking installed. All but two boards are in place. These I shall rip down to size (soas to avoid a very noticeable thin board by the house) and screw down.
As she sat this morning:
The deck does have a bit of slope away from the door (about 3/8" over the 8' depth) but the siding makes it look like a lot more... contractor didn't install it level.
Still need to get the last two boards in place, then construct the stairs, add the railing and enclose the bottom in some lattice. Coming together... might take some more time off this week to wrap it up.
The Backstory.
What we started from last year. The part of the house that's been stripped of siding used to be a kennel. The part just to the right of that was a connecting room that housed a shower for washing dogs, a couple of laundry sinks, a cabinet and lots of unused or poorly used space.
Notice the lovely yellow door. The PO had painted the inside of the kennel (doors and trim anway) this gorgeous neon yellow. Ack! That got rectified in about 2 days time. Nice thing was, this was an exterior door that was mounted inside between the house and kennel - no outside time at all! The "deck" was the original entry deck/pad just spun 90deg, raised and some scraps used for railings. All of an hour went into this fine example of construction.
The bulk of the reno was completed last fall/winter and we enjoyed that fine "deck" for several months. It's done its duty to God and country, time for it to go.
First order of business - rip out that pad! Don't need it, don't want to rebuild the retaining wall that's rotting away. Time for this useless lump to take a hike. Oh... but the concrete is over 10" thick and reinforced with rebar!! Backhoe can't break it, so I take the day off work, rent a saw and after a while of this and hauling off the retaining wall logs that were pulled out, my back says "I'm on vacation" and leaves me feeling nearly crippled for the next couple of weeks. Ouch!
A little chip off the corner when the pad was being moved out from the house.
Finito! She's gone! Just need some grass in there now!
Someone enjoyed checking out the "Big digger!".
Now, I hire a mason to fix things up - repair the corner, parge the bare spots, heck, run around the house and fix all the loose and cracked parging which you're at it! Nice job (can be seen in the next pics).
The Present.
Time to run a new phone line to the shop. The existing line stopped working a couple of years ago and I've not gotten around to replacing it yet. So, I order 150' of direct-burial CAT5e (might as well extend the network to the shop if I'm running a wire anyway) and get to work on digging up the shop power/phone line where it exits the house.
Ah, I see why the phone line stopped working (it's not an outdoor wire):
K, new cable installed through the old silly-cone and sealed with tar:
Stake marks where the cable transitions from driveway to lawn:
About 20':
Project supervisor yelling at me (he's a bit hard to see in the window... look for the eyes):
I needed a 4' level to ensure that I had the correct slope from the house and that long spans were level, etc. HD has a $20 cheapie aluminum level, imported form Lord knows where, that was super cheap (crappy). Soft aluminum, really twisty and had a 1yr warranty. For $23 more, I picked up this nice level. Very rigid, made in USA and carries a lifetime warranty. Accurate to .0005". I hate crappy tools, esp those whose accuracy you require so the extra money spent was well worth it.
Blocks in place, carefully positioned, levelled and aligned:
Beams in place. Beams are constructed from a 2x12 and a 2x10 sistered together then slipped into the notch of a deck block (the 2x10 had to be slightly shimmed to avoid falling forward).
Frame was assembled on the ground then muscled into place. Whoops.. beams are too close, frame of deck rocks. Have to space them further apart. Muscle fame off beams, have smoke, drink pint, reposition blocks and bleams, muscle frame back on.
Peanut gallery is overseeing the construction, offering much needed advice and soliciting vast quantities of information:
Ah, project supervisor showed up again, late, to check on progress. He's not happy that the front corner of the deck feels a bit spongy so his minion (me) has a smoke and a pint and enjoys a Plato moment.
It was around 3pm on Wed now. I head over to the sawmill to pick up some cedar. Well, turns out I know nothing about sawmills or how they work. Next time for cutting (at this one anyway) is next week, and he didn't have much stockpiled. Okay, head over to another fella I know. He cuts more often but won't have it ready for a day or so. Okay, lesson learned, local sawmills are not like HD - gotta plan and order in advance. S'okay, I have much grass to mow anway.
Thu, I touch base, no wood sawn today on account of being called out on township duty. Will be ready tomorrow (Fri). Friday noon-ish, I pick up the cedar. Very nice stuff! Planed on one side to 1.5" thick and it just smells awesome!
The deck structure is now in place, blocking is installed for the perimeter deck boards, cross braces are in place between the beams to prevent them from racking and a mini-beam is in place to shore up the front. She's solid as a rock now!
Cross brace detail. Once these were plugged in, all movement stopped.
Now... the monsoons were forecast for the weekend. I'd had enough delays this week that I needed to get the deck boards installed. So, my Dad and I were up to past 3am last night getting the decking installed. All but two boards are in place. These I shall rip down to size (soas to avoid a very noticeable thin board by the house) and screw down.
As she sat this morning:
The deck does have a bit of slope away from the door (about 3/8" over the 8' depth) but the siding makes it look like a lot more... contractor didn't install it level.
Still need to get the last two boards in place, then construct the stairs, add the railing and enclose the bottom in some lattice. Coming together... might take some more time off this week to wrap it up.
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