Jayson's Deck - Up She Goes (Slowly)

[Spelunx]

Well, day one of Operation: Deck Construction is over and done with, and we got a fair bit done. Today we marked out the holes for footings, then I dug the holes while my builder mate prepared the Bush Poles for going upright. He cut a notch in the bottom of each pole, then attached the post anchor to each one.

It doesn't sound like much, but I am pleased so far with the progress.

It took an hour or two for Reg to get a picture in his head of what the deck was going to look like, but once he was 'keyed in', the work-rate really picked up.

Tomorrow will be spent by myself, filling the bottom of the footings with concrete. I need to race into town tomorrow morning and pick up a load of sand and 12 bags of cement, so hopefully I will be well underway by lunch-time.

Thursday the bush poles will go up, and hopefully most, if not all of the bearers.

I can't promise to post a picture here every night, but I will see what I can do...

Cheers

Jayson.

[UteMad]

Hi Spelunx

Keep the photo's coming thick and fast.....


cheers utemad

www.dialadeck.com.au

[Spelunx]

I have been working flat out, but nothing has changed from the first photo!

Yesterday was spent putting the footings down, which was a big job to do. Then I had to race into town to organise flashing, as we pulled off some of the fibro in front, and realised that there was already a bearer in place. It is almost as if the people that built this place had a deck in mind at some stage.

Anyway, the flashing is arriving tomorrow morning, so that will be sweet.

Today was spent pulling the rest of the fibro off the front, and removing nails and old bolts from the previous deck. Then we took a heap of levels from the deck and the footings.

Most of the afternoon was spent marking and cutting the rebates for the bearers.

I never realised that using bush poles would create so much more work for us.

Anyway, the blokes are comming tomorrow with a front-end loader to lift the poles into position, all the bearers are ready to go, so the mainf frame of the deck will be up by tomorrow night. That will be worth taking a photo of!!!

It looks as though it is going to rain here over the weekend, but hopefully I can find enough clear weather to get the joists up, and the decking started, but we shall see...

[johnmurrell]

I never realised that using bush poles would create so much more work for us.

G'day Jayson
you gotta luv the out of the ordinary, it's going to be worth it when you sit back and admire your work every afternoon.

[UteMad]

Bet you never would have believed the builder if you got a quote before you started....Happens to us every day when customers get creative.....

Good luck with it and keep the photo's coming

cheers utemad

www.dialadeck.com.au

[Spelunx]

Bet you never would have believed the builder if you got a quote before you started....Happens to us every day when customers get creative.....

Good luck with it and keep the photo's coming

cheers utemad

www.dialadeck.com.au

Actually, I got a rough quote from a bloke I play hockey with, who is a builder. He reckoned a second story deck, with bush poles, around 50sqm, he would charge around $30k.

So far I have spent $8k on wood and fixings. And the building 'advisor' will end up costing me around $1200, maybe $1500, depends on how long the roof takes to put on.

The skill that Reg has shown over the last few days has been amazing. He took levels off the house, then levels off the footings, measured up the pole and cut the rebate for the bearer at the desired point, whilst the pole was on the ground. Four of the posts have gone up, and the bearers just bolt straight into place.

Hopefully his job will be finished on Monday, and I can start to nail down all the joists, then start on the decking.

Will post a pic later today.

[Spelunx]

Heave, Ho, and up she rises!


Well, I thought I had better post a pic, seeing as how it actually looks as though we have done some work now!

You can see by the pic that the first four of ten posts are up, they are going to support the 'wings' of the deck along the front of the house. The other six will support the centre of the deck, which will come out from the house six metres.

The posts look bloody massive now that they are up. We have had to leave it for the weekend, which is a bit disapointing, as the work did not progress as fast as we would have liked on Friday. An hours more day-light and I would have been able to nail down the joists on the front deck over the weekend, oh well, that is the way jobs like this go I suppose.

For the really observant, you will be glad to know we put some more bracing up before we left it over the weekend, so it is nice and secure, I wouldn't want one of those poles coming down on my house!

We are getting the guys in the digger back to prop up the outside four posts, but the middle two will only be to deck height, we are planning to lift them into position ourselves.

I am glad the flashing is in place, the weather is supposed to be storms or showers tomorrow, which would have been interesting...

Anyway, better head off now, I will keep the pics coming over the next week.

Cheers

[Spelunx]

Well, pretty much all the posts are up, and the deck is taking shape nicely. We only have the middle two to go, and we will be all done.

Now that is is up, I have realised what a huge task I have ahead, nailing down the decking. Not looking forward to the sore hands. Although I have bought myself some knee-pads, so at least one part of my anatomy will be well protected!

Hopefully I will have the two posts up, the bearers bolted on and most, if not all of the joists in place by tonight, then I can start on the decking tomorrow morning.

I have attached a couple of pics, taken this morning, so the light is not that good. Although it is better than last night, as by the time we had finished, we were packing up by the light of the security light at the front of the house!

Anyway, better get to it.

Cheers

Jayson.

