Today is Aug. 14th, Sunday, a day of rest, and I sure needed it after 4 days working on the deck! The 2 pieces sticking out are just temporary, to hold all square until I get the roof rafters installed. A little slow going, but I am pleased. Not too bad for a 69 yr. old!
A start!
Corner Stones set. Most of the brick you see, are old street pavers.
Four Days work
Day 6
After 6 days of work & a lot of breaks this is my progress building my deck. I will take a day off from working on the deck. I need to mow grass & trim after a few rains. That was one nice thing about the dry period; I didn’t have to mow grass. I went to my butchers looking for a nice chuck roast to smoke & use for shredded beef. I could be cooking it while doing the yard work. He had a couple of nice ones he calls an English roast. Along one side was the ribs & rib meat. I took the smaller of the two, 4 ½ lbs.
Day 7 & 8 I got the corner braces, floor joists, & one piece of floor on.
Coming along, slow but sure
Day 9
I was busy today, early I went to Lowes & bought 6 bags of stone, a bag of sand, & 2 stepping stones I would use for a step. I finished the ground in front of the deck with a row of bricks, put the stepping stones in place & added the 6 bags of stones. I needed 4 more bags to finish so went to Lowes for them. I ate lunch, cleaned up & we went to my Mothers to give her some of my shrimp boil & other leftovers. After a short visit came home & added the other 4 bags of stones, a total of about 400 lbs. That was enough for a coverage of 1 to 2 inches. I watered my garden & flowers then finished off some of my shrimp boil for supper. Tomorrow I should get the flooring installed.
Day 10 & 11
I finally got the floor in, working 2 days on it. Besides being old & slow it is taking longer since I am using all deck screws, no nails. I need to mow grass today & have a chicken in marinating in Italian dressing to do for our dinner. I will get back on the deck tomorrow.
Here I made an insert so I can close off my crawl space vent in the winter.
Updat Aug 30th
Just about done, by tomarrow I should have the railing up & my smoker in place.
I am sure glad my covered deck is finally completed. Being retired it seemed like I went back to work! About halfway into the project I told my Mother; this work is not as fun as it used to be. I started this on Aug. 10th & finished the 31st. Some evenings I was dog tired & went to bed shortly after supper. I can now use my Traeger, rain or shine and the roof should keep some of the snow off for winter cooks.
When I had the floor finished, it looked plenty large; it is 6 ft X 6ft. After I got the smoker, cabinet, small table, & my chair in, you wouldn’t want it any smaller. The plans & construction method was all in my head. Originally I had planned on railing on three sides, then just on the front & back. Leaving it off the other end would make it walk through & I would have easy access to my gas grill if I was using both. Then I decided the one across the front would do.
I used all treated lumber. The corner posts are 4X4’s bolts & deck screws fasten them to a 2X8 frame. Floor joists & floor are 2x6’s. Galvanized hangers were used on the floor joists & roof rafters. Edge trim for the roof are 4/5 X 6. All are screwed together with deck screws, the only nails are in the roofing. Plywood & shingles were out for the roof, I would have no way to fasten up under the eave. I decided that 4x8 sheets of Ondura would work & I just needed two sheets from Lowes at $19 each. I could use purlins, 1x4’s spaced at 12” centers. I could fasten the last one using an offset allen ratchet wrench under the eave. I predrilled the roofing & used the offset ratchet to fasten it to the purlin under the eave. The Ondura is an asphalt impregnated material with a hard finish that comes in 4 colors. It made for what I think is a good looking roof & should outlast me!
I don’t enjoy working with treated lumber, even if you pick out straight looking wood, it just might warp if you don’t use it fast. My railing was premade from Lowes, 6 ft. section & bought a top hand rail for it. I bought it one day, stained & installed the next day. After installing I seen where it was bowed out ½ inch in the middle, I would never get the top cap installed. I added a 2x4 to the other side & used two ¼ inch allthreads to pull it straight. I glued & screwed the top cap in place. I am going to leave it in place over winter, by then it should be dried out & settled in place. The stain I used was Cabots semi-transparent, Mission Brown.
Now I can get back to serious cooking!
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