Deck Construction - Part 3 - Posts and Rails

We don't really have any pictures from the day we raised the posts and put the joists up. It was raining all day and it's just a blur now. Here is the current state of the deck.






So far, so good. Next steps, get the railings done and start the stair stringers.

Deck Construction - Part 2 - Solid Foundations

So the next phase of the deck is to put some solid foundations in place. After getting out some string and squaring everything up to the house, Brian and I rented a two-man Auger to drill 32" holes for our post bases. I don't really have any pictures of the holes, but here is the finished product with the concrete poured.

After getting the post holes dug and filling them with concrete, we attached to houseboard by using a hammer drill to drill 10" holes into the house. According to the inspectors, I couldn't just put lag screws into the board behind the brick, I had to go into the ends of the joists (dead-nuts so to speak). It was a pain in the butt, but we finally got all our holes lined up with the end of the joists and attached the board to the house with 10" Lag Screws.

Next step, putting up the massive 6x6 posts after we notch them for the beams.

Deck Construction - Part 1 - Destruction

So, in order to make a new deck, you have to get rid of the old one. Here is the old one.



Me (the flabby pale guy) and my brother (the skinny pale guy) decided to cut the joists that connect to the house board and pull the deck away from the house.


So far so good. Then we had to cut the pieces up into smaller more manageable pieces and haul them all to the dump to get rid of them. The Champagne Tacomastang made a pretty good wood wagon.

Deck Plans using Google Sketchup

I am undertaking a somewhat big home improvement project, for me anyway. I've convinced myself I can build a deck.

Here is a couple of screenshots of the plans I did using Sketchup.