I had to take the boards back out as I filled this last section with gravel as it was much easier to fill underneath them when they were not in the way. When I had it mostly filled and tamped down (see my sledgehammer in tamper mode?) I put the boards in again and filled it in the rest of the way. In the last picture you can see how the line where the ends of the deckboards carries along from one frame to the other.

I believe this will be a very, very solid base for the deck. Enough stonework. Let's install the deckboards!

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Now that I have a level, flat, solid surface upon which the deck boards can be affixed, let's get started. I knew I wanted cedar as the deck material. I love cedar. It's a dream to work with. Straight grained, easy to cut, rot resistant, fragrant, lovely grain patterns... yeah, I'm a fan. There are plenty of dimensions to choose from, we picked 5/4 x 6, mostly 8 footers. Back at the beginning of this process we saw the old deck had 2x4 material as the deck material. Super strong, but needed to not deflect across the very wide spans of the sleepers they laid as a "frame". This frame is a lot more substantial and has much shorter spans so a thinner deck board is sufficient. Now that I've been able to walk on it I can say it's solid--no deflection.

I wanted to have a different design from the standard straight boards, laid out straight--boring. Also, I knew there would be seams since getting boards that were long enough to span the whole deck, even across the short axis would be extra expensive. I have more time than money (boy does that come into play a lot...) so doing something beautiful and interesting with the shorter, less expensive material was the option I chose. There are a lot of stunning deck designs out there. I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of different decks and this basic design caught my eye, basketweave.

There are a number of advantages to this design. Minimal cuts, no miter cuts (though I did have to trim the ends at 45 degrees where the board extended beyond the edge of the deck), unusual, makes efficient use of 8 foot boards, plus I like it. Here we go.


I tested the pattern with a few fence boards and 2x6x12s I had laying around. Gorgeous, as you can see. This is the center of the deck, right in front of the doors. I like the image of having the arrow the boards create draw you out onto the deck and into the yard.


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So I bought a stack of real deck boards and pinned them in place.

I started with the centerline. That post is in the center of the roof, and close to the center of the deck. Close, only because some of the edges of the deck got built around the immovable, roof supporting posts. I wanted the center of the deckboards to line up with the center of the deck. On my first attempt I put the leading corner of the deckboard on the center frame member--bad idea. You can see I put extra frame members on each side of the center to provide nailing surfaces for the width of the deckboards. I spaced them apart by the thickness of the fence of my speedsquare, both the ends and the sides. I also have a nice digital angle finder I used to precisely line up the boards. Once lined up I used two single nails to layout the boards. I did several this way to find out how they would look and to see how they'd affect the outer sections. The "arrows" will all be parallel to each other, but if the first "arrow" isn't parallel to the centerline of the deck and the edges of the deck, by the time I'm out at the corners, one side will be long and one side will be short.


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This Western Red Cedar is beautiful wood. I didn't have room to in my truck or room to store all I'd need for the whole project, so I got a batch at a time. Mostly 8 footers and a few 10 footers (for those places where the deck was wider to accommodate the posts).

I stacked it up under the roof out of the rain. I chose the wood carefully, but there were still things to look out for. This grade of decking had only one side graded good, and you can see the edges of some of the boards are quite rough. Those are the down sides, obviously. And there were several places where the protective plastic covering the bunk of boards at the lumberyard where the staple was still in the board. I pulled out a couple, I sawed through a couple, I snagged my hand on a couple, then I decided to stop production and take them all out.

This Western Red Cedar is beautiful wood. I didn't have room to in my truck or room to store all I'd need for the whole project, so I got a batch at a time. Mostly 8 footers and a few 10 footers (for those places where the deck was wider to accommodate the posts).

I stacked it up under the roof out of the rain. I chose the wood carefully, but there were still things to look out for. This grade of decking had only one side graded good, and you can see the edges of some of the boards are quite rough. Those are the down sides, obviously. And there were several places where the protective plastic covering the bunk of boards at the lumberyard where the staple was still in the board. I pulled out a couple, I sawed through a couple, I snagged my hand on a couple, then I decided to stop production and take them all out.

