Our deck just showed up.
 

We've been doing a bunch of work on the house since Spring. I put in beds for bushes, stone around them, started building cabinets for all the walls in the garage (every square inch of walls), added a piece of concrete to widen our driveway, and we just finished a sidewalk that goes from front to back, and got our garden in.
The big project is our deck.
It's enormous. I have no idea what I was thinking. I do all this stuff myself, aside from hiring a buddy to help with the concrete, and it takes me forever. He helped pour the 21 concrete piers, they were 48" deep and we used 8" form tubes. We mixed all that by hand, it was a job.
So the deck is ready to go up, finally.
I designed it and drew the plans a few weeks ago, got all the permits from zoning, the building commission and the homeowner's association, and just bought all the screws and fasteners and stuff yesterday.
I ordered the lumber yesterday and it showed up just a little while ago. When it came off the truck and I got a good look at it, I just about puked. This thing is gonna be the end of me.
Fortunately my father-in-law is going to help, so we should have it done in about a week, weather permitting.
I figured I'd post up pics as it goes so I can see the start-to-finish.
Here she is in imagination stage...

That's our house, the pile, my sweet baby, and the boy.
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/15e5b380.jpg

This is just a shot from the other end of the pile.
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/a932b290.jpg

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Scott just remember one board at a time. The next thing you know it will be done and youll be proud and on to the next project........ Staining. LOL enjoy man!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

A deck? Hell, Scott, you could build the whole damn ship with all that lumber! :r


Best of luck with it, brother.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Good luck, it will look/be great when done :tu but I don't envy the building part :r

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

p.s after the deck you need a fence, "good fences makes for good neighbors" or something like that, lol

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

So when will you be having the first herf on it? :tu

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I can stain this stuff immediately, so it'll be stained before the screws even cool down. :D

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

It's going to look great, or build and Arc like Bruce Allmighty:D

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Looks like you got some work to do brother. :D

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

It looks like its going to be a nice deck Scott.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Wow!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

What a great project! yeah, one board at a time.

There is something about working with wood that is so rewarding... for me, at least.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

REminds me of that scene in Evan ALmighty when he gets the shipment to start building the ark lol.

Looks like a fun project! :tu

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Probably before it's even done. :D

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

very nice bro good luck...

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Wow, almost enough wood to build an Ark....just ask Al!!:r

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Good luck Scott, Just think of smoking on it when you're done :tu

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I feel your pain brother. I am building a 12 x 16 shed. My pile was just a little smaller than yours!!!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I'm about 60% complete with a deck project myself. I went with TimberTech composite decking at $2/ft as I didn't want the hassle of maintaining the real stuff. I'm probably going to just wait until next year when I make some money again to put up the railings.
At least with my deck, I'm using the existing joists though.

But it was very wise of you to do this while you still had an empty lot to drive through next to you.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I have to build a shed before Fall, Larry. That's easy. No 20' 2x12's in them. :)
That has been a HUGE help all along the way. I want to get everything done before they sell that lot. It'll save tons of pain, for sure.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Damn, all that work in front of you should be fulfilling...so while you working hard I'll take that vacation you've been thinking about off to Michigan

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

My previous house was on a corner lot. Before I put my fence up, I had a couple of contractors doing work for neighbors ask (at least they asked) if they could drive through my bark yard in their trucks. Ummmmmmmmmm.....how about NO???? He tried telling me it wouldn't leave ruts in the yard and I was even more sure to not have ruts in the yard by not having him drive through my yard.

I had a concrete patio poured at that house. They presented the option of pumping it (a good bit of money-maybe up to $1k) and I thought nah, I could deal with it so they pulled into the back yard in the concrete truck. I would have been time/money ahead to pump it than all the hassle I spent getting topsoil, renting a bobcat, and then seeding the hell out of it multiple times.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Especially when the re-seeding is likely because of all the soil compression. That's what starts crabgrass and such,
you can fill a rut in, but it's never the same unless you dig it all out and break it up and put it all back.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

What the heck? Ya building an ark?
;s
I stain all the wood before building with it. I like having all sides sealed. I also use end grain sealer on all the cut ends. Stuff called Anchorseal.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Is it done yet? :r :r
It will be really nice after all your work

