Deck Project

Steve D · 06-13-2006, 04:53 PM

We have just wrapped up a little outdoor woodworking project that has consumed quite a bit of time the past couple of weeks but generated some nice cash flow. Rob, aka McRabbett, was my wing man for this project. The client had an existing deck on the second story, which was a typical rectangular builder's deck. They wanted to add a new deck underneath off of their walkout basement and also wanted to dress things up a bit. I came up with a design to add a little architectural interest to the decks and create some additional useable space. This was easy to accomplish on the lower deck because it was all new construction. In order to add the same detail to the upper deck, we needed to add a new center support beam, cut out the center of the the existing outer frame and extend new joists which are cantilevered off of the new beam. I also designed the railing to use an aluminum baluster and custom posts fabricated from 4x4's. Rob did a great job coming up with a mortise system where we could hide all of the screws and leave a very clean appearance. He also created massive amounts of PT shavings hogging out the mortises with a combination of forstener and router bits. There are a ton of pictures in my gallery but a few highlights are below.

clowman · 06-13-2006, 05:00 PM

Wow.. that's one nice deck! My wife wants me to spruce up mine. Did you go with typical PT lumber?

Alan in Little Washington · 06-13-2006, 05:03 PM

Nice lloking deck!

Hey, could you send some of that terrain out east. Gettin' tired of the flat land!

SteveColes · 06-13-2006, 05:12 PM

Beautiful

quid_non · 06-13-2006, 06:04 PM

What an AWESOME deck! Beautiful job guys. I'm looking to replace mine as we speak. Seems LOML won't let me buy any more power tools till I start - that's a good reason not to put it off any longer.
Thanks for the pics!

Steve D · 06-13-2006, 06:04 PM

Clay,

It is pressure treated lumber; that is what the client wanted. It is the "Top Choice" lumber from Lowes. I have to say the grading standards on their lumber has gone down hill quite a bit. We had to pick through a lot of lumber to get good useable boards. That "Top Choice" grade used to be nearly flawless from them. I'm guessing the increased demand from the hurricanes last year caused them to open up their grading specs.

Originally Posted by clowman

Wow.. that's one nice deck! My wife wants me to spruce up mine. Did you go with typical PT lumber?

DaveO · 06-13-2006, 06:29 PM

Awesome Steve. It's amazing what a little bump-out and some nice angles can do to a boring old deck. I like the metals balusters also, they really add a touch of class. I am sure that your client is very happy with the results

Dave

thrt15nc · 06-13-2006, 06:33 PM

That is gorgeous. Projects like that are great. The extras on the beam in the 4th pic tell me the work was done by someone that takes a lot of pride in things they do. Great job!!! Beautiful scenery!!

Tom

sapwood · 06-13-2006, 07:02 PM

Nice job gents

I like the railing as I'm so tired of wooden pickets, especially the difficulty of cleaning or treating them.

Thanks for sharing a job well done!

Sapwood

cskipper · 06-13-2006, 08:10 PM

That's a really great looking deck!

I like the rails too!

dozer · 06-13-2006, 08:46 PM

Really nice deck i'm sure your customer is very happy they will be enjoying your work for a long time.

cpowell · 06-13-2006, 10:41 PM

Wow, all I have to do is look at the picture of the table with the great view and I can see myself enjoying a very cold beverage...or two... with friends.

Great design, clean lines. Beautiful work.

Chuck

McRabbet · 06-13-2006, 10:49 PM

Steve and I really enjoyed the collaboration on this project -- we were even rewarded with freshly baked pies by the client with a week to go (and boy can she cook!). We both pride ourselves in doing it right and this deck shows our workmanship off very well -- all of her neighbors are jealous! We plan more projects together so we can keep up with our version of WG Disease (we each bought needed tools as part of the materials cost and I bought my new P-C Mitersaw from my end of the profits). Thanks Steve for including me!

Rob

clowman · 06-13-2006, 11:37 PM

Steve.. where did you get your ballisters? This is alot like what my wife wants, except she wants a pergola on one end.

McRabbet · 06-13-2006, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by clowman

Steve.. where did you get your ballisters? This is alot like what my wife wants, except she wants a pergola on one end.

Clay, I see Steve is off-line, but I can answer your question. The balusters are from Lowe's and come five to a package for about $25/pkg. They are powder coated aluminum and are designed to be screwed onto two vertical rails with the upper rail capped with a horizontal rail (all 2 x 4's) and spaced at 3-1/2" between each 1" baluster. They are supplied with square drive screws and plastic washers to set them off PT lumber. As Steve mentioned, we mortised the three rails into each post to eliminate visible fasteners and then each rail section was lag screwed onto the fascia of the deck with two 3/8" x 4" lag screws per post. There were 33 posts and over 100 mortises (corners are double), plus a 1-1/2" x 7" notch in the lower end of the post where attached to the fascia.
Rob

Residency requirements