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Not only did they have one rough side, they weren't all exactly 96" long. This mattered because of the geometry of the layout, a longer board meant the next rank started in a different position. The length of the board had a direct effect on the spacing of next rank of boards. So I setup an infeed table from one of the 10 footers and a stop block and cut them all to the same length. I tried to cut several at a time with mixed success. The saw motor bottomed out on the stack before the blade cut through the bottom board completely. It was a minor inconvenience.

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You can see in the wide shot how my workflow went from left to right, from stack to saw to stand.

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I told you this wood is beautiful. Let's just look at some wood, in some cases beautifully figured, such varied and subtle shades, interesting grain patterns... I love this stuff.

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I think that last one might a piece of dogwood.

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Back to getting laid. The deck, that is.

I started by carefully pinning the boards down with just two nails each,

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then in the next shot you can see I screwed them in with deck screws. I predrilled the holes before I drove the screws home. I took care to space them as evenly and carefully as I could, by the width of the fence of the speedsquare you see here, about an eighth of an inch. It was convenient to slide it along the length of the board to make sure the gap was consistent when I put the second and subsequent screws in.

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I'd hand selected all the boards, but some of them weren't completely straight, like this one. I noticed it when I spaced the one end and then noticed the other end was not spaced the same. I resorted to moderate force to bend some of the boards into submission with prybars and progressive fastening.

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After a careful start, I made good progress in these wide open areas of the deck. Eventually, I reached then point where I could start on the next direction but my stock of boards was in the way. This was the beginning of a process that lasted most of the decking phase. I had limited amount of cover from the roof and moving the boards out of my work area happened over and over. At this point, it's fair to say I have a lot of experience handling my wood.

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That bunch in the last picture, they're about to be in the way.

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I started the next section in the reverse direction and installed as many of the boards as I had free space. The stock of boards stored under the roof I let them stay in place until I coudn't deck around them any more. You can also see in this picture the result of the deck extending beyond the eave before the gutters have been installed. Time to restack them.

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Then they were out of the way again. I wouldn't need to work on that exactly spot again for awhile. Progress on the second section resumed.

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It resumed until I ran into some wood I couldn't move, namely this post. I made a note of where to notch this board and carried it to the chopsaw. I veerrrryyy carefully cut away most of the notch... and broke out the waste piece. Ta-da!

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Then sadness. I couldn't fit it in place, under the post. Gravdigr, this is the half board we spoke of. It was dark, I was tired, good. night.

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Post too big? Nope, notch too small. But not any more. You can see the little bits I took out and the saw marks their removal left. ONWARD!

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I made my way outward from the house until I was working close to the edge of the roof. Then I decided to turn my attention to the side of this section closest to the house. You remember I cut the frame to match the line from the corner of the house to the corner post. Now I had to match that arbitrary cut with some custom deck boards. You can see in the foreground that obtuse triangle of exposed framing.

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I laid the a board down and marked a line on top of it where the framing ended underneath, then cut it with my hackzall. Then I used that cutoff to transfer that angle to the board that would be one away from the edge of the deck. I didn't want the edge of the deck to be a thin sliver of a board, I'd rather have more "meat" in that high traffic spot and make up the angle further in from the edge.

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You can see the board that has the sharp angle with a deep notch that fits on either side of the bolt between the concrete pier and the post bracket. I slid it into place and used the triangle template to transfer the angle from the board in place. You can see it's been cut to a point but not installed.

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Now that the thin one's installed, it leaves more room for a much wider board to be installed at the edge of the deck here. I feel this made the edge of the deck much stronger. Those spots required some specialty cuts and slowed me down considerably. The obstacles to deckboards still ahead of me were only posts/piers. This meant I could really increase my output.

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My installation process followed this pattern, one board on the left, then one on the right, left, rigth, etc. Here you can see as I'm progressing from the house to the yard one on my left is fouling against the pier holding the center post.

Time for another notch. Cut, snap, install.