[UteMad]

Yeah from the looks of your photo's i'd say your quote estimate was probably pretty close ..... Maybe more like 25 but then it depends on flooring and handrails.......I had a guy do 20k on handrails alone and there wasn't much handrail getting done.....We did the deck and he contracted a stainless guy to fab and polish it all on site..... So features are where the cost is ..Like your poles they may not cost a lot but they slow the job down and cost money because of it........Looks like you got a bargain with your builder friend i'd look after him and keep him a secret ......

Keep the photo's comin


cheers utemad

[manoftalent]

looking good mate

[Spelunx]

Yeah from the looks of your photo's i'd say your quote estimate was probably pretty close ..... Maybe more like 25 but then it depends on flooring and handrails.......I had a guy do 20k on handrails alone and there wasn't much handrail getting done.....We did the deck and he contracted a stainless guy to fab and polish it all on site..... So features are where the cost is ..Like your poles they may not cost a lot but they slow the job down and cost money because of it........Looks like you got a bargain with your builder friend i'd look after him and keep him a secret ......

Keep the photo's comin


cheers utemad

Yeah, the Jarrah decking certainly added to the price, that's for sure!

My mate Reg is a bit of a local legend. He told me today that he could be working 8 days a week, jsut doing odd jobs. All the builders in the SW of WA are flat out with the big jobs, and there is no-one to take on the odd jobs. Which is where blokes like Reg come in. He has pretty much seen it all in 67 years, and doesn't fear any job. Lucky for me he is milimetre perfect. Would you beleive that over this entire job, with bush poles that vary from 220cm to 175, beams and bearers out of whack, and a 30 year old house that is out of plumb, he has managed to deliver a deck that is only 10mm out? And he only used his sprit level a few times. He kept saying that it is no use making the deck perfect if the house is skewed behind it, so there was a lot of walking back and taking a sight-line off the house. I only hope I can take full advantage of all his hard work and get the joists and decking down square ad straight!

The only problem with the photo's is that I am too buggered after each working day to take them and post them up. I will endeavour to do my best though.

Once a few decking boards go on I will post one from the top, to give everyone an idea of how big it is!

Cheers

Jayson.

[Spelunx]

Well, once again I have been flat out and it looks as though nothing has changed!

Friday was spent straightening the joists (bloody treated pine). I had a fairly good method going using a sash clamp and a piece of rope. I attached the clamp onto the joist, then wrenched it down unit it was level with the other joists, which then meant the offending joist was straight up and down. Then I tied the end of the sash clamp down, which gave me two hands to nail down the piece of timber to keep it in place. Of the 28 joists, I reckon that 8 were severally twisted, and another 5 or 6 were twisted enough to need correcting. I was pretty annoyed by this, but most people recon that it is par for the course.

Anyway, I managed to nail down a strip of decking on Friday, but it was slow going, as I had to work on the ground level, and there were a few check-outs around the posts to do. Friday afternoon was spent cementing in the footings, as I needed to go to Perth on Saturday to pick up a new second-hand pram we bought on ebay the other week. (Expecting the second little woodworker to arrive in late July) Anyway, that meant a day off for the footings to set properly.

I had to play Hockey last night, so I am stiff and sore this morning, but determined to get some more decking done. I went at it for a couple of hours, and am pleased at the result. The Jarrah looks amazing, the colours are better than I had hoped for, and by jeeze it is hard wood!

You can see by the pic that there is still a heap of work to do, but I am hoping that I can rip into it tomorrow. Once I get enough decking up there to form a work platform, I can get my saw and stuff up on deck level, the work will progress quickly from there. It is really frustrating at the moment having to go up, measure, then come back down to cut. If I had another pair of hands it would have been a lot quicker.

Stand by for more pics into the future, hopefully the deck will look somewhat different tomorrow night, as long as the weather stays good.

The Eagles vs Carlton game is starting soon, so I had better shut up and get out of here!

Cheers

Jayson.

[Bloss]

Jayson - I reckon the posts are a bit puny - couldn't ya get any bigger ones around your area?

Now you have the post and beam stuff down pat all you need to do is set in a few more around the back, new roof over the top, bit of a mezzanine and you will have twice the house in a flash.

As has been said - looking good!

[Spelunx]

Jayson - I reckon the posts are a bit puny - couldn't ya get any bigger ones around your area?

Now you have the post and beam stuff down pat all you need to do is set in a few more around the back, new roof over the top, bit of a mezzanine and you will have twice the house in a flash.

As has been said - looking good!

Yeah, well, we have to leave the really big ones alone to keep the tofu-loving tree huggers at bay.

Actually, we can get bigger, but then we knock 'em down and turn 'em into decking!

Seriously though, the bush poles are from an area that Alcoa are mining anyway, so it's either knock them over and burn them or recycle them into stunning pieces of architecture. (or a deck like mine, as the case may be)

Funny you should say 'twice the house' because when I did a over-head plan for the Shire requirements, the deck is almost as long as the house!

Can't wait for tomorrow, to see how much decking I can get done in a day.

[Justin]

G'day Jayson,

Really enjoying this thread so far, that's some heavy duty construction you've got happening there. One tip, when you're taking pics try and have the sun to your back, or to the side. A few of your shots look a bit under exposed because your camera's compensating for shooting into the sunlight.

Cheers,


Justin.