Deck - Week 4

First 8 joists in place

On Thursday I took a vacation day to get a headstart on the deck before the weekend. I managed to put in 8 16 foot joists by myself. It was slow but satisfying.

First 8 joists as seen from above

All joists and ends done; stair stringers set up

On Saturday, the wife's friend, Tim came over to lend a hand for the day. Dad came for another weekend of hard labor. We managed to get all the joists up and also setup two of the stairway stringers. After Tim left in the afternoon we poured the concrete footers for the stair-posts.

Stair stringers

Stair posts set in place and center-line stringer added

On Sunday Dad and I added the center-line stair stringer and set the stair posts in concrete. We also bolted the face boards on and bolted the tops of the stringers to the joists.

Beam-ends trimmed

Also on Sunday we trimmed the ends of the beams. This week I'll finish fastening various bits that are only temporarily tacked in place. I'll try to finish the blocking for the picture frame deck boards and build the step from the sliding-glass door. The deck has been a great excuse to accumulate more toys. The latest is the 12" sliding compound miter saw that will be used extensively for cutting the decking which will be laid on a 45 degree angle.