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I was making good progress, but still some things interrupted me. Some were practical, like why is there a waterfall coming down in my work area? Oh. The gutter is a lake.

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*WAS* a lake.

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Some were just w.t.f. I was challenged when I talked about "half a board". Check out "three quarters of a branch".

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When the project surpassed my understanding, I found new uses for my tools. Pop quiz: what do you think is the purpose of this part of my speedsquare?

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A race to the edge!

Yes, it's raining/has rained/will rain. *sigh* I don't really like working in the rain, but I like watching nothing happen even less. Let's get busy.

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BOOM!

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Another day, a daylight picture, must have been a weekend... Let's move those boards to the edge, we're close to the end now (this, this is the lie that I kept telling myself, and kept believing.. d'oh!).

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Anyhow, we're on the fourth of four "rows" and daylight and fair weather. Let's go!

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We're all filled in to the end, with no more fasteners, it's really, really time to stop.

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Supplies replenished, let's do a little catch up. This notch by the hose bib, that needs special attention.

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Done.

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And this board?! You can't see it here but it's split. Out with the divided and in with the whole.

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NEXT!

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This section in front of the doors didn't get the same framing treatment because the concrete "stoop" is in the way. I have a plan for a "door mat", but I need to square up this space first. Some boards had to be cut at an angle then installed.

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Some boards got installed, marked, uinstalled, cut, then reinstalled. Eventually, I had a nice clean, shallow rectangular hole in front of the doors.

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Next is the "door mat". This section is where a concrete stoop is *just* barely below the threshold of the door. My "deck" here is very, very thin. Two layers perpendicular to each other will make cover this area. I'm using fence boards here, 7/16" thick, twice. It gives me the chance to provide a little variety and I'll be able flip this over to spread out the wear pattern.

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DONE!

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I like how it looks.

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Trimming up the ends left some offcuts, some of which got recycled in places where only a short deck piece was needed, like the center of this V as I approached the edge of the deck.

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The corner of the deck where I had to make a number of long angled pieces, that area needs a step. I'm making a simple platform that will be topped with deck boards. The frame will be made from the same pressure treated 2x4s the deck frame was assembled from. Here I'm lining up the cut for the two longest pieces.

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Next shot is a bit of a "What is this?"

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Third shot is a clue. A symptom of "What the fuck this is."

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***










It's a momentary failure of attention and the safety guards built into the saw. I have "chopped" a zillion boards on this saw. Tink bought me this saw--that's how old it is. I have gotten my "money" out of it. It's just a homeowner quality/duty saw. Not garbage, but just adequate. Here's the answer to the question posed in the second pic, the blade guard that normally retracts only enough to expose the spinning blade to the wood when the wood is pressed against the fence. How are you seeing the still blade with the saw in the up position? In the first pic, the guard is covering the blade. Second pic, exposed. Third pic, what happens when you don't notice that the guard isn't covering the blade as it's decelerating. I bet I was more surprised than you are. The mechanism for moving the guard in synchony with the saw's position depends on some cams and levers and guides.... they got a little sticky and stuck *open* this time and that little nick is my reminder.

PAY ATTENTION.

OK, ok, O-K. yeesh.

Obviously I'm not that hurt, really, pfft. But, that saw Does. Not. Give. A. Fraction. Of. A. Fuck. Go on, stick your meat in there. Bzzzzt. Ooooh, damp sawdust? Who the fuck cares? It's red?! Yawn.

Pay attention.



While I'm bleeding down there, up in the roof trusses the birdies are playing house. I found a hummingbird confused and trapped under the bright roof, buzzing and pounding his head on the underside of the roof. This might be his nest, maybe not. I managed to herd him out with the broom.

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Ok, I laid out a piece of cardboard as a template for how I'd like the step to look, for placement.

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Then I made the frame with the blood soaked 2x4s from the previous post.

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Decked.

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You may notice that I used a three six inch wide boards and one skinny one. At the start of this process when we were deciding what we wanted the deck to *look* like, I got some four inch wide deck boards and some six inch wide deck boards. We went with the six inch stock. I used one of the leftover four inchers to fill the frame nicely.

