The First Stages Of Building A Deck: a house log

What party? The decking party, that is what. Never been to a party where people put decking down? Then you have not lived, my friend. But come to think of it, my party did not have any guests so perhaps I am the one who should reconsider my definition. Anyways – let us talk deck boards, since I gave you this sneak peek of my progress last week:

As you may be able to tell from that photo, we bit the bullet and went for the “zippered” seam pattern that we saw at our local art museum.

But before we talk about planning for that, we in fact had two commonly asked questions on our last post, which were:

1. What made you folks chose to go with exposed screws instead of hidden ones?
2. Is it ok to lay decking boards that close?

So without further ado, those answers for ya:

1. Sherry and I both grew up with decks with traditional exposed screws and they were striking and held up for decades, so we have chose to keep it classic and simply line up all of our screws like the zippered seam deck that we included above as our inspiration (it is hard to see, but in person the screws are visible, they are simply all quite clean and nicely lined up instead of randomly drilled in). Not only was this choice something that we thought would be easiest, we also thought it would be the most functional (we can easily tighten any screws that might get loose over time since they are so plain to access from above).
2. And as for the board spacing, since we are using pressure treated wood the local engineers/designers said can be placed fairly close (pressure treated wood is known to contract over time). So there are no worries about things being laid too close (and it’ll all shrink up over time – so we will end up with gaps for water drainage and leaves to fall through, etc).

But even before laying our zippered seam, first we had to plan for another feature of our deck design – the “picture frame” border. That is when you in short add a, well, frame around the outside of your deck with boards that run parallel to the edges (meeting at mitered corners) and then fill in the interior with the rest of of your pattern. Since most of our decking would run the long way (parallel to the brick siding), this meant adding some boards at either end that ran parallel to the sliding door. We figured it was one of those touches that would make it look a bit more polished. But it did take some extra planning since I needed to make sure all of our boards still screwed securely to the joists below.

To make sure all of my boards ended on a joist, I in fact had to add an additional joist here since my “frame” board rested across the whole first joist, leaving the deck board hanging out to dry (it is one of those code things to attend to to ensure things are truly secure for the long haul).

You can see I also brought in a small block of spare 2 x 8 between the two joist so the frame board had another place to rest on / screw into.

You can see better here how the picture frame is starting to shape up. I in fact only did these two sides to start with (rather than the whole frame) since I figured I’d work my way out from here.

But before I could start adding more deck boards I had to in fact add two joists to assist me achieve the zippered pattern. We hoped the boards to be staggered about 5 inches at the seam, which did not jive with my current standard-joist set up (which were 16″ apart).

But no biggie here either. I simply brought in two additional joists (one shown below and another at the end of these boards) and I was ready to go. I could’ve brought in these when doing the rest of the joists, but Sherry and I hoped to wait until this step to decide exactly where on the deck we hoped the zippered seams to be (because of the length of the deck we will have two of them). We chose the spot that we did because it’ll assist define the area where our outdoor dining table will eventually go (it will be centered between the seams so they’ll be visible on either side of the table like in this rendering).

So with all of my extra support brought in, I could at last start cutting boards, laying them in place and screwing them in. Ha. Lay. Loo. Yah.

You may notice that we are using pressure-treated 2 x 6″ boards for a decking instead of the 5/4″ stuff. This was not truly a conscious decision – it was simply what 84 Lumber suggested when they gave us the quote. But I am glad we went with it because in the long run it should assist the deck feel more solid and warp less.

Here is the first section of the deck nearly all laid in place with the zippered seam on one edge. At this point I had only screwed in the ends but planned to go back later and put the rest of the screws in (I am putting in two screws everywhere a deck board meets a joist). I had already read in our county that all deck boards must span at least four joists, which is exactly what these do. Whew.

When it came to the last board I got sort of lucky. I was not sure if I was going to be left with a sliver of a space to fill – giving me both an awkward look and the challenge of filling it (had it been less than 2 inches I likely would’ve simply substituted one 2 x 6 for a 2 x 8). But luckily my 2 x 6s fit nearly perfectly as-is. I did have to shave about a 1/4″ off the edge of the frame board. But since that edge is hidden under the siding it did not truly matter how clean or ideal my cut was. And yes, our siding still needs some sanding / caulking / power washing / repainting. Haha. It is on the list!

With my first (albeit small) section done, I was feel fairly excited. On to the middle section where I’d simply be placing full boards (10 feet long) in place.

Well, this is where my planning got a little off. The end joists that these boards were supposed to rest on were a little less than 10 feet apart. Less by 1 and 1/8th of an inch to be exact. That meant I had to trim every single 10-foot board by a smidge so that the ends would rest exactly at the middle of a joist to be screwed into place. Not the worst thing that could ever happen (since I was able to cut three at a time) – but it was still a bit of a time suck.

