Building My Own Deck - Photo Journal

[I Am Sith]

Make sure you put that grill on the outside edge of the deck, away from the house or grease stains will be the least of your worries.  I have more than few friends who have charred, warped, or downright melted the the vinyl on the side of their house with poor grill placement.

Maybe I just have stoopid friends.

Yet another good point.  I have a feeling that I'm going to be storing it in the back corner of the deck where the two sections of the house meet to keep it out of the way, but I'll have to move it once I fire it up...  Thanks for the tip.

[BrentS]

My neighbor's deck lit up of fire because of bad grill placement.  Lost all the siding on the house too.  However, no real irreplaceable damage.  It could have been very very bad.

[name]

My neighbor's deck lit up of fire

Lit up of fire???

Really?  I don't think I've ever seen that phrasing used by anyone other than people in their 70's and in the Appalachians.

Do you also get up "of a morning" and "take your coffee" so long as the "arthur" doesn't keep you down?  Afeared of haints in the dark?  Do your tradin' at the Piggly Wiggly?

I kid....I kid....

******* hillbilly...

[Morgbug]

Make sure you put that grill on the outside edge of the deck, away from the house or grease stains will be the least of your worries.  I have more than few friends who have charred, warped, or downright melted the the vinyl on the side of their house with poor grill placement.

Nope, it has to be the most common thing in the world when siding is involved.  I haven't seen a house that I've been to with vinyl siding/deck/bbq combo that doesn't have some collateral damage to it. 

[Tracy]

My neighbor's deck lit up of fire

Lit up of fire???

Really?  I don't think I've ever seen that phrasing used by anyone other than people in their 70's and in the Appalachians.

I wonder if they had a picture made of it

[BrentS]

Hmmm.. Forgive a guy of a typo....

Lit up ON fire. 

[john todd]

The exterior posts are going to have a brick veneer around them (nice having a father and brother as former bricklayers) and then the area under the deck will be covered in stone. 

i was wondering why you had such fancy footers for the posts underneath.  that should look really sharp.

i believe in the next few weeks we are going to be starting some kind of deck project.  we don't own our house so we are trying to work out something semi portable.  it looks like its going to be 4 foot sections put together in a parquet patten.  it should be fun.

[I Am Sith]

Just thought I'd do a quick update before I leave for the weekend.  I was only able to get the railing posts onto the front of the deck this week.  It's a bitch trying to get any deck work done after I get home from work in the evening.  By the time I get done with dinner and the kids get a bath and get in bed, it's 7:30 and I'm chasing about an hour of daylight...  Anyway, I'm hoping to put the rest of the posts on the side on Monday, and then it's time for decking!

[I Am Sith]

Another quick update as the rain in southern Wisconsin today has slowed down my progress.

Finished the posts last week:




And started the decking:




I'm hoping that the rain will stop within the next hour or so.  I'd like to finish the decking today if I can and start the railing tomorrow.

The most difficult thing so far has been trying to get all of the boards with the same spacing between them.  When you're working alone, it's difficult to push the board you're working on close enough to the board next to it and then have enough leverage to drill the board down.  It also makes it tough when you're six feet up and you can't stand on the ground for added leverage.  Other than that, the composite material is great to work with.  The composite decking screws have something to be desired though.  The heads strip pretty easily if you're not putting enough force on them when you are drilling.  They took some getting used to.  I haven't mangled nearly as many in the last day as I did when I first started.

Hope to have the next update in a day or two if the weather cooperates with me.

[Chris M]

That looks awesome.  You're doing a completely BA job on that.  It's wonderful looking.

[Rob]

You're doing a completely BA job on that.

Is that like saying he's building it as awesomely as B.A. Baracus would have?

[BrentS]

It does look great...

Is that like saying he's building it as awesomely as B.A. Baracus would have?

However, if BA Baracus was building it, he'd need a wielder, some sheet metal, a lawn mower engine and two bumpers.  BA was the MacGyver of power tools.

[I Am Sith]

Thanks for the compliments guys.  I did get to work on it more yesterday afternoon and almost all day today.  I've got one and a half boards left to go with the decking and then we start the stairs...  Those are going to be a bitch to attach, however once they are done I'm pretty much in the home stretch with the finish wood.

We should start the brick in a few weeks.  My dad is estimating that we'll need about 1000 brick for the entire job.  That should finish the deck off pretty well.

More to come...

[Chris M]

You're doing a completely BA job on that.

Is that like saying he's building it as awesomely as B.A. Baracus would have?

I think Brent covered that one for me.

Man, you have to explain compliments to the commoners. 

[Jesse James]

It's looking outstanding...  And I love the material choice.  Expensive stuff but worth every penny IMO.  If I ever get to ours, it'll be wood for lack of cash.  As it is, it's just not in the budget as we need sided and roofed long before we get a deck...  And even then I'd rather do more interior work first.  My gf's living room is horrendous the way whoever did it before did it.  The trim's flush with the wall.    Real Bob Villa must've lived there before.