Here's the end result.

A happy step.

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Now over to the opposite side of the deck, I have started the flush trimming of the deck boards. I've put a saw guide in place and trimmed the deck boards. The scrap UNDER the deck boards is how much overhang I wish to leave to be able to apply a skirt of sorts--you'll see.

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Third picture shows the 2x4 (cedar) in place, as does the fourth picture with "skirt" underneath (applied before the 2x4 frame piece.) The 2x4 is the strong piece to catch the impact of people's foot strike against the edge of the deck. The "skirt", really just a 2x6 cedar fence board, extends down far enough to trap the supporting blocks that hold up the frame on the outermost edges.

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In the previous flush trimming pictures, you might notice that my right handed saw was pushing the cut to upwards or to the right.. this is fine, except my next cuts were "behind me". And I had that damn post to deal with, the notch for which you can see in the last pic. So I gave up and moved back across the deck and started there. Now my cuts and my saw guides were moving in the same direction.

Here you can see several boards that are very long. These were ten footers, chosen because between these posts the deck frame was extended and that meant the deck got extended too, so, longer deck boards. Now I had to cut these off flush too. This needs to be a precise cut, so I have to know where the underlying frame member is, and measure from there.

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I used the blade of a combination square to reach through the gaps in the boards and slide it back until it made contact with the frame. Then I made a little pencil mark. I did this on a few gaps and used them to define the line for the saw guide board I'd screwed into the deck.

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At one spot I could easily see the frame member, so I felt ok with the placement of the guide, and I zipped the ends off.

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Before and after.

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You can see this little notch in the layout of the deck--the deck's done here but I confess I still don't have this little spot covered with the same edging treatment. I like how the deck appears to hover over the ground.

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First I trimmed them, I have been using the term "flush" but really they were 7/16" beyond the frame member. Then I used a six inch wide board, 7/16" thick, under the deck, against the frame as a "skirt". It makes for a cleaner appearance, hiding much of the frame, and it also extends beyond the bottom edge of the frame member, trapping the supporting blocks from migrating outward.

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Turned the corner, same process, new side.

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By dark I'd completed the whole side. And turned the last corner, winding up where I began. Cutting forward made a big difference in my pace.

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I thought I'd celebrate my accomplishment with a drink. Turns out the paint I spilled on this folding workbench covered up the "Not A Step" warning. Apparently it's Not A Seat, either. I got the last laugh though. It now has a new prosthetic jaw, this bench-vise. I made it from a cutoff section of deck board!

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Look how fine and straight grained this wood is. This is one of the 2x4s I used as a wraparound frame. After the lower part where the frame was concealed, I added a cedar 2x4 flush with the top of the deck and against the edges of the deck boards, shown here on the north side, west side (pre-installation), and south side.

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The roof is held up by five posts (and one side attached directly to the house). I replaced all the old posts and the new posts are secured to these concrete piers. The old posts just sat directly on the old concrete, that endgrain soaking up the water. We'll be flooded before the bottoms of these posts get wet.

The first one here extends beyond the edge of the deck because the post is directly under the frame of the roof. That frame dictated where I'd have to put the post, though I could have built the deck frame wider like I did on the north side of the deck where corner got nipped off and the ten foot deckboards were used. But I didn't, leaving me with this ... beauty mark. The other posts are represented here.

They're all at different heights relative to the surface of the deck--another manifestation of the unevenness of the underlying foundation. These piers are directly on the concrete patios wherever they needed to be placed and they're all the same height. The frame and deck got made level at the top. This shows the varying thickness of the deck structure.

Now I'm going to hide these concrete blocks.

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Five posts, each cover has two halves. Each half has four parts, 5*2*4 pieces. Fortunately, I'm making only one component, albeit ten times.

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Dry fit.

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Screwed together.

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Tested on the bench.

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Tested on the deck.

