Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Phew...Hot and Heavy

Phew....it started out as a very pleasant day and then rapidly developed into a stifling hot afternoon.

Picked up the 2X8's and joist hangers today at Home Depot. We had enough 2X12 already in our stash to complete today's task and I really didn't want to deal with buying more 2X12's today. It's a real pain to move around those heavy boards while you look for straight and good looking planks.

First, we added some more joist hangers to the old deck part. We have quite a few pieces of short 2X10's and we think that after all is said and done, that we will add some short joists perpendicular to the existing joists to try and add rigidity. We then wrapped the step down area with 2 lengths of 2X8's.....see the area to the left below the meter.Then we moved on to the 2X12 piece. We were lucky and were able to use large C clamps to help hold it in place while we fine tuned the location and made it level. R had predrilled the holes and left one screw partially installed on each end so that he could sink them without dilly dallying around. When I am holding a heavy board, just in case the clamp failed or the wood slid a little from the force of gravity, I don't take kindly to dilly dallying.

As you can see, by wrapping the deck rim joist with a wider board, it not only looks beefier but makes the deck look like new....just don't look at the old deck boards......that's a whole project just in itself.
We also have to wrap the back and the deck going to the loft of the barn. But before we attempt all that, we decided to work on our railing design.
But first, it's another trip to Home Depot for some 4X6 posts, 2X4's, and 2X2 spindles.

3 comments:

  1. Jan what is that black thing you have on the deck? Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jan what is that black thing you have on the deck? Mom

    ReplyDelete
  3. Plant stand. It was on the deck by the kitchen before I moved it. I also spray painted it black.

    ReplyDelete

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