By the end of my first afternoon of laying decking I had gotten this far before the sun began to set and it was time to close up shop for a late dinner with the wifey (who had been journal/Clara wrangling all day along with churning out some last minute book edits).

But first I had Sherry snap this picture to represent how I was feeling after my first day of board laying. For starters, I was feeling accomplished that I had at last created a solid platform. This thing is in fact starting to feel like a deck!

Secondly, I was feeling fairly darn exhausted. It had been nearly a full day of work and although it was not nearly as scorching as some of my previous days of work out there, it was still August in Virginia – which means heat and humidity were my party guests all day.

Last but not least, I was in pain. Why? Because after who knows how many hours of walking atop these joists without issue… I fell. Early in the day I was carrying a 2 x 6 and I did not put my foot squarely on a joist and it slipped off. I fell through, but caught myself when my back connected with one joist and what can only be described as my “lower buttock” hooked around another. It hurt. But I will take a bruised lower buttock over a stinging middle groin any day. (Seriously, I was a couple inches off from having a strong America’s Funniest Home Video submission). So I’d say it was a mix of bad luck and good luck going on during that fall.

But I got some food in my belly, milked my injury to the wifey, and got a good nights sleep before heading back out the next day to pick up where I left off (and take some better process pictures along the way). For instance, here is how I was setting my screws. Rather than pre-drilling all of my holes, I simply used a hammer to get the screw stuck in the wood (and a level as a straight edge to assist keep them all lined up) before taking my power drill to them.

Drilling is not as plain as I’d like, since 84 gave me screws with a standard top and they tend to slip and strip a bit more than I’d like. Some of you had suggested getting screws with the star-shaped bit, which I certainly would’ve preferred. But at this point I am simply plowing through with what I have got on hand.

Summer was back in full force on this day and it was too brutal to be out in the sun so I (quite cowardly) simply worked in the shaded area. So even though I still had screws to set in some of my boards from the previously day, I went ahead and kept adding more boards. Oh and I checked which way the boards “cupped” since that consistently makes a difference when laying things like decking (more on that here).

One other challenge that kept progress from being lightning fast was dealing with warped boards. When you are using 10-foot long boards it is virtually impossible to get one that is perfectly straight. So frequently I’d set one end and find the other looking like this.

So to conquer the gap, I’d set my screws in the deck board far sufficient so I would not have to hold them in place (but not far sufficient that they’d come through the other end yet). Then I’d use my body to force the board against the other. Sometimes this was fairly straightforward to do. Sometimes it took everything in me.

But once I had it where I hoped it, I used a free hand to drive the screws in and secure it.

I nearly wrapped up the middle section and was about to trim the side of my frame piece so it would fit when I had to pack things up because we had an appointment to get to. I asked Sherry to snap one picture of me and my sweaty self when Clara pushed past Sherry for her first trip on what she calls “the fairly, fairly deck.”

I guess she simply hoped to get a closer look at my progress…

… which she appeared to approve of.

But it truly turns out she simply hoped to mooch off my water.

And cast a keen eye on the area I still had to finish. Perhaps she was playing the role of the inspector?

But she at last headed back in so Sherry could get her shot. Sadly it does not capture exactly how sweaty I was (okay, perhaps you folks are not sad about that). Let us simply say I had literally soaked through every piece of clothing – shirt, shorts, boxers… even my belt was damp. Sherry had a good time wondering how the heck a belt can get wet (Sherry: “wait, so you sweated through your boxers, through your shorts, and through your belt?!?!” Me: “I am a man! Doing manly things on a hot day!”)

But it was totally worth it. We are especially in love with the zippered seams, and we think when the wood shrinks up a bit and we stain it, it’ll be even more noticeable (like the inspiration picture we included up top). As for the schedule, I likely have one more day of deck laying (since half of these boards are still missing screws through the middle) before I can move on to the final phase: the railing and stairs. Which means the finish line is nearly in our sights – assuming the weather cooperates. Although by now I have worked in heat advisories and thunderstorm warnings, so the forecast is not truly fazing me that much anymore. Hope I did not simply jinx myself. Hurricane season is upon us after all…

What have you folks been working on lately? Anyone else ever manage to sweat through a leather belt? Or have a two year old come out and examine their work?

Psst- Wanna catch up on all of the deck action? Here is where we shared our vision for the space, then we took out the plantings and the old balcony, followed by selecting our materials and documenting our first day of building progress. Then we dug our post holes, learned that we failed our first inspection, revised our plan and dug more holes (which got approved) and proceeded to set posts. Next it was time to install our joists, do a bunch of last minute prep for deck boards, and whip up a mood board with our design plan. Whew, all caught up.