Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Deck... so far

It seems like so long ago, even though it was only 2 weeks ago that we dug the holes for the posts. You can see the Bigfoot footings in each hole, they're expensive, but they save time.



After levelling the Bigfoot, you screw on the sonotube, then backfill, then you're ready to pour the concrete. Well after making the posts plumb, and securing them in position. It took a long time, setting up all the string lines, and getting everything square to the non-square house.



Remember to keep your string lines, so that you can set your post bases. You want to try and get everything as square are possible at this stage.




Here's the ultra cool lumber truck (that both the kids loved) It has an arm that extends all the way down the driveway. The controls are wireless, so the operator can follow along behind. Way better than the homedepot truck with the forklift, that I had to stop traffic so he could reach the driveway. Way to go Dick's Lumber.







Here's Steve fitting one of the column caps (those things sure aren't cheap). Deb painted them black first, sure glad we did, it would be hard to paint them after, and wouldn't look as good. We spent quite awhile getting the columns plumb, we used Steve's nail guns to set the position.




Here's Steve and I working on one of the beams. The beams were true 6x6's, and the column caps were 5.5" on both ends, so we had to router and chisel out the beams, so they fit. It was messy, Steve did most of the routering.





Here's some pictures of putting the joists in. The longest ones were 18' long and really heavy to lift by yourself. We put a strip of peel and stick on top of the beams to protect them a little more. The posts and beams are fir and they're not pressure treated, we're going to give them a good coating with Sikkens. I had vacation this week, we had a few other things going on, we still got a lot done though.



The cedar comes tomorrow, although so does the rain. We still have to do the stairs and landing. I didn't get enough fir, so I need to get one more post tomorrow. Don't really like going to the lumberyard with the car, but they don't sell 6x6 fir at Homedepot. I got the channels and screws to do the hidden hardware tonight, so I can do that tomorrow, while we wait for the lumber to arrive.



A couple more weeks, and we'll have a nice deck to relax on, we'll need it though. It'll be the last big project of the summer. We'll except for the stucco removal. If you want a really good deck, hire our neighbour Steve, he's a kick ass carpenter.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks like it's going to be a great deck. I hadn't heard of Sikkens before but looked it up.

Turtlekeeper Designs said...

Okay, never have I been more mesmerized by a blog. I just sat for, oh I don't know, 5 hours or so and read your house blog from START to FINISH. I have a toddler and I cannot even fathom what it is like being in renos with 2 little ones!

Derek, your commitment to this huge project while working long hours is AMAZING. Keep up the good work! I can't wait to see more photos as more things are finished. Everything looks so beautiful- I really liked how the exposed post and beams look in the basement.

Oh- didn't mention it but I live in Vancouver not too far from you :)

Derek said...

Mishc - it is a little trying doing big renos with 2 little ones. We're hoping to slow down a bit over the next 2 or 3 years. The deck project is a lot of work, hopefully it'll be done by the end of September... if it ever stops raining this summer.