STILL DECKING

Yes, we’re still at it and enjoying the project at a retirees’ pace.  We only work for a few hours in the morning a couple of days a week and spend the rest of our time doing fun stuff.

After we removed all the 2X6 deck boards, we used the good ones to “scab” onto the existing deck joists for added strength and to provide shorter spans between the joists.  Technically, it wasn’t necessary to do that but we had the extra material and decided that it was worth the time and effort.

Once we got all the structure “beefed up”, Stuart sprayed the surfaces with a waterproofing sealer.  No point in putting on composite boards and have the structure underneath susceptible to rot.

The new decking material was delivered and set up between the garage and shop for easy access.

We started putting the deck boards on the main deck and it was a good learning process.  We chose to use the hidden fasteners rather than putting in deck screws and it sure looks a lot better.  Because our deck is over 22 feet wide, we had to plan for seams as the boards came in lengths of 16 and 20 feet.  It was okay doing the seams; it just took longer to get the work done.

Everything went well on the main deck and then we had the challenge of the long step from the walkway that runs from the back door out to the main deck.  Both edges are angled so we had to figure that out as well as increasing the height of the existing step frame.  We basically rebuilt the frame adding more support than was originally done.

A few days ago, we started on the walkway and it, too, worked out really well with the angled edges.  However, we didn’t have enough boards to complete the job and had to order one more.  So we shifted focus to preparing the side where the stairs will go.  Again, we added more support and backing for the stair stringers and yesterday we poured a concrete pad.  The existing concrete pad is fine for the landing step but we thought it would be good to have concrete all the way back to the start of the stairs.

Plenty of work but we’ve also taken the time to play more golf.  The weather has been good for that, not so much for boating these days.  Here are some golf course photos.