Our house isn't huge, at least by standards in Chicago or Virginia. It's a little less than 1200 sq. ft. We are big fans of the outdoors, so we decided that we needed to build a deck and take advantage of the great California weather. This is a sub-project in the much grander "scorched earth" landscaping project.
- We bought all of the wood 4 weeks in advance so we could rack it up in the driveway to dry out. I like the low prices at the Home Depot, but the wood is always really wet, which can lead to excessive warping once it dries out. In this picture, our chief lumber inspector examines the joists for any flaws.
Ta-da! The upper section of the deck is completely down.
Although it took about twice a long to lay the upper decking on an angle
to the fence, it was totally worth it. (See final pictures below.)
Once the upper section was complete, Ed immediately took it through it's
paces with a vigorous stress testing of beer and newspaper.
Ed got a good laugh at how I engineered everything. The joists
are tied to the beams with hurricane ties, and there is about 2 1/4 tons
of gravel under the joists. He said you could stand the Chrysler
Building on top of it, which sounds about right. Halaburka Engineering
strikes again.
Then some magic happens...
And suddenly we have a deck. Actually, we have a deck and landscaping. The deck was finished in 6 days, and the landscaping was actually wrapped up shortly after that. George put in the sod, the tree, and the little brick porch in the foreground. I still need to add the trim to the front edges of the deck, but that will have to wait until the landscaping is done.
Here are a few pics of the final product.
- There is a lot of clutter on the deck in this picture- an artifact
of having no interior living space while the kitchen is being remodeled.
Still, I'm glad the deck was done in time for us to enjoy our outdoor space
while the inside is so chaotic.
The Final Result
Thanks, Ed & Al. Couldn't have done it without you.