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I would absolutely love to stain and seal everything on the way up, Lance. With the FIL helping, it just won't happen. I'll have to crawl all under this thing with a sprayer when I'm done to make sure I get everything, including the cut ends.
The deck is free-floating, not anchored to the house, so there will be a little room to get into all the ends. :tu

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

The father-in-law is on the way for round two. We got all the trusses done but one on Saturday. I did the next to last one after he left and dropped it on my leg. That's when I decided to quit for the evening. :D
I'll get a progress pic as soon as I go out there, cause we'll be a lot further ahead at the end of the day.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Gotta love home improvement projects. Good luck with the rest of the deck and I'm sure will turn out great.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I'm right there with ya, Larry--put the foundation down this weekend for an 8x13 shed, got a pile of lumber in the backyard as well. Not as big as Scott's though :jd

Good luck, Scott, that's quite a job, I'll be interested to see your progress!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

lets see some new pictures

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Going to be great when finished... I spent this weekend power washing the deck and staining it. Next time it needs staining, its getting ripped up and i'm going with composite!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I did Ipe. Very strong wood. Very beautiful. You can stain it if you want but it will last just as long anyway, like 50 years. It's like Teak, but not as expensive. The native softwoods are getting lower and lower in quality and my deck was not well suited for the composites they had at the time. They were weak and very strong sunlight eroded them badly. My neighbor has to tighten all the screws down every couple of years as the deck wears away. I think they have solved that problem now. I would put a plastic deck on a rental or spec house without a second thought.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

This is what we did yesterday. We built the last truss this morning and started running all the stringers. That should be done tomorrow and then we're gonna work on the railing and start the decking. We need to put some more infill in for the decking designs and so forth, that'll slow us down.
I didn't get a pic of today's progress cause it was dark, I just now came in.
Anyways, pics of yesterdays progress...

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/e71084ba.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/8b3aa4de.jpg

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Good luck, Scott. You'll get plenty of exercise in with this one.:tu

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

How many square feet will the deck be? Looks like it'll be pretty nice.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

The support beams look great, how are they going to be attached to the footings? Or is this going to be completely free floating? Huge deck, looks like it's going to be great when done.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

looking good

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Right around 640 sq. ft.

The deck is free floating, which by definition means it's not attached to the house. It's attached to the 8" round-48" deep pilings with hurricane clips. If you don't fasten a deck down, it just amounts to a big airplane that'll fly away in the first windstorm. That'd suck something awful.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

I just came in to take a little fiver. I locked up pretty good and couldn't work my little paws, so I doubled up on my meds and I'm ready to get back out there.
We just finished the last of the stringers (joists) and I'm not sure what our next move is.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Awesome-mine is probably around 680 sq ft and I hope to finish it before the weekend of the 4th. I'm holding off on putting the posts/rails up next year until I graduate/get back to work and make better use of the $1k it's gonna cost for post covers, skirts, caps, etc. until then. I already have the rails, but I'm not about to put them up over 4x4's only to take them down again to put the post caps, skirts, and covers on.

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

We got done with all the joists and got the posts up today.
Tomorrow we have to work in the steps by the sidewalk, then we can start with the decking. We'll have to scab in a bunch more 8" infill to carry the deck design, so I'm not sure how far we'll get with the decking. Tomorrow is going to be one of those "work your ass off and go nowhere" days.
These pics will catch you guys right up to where we I stopped this evening. My FIL Bruce went home a bit early, and I wrapped up around 8:30 so I could work in the garden a bit.
Some more pictures...

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/960f0c69.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/8aae92d0.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/963bf701.jpg

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

And a few more...

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/d7178a3b.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/ddc0dfd5.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/fc48678d.jpg

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

looking great scott

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Thanks, James. I'm really excited about getting to do the fun stuff now. :D

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Making progress!:tu Pretty good size. I'm jealous!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Awesome job brother, looking good!!

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:tu:tu:tu

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

Looking good, Scott!

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

wow that is awesome, that will be sick when you get done...

Re: Our deck just showed up.
 

That doesn't look like a deck, it looks like lumber. Now get a cigar and turn it into a deck!