Alternate punny post title: Joist to the world. (I’ll pause while you golf clap)
Good news — my dad returned from my grandma’s in West Virginia, so we could finally double up the girders and bolt them to the posts. I started to explain, “Okay, you’ll hold the board in the air while I drill pilot holes…” but he cut me off with a smarter idea: lay both girder boards on the ground, nail them together, and then rest them on the notched posts. No hovering required. I knew there was a reason I picked him as a father.
We clamped the girder boards so the top edges lined up perfectly — boards are rarely identical, so even two marked 2 x 10s can vary slightly. Then we nailed them together to create a single, double-thick girder.
To refresh how the deck goes together, here’s a simple graphic to make the layout clearer:
With the double-thick girder ready, we set it into the notches and bolted it to the posts. Our county requires two 1/2″ through-bolts, which meant drilling 1/2″ holes all the way through roughly 4.5″ of wood. That was a little tricky since my longest drill bit barely reached, but we managed.
We hammered the bolts through and tightened the nuts on the far side. The whole process was straightforward and, surprisingly, took only about two hours. Not short in 95-degree heat, but quicker than I expected for this stage.
Here you can see where the girders join on the long side, where two sets of boards butt up against one post — essentially a through-bolt party.
With the morning moving quickly, I persuaded my dad to help measure, cut and set the diagonal girder and posts. By noon we had achieved most of our intended progress for the day.
My dad had to head home after that, but after a short break working inside with Sherry, I returned to lay weedblock and gravel. Several readers had recommended weed-prevention, and this was my last chance to access the entire area under the deck before the joists went in. I temporarily removed the diagonal girder that wasn’t bolted yet so I could work freely.
I used leftover weedblock from another project plus a $12 roll from the store to cover the whole area. I’m ambivalent about weedblock — some weeds will grow on top of it — but it’s better than nothing and is the recommended method here. For about $15 total, including staples, it was worth a shot.
Next I covered the area in gravel, which discourages weeds and pests compared with damp soil. I’d planned to order bulk rock, but I procrastinated, so I bought bagged gravel from Home Depot instead — it was on sale and saved me about $35. Hauling it from the driveway to the deck site in near-100-degree heat wasn’t fun, but I got through it and started filling the space with rocks.
In total I used 40 bags. I’ll need more when I build the stairs, but I’ll cross that bridge later.
It was about 7:30 p.m. when I finished with the gravel, so I called it a day. I was tempted to keep going because the next step was joists — and that’s when the structure really begins to look like a deck.
The next day, sore but determined, I cut the joists. Each joist would be about 7.5 feet, so I trimmed a little off eight-foot 2 x 8s. I snapped a picture marking a cut because the word “PIVOT” on my straight edge kept making me think of a certain iconic scene from Friends.
Once I stopped replaying TV in my head, I cut the joists with my circular saw — already my best friend for this project.
The joists rest on top of the girders, so no extra vertical support is required, but I added hangers on both sides to prevent lateral movement. I had already installed hangers on the house side, so I just added them on the brick side. Each hanger required about 10 nails, making the process slower than I hoped — I briefly considered renting a nail gun, and later regretted not doing so. Still, I kept going, picturing myself as a DIY hero when it was all finished.
I checked each joist for level as I worked, keeping a slight slope away from the house for drainage. This check helped me spot one board that was too warped to use. If a joist had been badly out of level, I could have rented or bought a planer to correct it, but everything was within reasonable tolerance.
Clara came out to watch and now calls it my “pretty pretty deck.” Not the adjective I would pick, but I’ll take it — it’s nice to have her interest.
Gradually, more joists joined the frame and the space started to look distinctly deck-like. Near the end I bolted the diagonal girder in place so the final joists could rest on it. About four hours later, all the joists were installed.
I still need to add rim boards along the exposed edge, which requires careful angled cuts, so I left that for another day when I had more energy. For now I left the end joists a little long so I can trim them precisely once I cut the rim boards to the correct angle.
Before wrapping up, I tested the structure to make sure it held weight. It passed, so I celebrated with a little happy jig — my “Happy Happy Joist Joist” dance.
Once the rim boards are in, the next step is laying the deck boards. We’re thrilled to be that close — this project has taken longer than expected, thanks to heat, inspections, and not having an army of helpers. But that’s DIY: slow at times and rewarding in the end. It’ll be worth it when we’re out there sipping lemonade. What projects are you wrapping up this weekend? Anything finally tipping toward done?