Deck Building 2.1
It’s been a long time since I built my first deck when I was
living in Atlanta so many years ago.
There have been others over the years but I haven’t worked on one for a
long time now. I guess it is like riding
a bicycle; it just comes back to you.
Memory muscle must come into play as you start laying out the design;
adjust things as wish list items get added and putting in a few upgrades to set
it off.
As you can see my “Where’s the Flamingo International Tour,
2016” has taken a side track for the time being. Placido Flamingo and I have enjoyed our time
with friends here in Portland (Gresham) Oregon and have decided to stay a bit
longer before continuing our journey.
Building this deck for my friends Jan and Nate have given me
some time to think (about 120 man-hours), sort through some things and enjoy
working with my hands once again. It has
been an extremely satisfying experience.
I enjoy working with wood and other products and like the attention to
detail as you place screw after screw after screw in the beautiful cedar deck
boards. Between the structural framing
lumber, decking, and pergola wood, and the trim cedar boards wrapping the posts
and making the planter boxes there were over forty five pounds of screws in
different sizes installed into this project.
That does not take into account the lag screws, long bolts, nuts, fender
washers, and lock washers used, probably another fifteen pounds or more.
Pavers and stone were used for the fire pit along with some
small gravel to keep the embers from burning through the bottom of the fire
bowl. Electrical conduit was used for the electrical and low voltage wiring for
outlets and outdoor speakers along with the under bench lighting I added to
give it a nice ambiance with the mood lighting while someone lounges in the hot
tub. Privacy screens were added to block
neighbor’s view of the hot tub shenanigans.
I’ll give you a quick sequence of how this project took
place. Complete demolition of the
existing 12’ x 16’ deck and all its structural lumber framing. Everything had to be removed so the deck
could be lowered by four and a half inches to match the patio door
elevation. Once the ledger board
attached to the house was adjusted to the new height then I built the “new”
existing structural framing. The new
expanded area was framed next to bring the overall size to the 28’ x 16’
dimensions. At this point the idea for
the pergola was added to cover the spa area and I knew that benches would be
nice for those sitting outside the hot tub so I designed a corner bench that
was eight foot on one side and six foot on the other. Hand railing was added along with two posts
which a solar light sat on top of the post.
Materials for the decking were ordered from Lowe’s and were
to be delivered the following day between 9 am and 11. A call was received from Lowe’s stating they
would reschedule the delivery between one and three in the afternoon. No problem as it was time to make a dump run
of the old decking materials. The
delivery was about four in the afternoon and off loaded and taken to the back
yard staging area. I noticed a couple of
boards had what looked like bird crap on them and figured they had been stored
outside at the box store but upon further inspection I found many pieces has
dry rot or were warped and twisted beyond what could be used. Out of 34 sixteen foot long board only four
were usable and of the 34 twelve footers over half of those were no good. I was frustrated and aggravated that Lowe’s
would send out such crap that was to be used for finish work so I had no
problem sending it back and scheduled a time on Monday for them to pick it up
telling them they needed to bring extra help to load it back up on their
truck. The driver showed up on Monday
afternoon alone and complained about having to get the 70 pieces by
himself. I told him I alerted the store
about needing the extra help and when he looked at his paperwork told me, “I
guess it would have been helpful if I had looked at this before I left.” He rescheduled to return the next day with
help.
We went to a local lumber yard about a mile away and ordered
the new cedar decking materials and trim wood for wrapping the posts and it was
delivered on Tuesday morning. That wood
was beautiful, not warped or twisted and had nice color patterns in the
pieces. The process of screwing all the
pieces in place, the sixteen footers followed by the twelves went smoothly even
with the special cut pieces. Paul (a guy
helping me) and I trimmed out around the hot tub and created a lift out hatch
to make any repairs to the pump motor easier.
Fast forward a few days to the decking being completed and
the pergola was framed. I made the bench
seats and installed the lighting underneath for nighttime ambiance. A privacy screen was installed along with
outdoor speakers and several hanging flower baskets brightened things up a
bit. The two flower planter boxes were
completed and colorful flowers gave the deck a light and fragrant smell while
working. A new grill was hooked up the
natural gas line I installed and a smoker completed the outdoor cooking area.
The fun part was installing all the pavers and stonework for
the fire pit and its base. The sand
mortar went smoothly on the base but I had trouble getting it to stay in the
stonework as the dry sand had a tendency to pour out so I was able to obtain
some shrink wrap and rolled it around the round stones to hold and keep the
sand in the holes and grooves until I could wet it in order for it to set up
properly. Colorful chairs were added and
the deck was ready for a gathering on Saturday afternoon. About twenty five people showed up for a BBQ
and poker party where everyone had a great time. The deck project was a success.
Jan posted pictures on FB and several other people have
contacted me about doing work for them so I may hang out here, do a few more
projects, make some money using my hands and enjoy the friendliness of those I have
come in contact with. I looked at another
project yesterday for a 22’x25’ slightly elevated around another spa. They would like a swim up bar at the spa edge
and bar stools on the deck side. It
should be another interesting project. I
completed the design today and will get back with them to get the go ahead to
start ordering the Trex materials and framing lumber.
“You never know what's around the corner. It could
be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of
the other, and then one day you look back and you've climbed a mountain.” ― Tom Hiddleston
The way that
we as humans can live, is if we grow. The
only way that we can grow is if we change; the only way that we can change is
if we learn. The only way we can learn
is if we are exposed. And the only way
that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw
yourself. Continue your journey and open
yourself to the experience of whatever you find and see what your reaction is
to the new thing. I think I will go and
enjoy the hot tub and sooth this aching body.
Cheers!
Ice
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