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It works very nicely, I'm happy with this low profile design. It does the job of hiding the concrete piers and it uses the same size material as the deck, same wood.

Four of five of them turned out as expected, but one... I'll need to trim it. The deck looks good!

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I admired the deck after those installations, super happy with the result.

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Complete deck, before cleaning, before staining:

https://panoraven.com/slider/ZANrIxIOgJ



In the morning, I could see it in a different light, literally. Look how dirty the deck is. We've been walking on it, of course, and it's pretty filthy, especially the high traffic patterns. This has to be cleaned up before the deck can be stained. Clean it to stain it.. heh.

Dirty.

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Dirty.

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Dirty.

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In a five gallon bucket I mixed hot water with about a quarter cup of TSP and used a car wash brush to wash/mop the deck thoroughly. This is a serious cleaning solution but super stealth. No scrubbing bubbles, no mountain fresh scent. I did see a brown wake of muddy water stream from the trailing edge of the brush when I scrubbed back and forth.

I'll tell you something else, not captured in a picture. I was walking around the deck to take some of these pictures and I walked through the wet areas... Well, I slipped, cartoon style, feet and head at the same altitude, legs making a oval blur--blam! That spot was slicker than wet ice. After that I walked like a penguin.

Here are a couple before/after shots.

The observant reader will recall my expressions of fondness for the beauty of this wood. I imagine the exasperated replies "If you like it so much, why don't you marry it?" Whoops, I meant to say "Take a picture, it lasts longer." And so I have. It doesn't look like this anymore.


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Here are a couple more before/after shots.
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Stain and bucket.

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Bucket and brush.

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Deck and stain.

I know it looks shady. It is shady. Those things are "shadows", I remember them from my time in sunny California.

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The wood is really "thirsty", I am working a section at a time, putting on enough to cover it and brushing it until it's well covered.

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As I move to the next section, the first section appears much drier.

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When the third section's done, the first two no longer look that different. There is that one board with the really blue end though. What's up with that?

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Now all four sections have a first coat on them.

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Here is the last little bit of the fourth and final section, all around. Next I'll make a trip around working on the skirt and edges, it's a little drippy in places.

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Oh, here's one side of the "door mat" This side was down since it was built. As a consequence, it's a little wet in spots and it has had really no foot traffic. It did not absorbe the stain as readily as the other side. I can flip it whenever, right now, this is "up".

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The post base covers needed staining too. The wood from these boards also didn't get any traffic, and came out a little lighter than the main span of the deck. It looks ok though.

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See the lighter door mat area?

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After the second coat, now let's walk around it a bit.

The vines going up through the frame are live virginia creepers, seen in several of the early pics. We took out the fence this vine had grown on and I was very careful to keep it as intact as possible. I expect we'll have a living curtain (summer and fall only) with a little doorway sized passageway next to that big buckeye on the right side.

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Moving around, that corner will be covered by the hot tub, and soon!

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Before and after.

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Before and after.

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This little two step construction is for sale at the hot tub store. $499.00 No, not made of SOLID GOLD, just that pvc fakey lumber. The color is about perfect, but we declined. That's... maybe $20 of 2x4s and some hunks of leftover deckboards. The remaining 479 dollars will buy a lot of champagne.


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This is our current (ha ha ha, I see what I did there) electrical panel. The service for the WHOLE HOUSE is the same amount of current required for the hot tub. This will need to be upgraded. We have an electrical contractor already picked out, a new 200 amp service to the house is scheduled, but won't happen until after the hot tub arrives.

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And it will arrive on a rolling rig that has to pass through this area (after I finish moving all this yard stuff) and up onto the deck.

Whew!

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It sure looks better after that second coat.

https://panoraven.com/slider/FW8YYUPfne
PANO_20190326_182259

Yes it is.
Yes he is (Rochester, not NYC)
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE SEASON.

Thank you sir, I am as interested as you!

Nice job, looks good, strong like Russian woman, should live long and resist the damp.
On the next deck, if you flip it over and make theses cuts on the backside they won't show.

Thank you. :)

You're right, of course. Also, those cuts are covered by the base covers. I'm more of a framer than a finish carpenter. I know this about myself and I am at ease with it.

Your point is well taken, though, don't get me wrong. There are many ways to make this cut invisible; you described one, I described another.

Zooming out a couple thousand feet--- this project had a *lot* of figure-it-out-as-you-go. It was as satisfying and fulfilling of a project/puzzle as I've ever had. The thing you point out, I'd correct that on the next deck, which I plan to make never.

I *DO* have another project on simmer in my brain... an actual workshop in the back yard. More puzzle, more chances to improve my technique as you note here. More pics, more documentation, more sawdust, and finally more indoor space for my poor, poor shop tools. :(

You've dropped so much at one time here. It's gonna take a while to read through.

Seems like you could park a stream roller on it, though.

Hella deck brother!

It looks fantastic!

And your back yard looks like a little oasis. In all those closeups, it looked kinda shitty, with vines and stuff in the way, but the wide angle shots show how it's all tied together and the vines are there on purpose. It's really spectacular with that sunlight streaming in in the morning.

You really did a good job. It looks fabulous.

The one thing I would have a hard time living with is that one base cover that overhangs the edge of the deck by about two inches. I would trim that so it's flush with the edge of the deck, but that says more about my OCD than it says about your deck. And I understand that it covers the concrete base underneath.

Maybe it's in a spot that you would never see it normally.

Now..... Just to pick nits... This is not a deck. This is a patio. Decks are elevated.

That said, it's lovely, and it looks inviting. You'll spend a lot of time out there, hopefully.

Good work!

Thanks very much!

Today the hot tub gets delivered.

Well, today the truck carrying the hot tub is scheduled to arrive in the driveway. I am looking forward to watching their crew of three guys unload it and navigate their way to the back yard and onto the deck. In preparation, I was asked to make a clear path 4 feet wided by 8 feet high from the driveway to the deck. I have done this. There are some branches that will be swept out of the way by the tallest sides of the hot tub, they say that's ok; that part will be ok. There are a few other concerns I have.

The grass is very soft and wheels will sink right in under the weight of the hot tub (830 pounds dry). They tell me they're going to use rollers, like the Egyptians did for the Pyramids. That's pretty ingenious. Of the Egyptians, it's merely observant of the delivery guys.... Also, there are a number of protruding tree roots, a good 4 inches in diameter to cross over. I think with the addition of some planking with a half sheet of plywood, we'll be able to overcome that obstacle. The gate isn't wide enough and the arbor is too low, so I just took down the fence next to the gate making a path around that problem. And then there's the lifting onto the deck, low though it may be. I have some 12 foot 2x6s that could be used as ramps. And since they move it in on "edge", which makes sense, they'll have to tip it back over at the final destination. That's gonna be interesting to watch. The installation spot is uncovered, and will stay uncovered but I just wonder how much tipping over space on the ground they'll need.... I am sure they'll be standing in the yard off the edge of the deck for some of the maneuvering.

Then the inevitable adjustment, to the left, no, no more. Stop, ok, back a little bit... ok. Etc.

There is no power to the site at this time, so no hookup, no filling. The electrician is scheduled to start and finish work the weekend after next. That's gonna be post-worthy fun too.

I have taken the day off to supervise and help. Now I'm gonna go tidy up the path, maybe mow the grass. There will be pix, of course. I'm nervous and excited.

Wow! It could not have come out better.

The deck is sort of the Great Wall of China, and the story "War and Peace."

I'm back. I spent this morning tying back some overhanging branches, raking the path clear, double and triple checking my work. This place is so pretty in the springtime.

The hot tub has landed.

The delivery process was eventful, and ended well. I've untied the branches and shrubs I had tucked out of the way and I reinstalled the section of fence I'd taken down.

We don't have power to the location yet, so no water yet either. But it's in place and level and solid. Next steps include building steps to get into the tub, and a step between the deck and the yard.

Seeing the tub in place has revealed some tree pruning that needs to be done.

Congrats!