Waldo's Deck

[Waldo]

Excuses, excuses

[Waldo]

G'day,

I put in about 3 hours late this morning and was able to get about 3/4 of the joists down. After all the agro of the holes and moving things etc. things are starting to take shape now. Tomorrow arvo will see the remaining joists down and then it'll be onto the pergola.

[DJ’s Timber]

All happening now , looks like its going to be a bewdy Waldo

[Waldo]

All happening now , looks like its going to be a bewdy Waldo

Thanks mate.

[Waldo]

G'day,

Can anyone point me to a site that calculates the stringer length based on height, run, rise etc.? And what is the angle, around about 33º?

Also, what amount of overhang should I ideally have for the pergola?

[Waldo]

G'day,

Okay, I'm about to move into uncharted territory here. Stairs.

I have two choices:

1. Ready Stairs,from these blokes, whom Bowens stock http://www.melbournestairs.com.au/external/index.php

2. or fabricate my own?

Ready Stair might be simpler as they're set to go, all I have to do is install my own steps into them, which for either option will be merbau from Mathews Timber. The second option might turn out to be cheaper, but I've got no experience in working out the rise and and fall required for the stringers and at what angle the stringer needs to be relative to the deck height, nor the mechanics behind the build.

So, whatdaya think?

Ideally I'd like the stringer to be hardwood, purely for aesthetics, t/pine would be okay - I'm just not sure.

[Cliff Rogers]

Watch out for that first step Waldo, it is a killer.

[DJ’s Timber]

G'day,

Can anyone point me to a site that calculates the stringer length based on height, run, rise etc.? And what is the angle, around about 33º?

Could try Blocklayer's calculator on his site, he's a member here

[Dr - 307]

I always knew that the net was more useful than just looking up pretty ladies .

I'll find the stair calculator handy also.

Cheers DJ Timber and Blocklayer,
Dr - 307.

[Waldo]

A bit more of an update.

Over the last week and a bit (pics 1 and 2), I've been able to get the roof up, and onto laying the decking, which with some help/advice from Skew , we figured out the best way to lay the boards out before cutting to size and got on to the long task of marking, drilling and screwing down.

Hit a speed hump just a little while ago, (3rd pic) the driver for the screws decided to part company flush with head off the screw I can try and drill the bit off and tap a thread into the screw, or try and forget about it, come back later and see what I think about leaving the rotter there.

Rather than use a string line to mark out where to drill the boards, a jig was made. It's the Skew Jig (4th and 5th pics), it makes life quick easy for marking the centre line where each board fall across the joist, and at the end of the day it counts towards saving time so that there's more time for vitamins.

Although progress has been slow on screwing the boards down as I have have to use the Bessey's to pull the boards in. Spacing is 5mm with the aid of some plastic packers from Skew.

[Waldo]

G'day,

Progress has been slowed up a bit over the last week or so with clients deciding to give me some work. and having a few 36º - 39º degree days also don't get me racing out in the heat too fast.

Anyway today I got the last of my available 140x19 boards down (have to wait about another two weeks for my next order to get delivered - I'm short on account of the increse of size due to some post holes moving the deck out due to s/water pipes and t/pipe - but bigger is better.

To give SWMBO an idea of the deck and pergola being finished I hosed the deck down. I was impressed myself.

Next stage is to check out the posts to take the top and bottom rails, get the balustrates in and start on the stairs - in no particualar order. Only once the stairs are done will I finish off the decking in total - reasons for that in later posts

[Waldo]

G'day,

It's been a while since my last confession.

Over the last two weeks off and on I've been able to get some more work done on the continuing saga of Waldo's deck.

With the help of Skew over two days last week we got a start on the stairs. While Skew was busy crunching numbers based on the rise and run for the stringers ( pic 1) I made a start on the stairs.

Dressed merbau 1000m x 300mm x 45mm x 5 slabs was going to cost me pretty penny and the waiting period was about a month, so I got rough sawn. (pic 2) So while Skew was doing the above I was running the slabs through the thinknesser and dimensioning on the trusty 10HB. I was pretty happy with the end result, 1 of which has some really nice figure running through it, which will show nicely with some oil on top.

Based on the BCA codes there has to be no more spacing between each tread that a 125mm sphere can pass between them. Based on a 183.33mm rise between each tread given an 1100mm rise over a 1500mm run, each tread needs to be 60mm, given that they're 40mm thick I needed another 20mm. So I ripped some 90mm sq. left over posts down to 881mm (width of tread) and 25mm (pic 3) and set them back 100mm from the leading edge and inset 15mm from the outside edges on the underneath of each tread.

(pic 4) So far as putting it all together I figured it'd be easiest to do clamped up to the bearers, it worked a treat.

Pic 4 also shows some previous progess. Over Wednesday and Thursday, again with Skew's help , we ran the cut lengths of 85mm x 40mm merbau through the router, it's first real test, and routered the channels 19mm deep. You can see one of these in handrails in place. Posts were checked out with my 1/2 TR-12 and a 1/4 router of a dodgy name (Black & Decker).

More progress shots in the coming days.

[UteMad]

i am totally bummed you dont like my handrail !!! But pleased you sought to consult my photo's anyway LoL

One does have to remember you are building your deck yourself to save costs and if you had to pay a contractor aswell i'd imagine whilst your deck would have been finished months ago it would have cost you far more and you may have been forced to cut back on some of the things you have afforded by doing it yourself.... Cant wait to see your rails i hope they turn out great.. Research pays off the more you do the more you see which will hopefully get you the end result your after.,..
Snapped tips is a fact nof life they shatter all the time cause they are junk.. pull it out with needle nose pliers if you can grab it other wise tap the board next to the screw




Cheers utemad

[Waldo]

G'day Utemad,

it probably would've been finished a while ago now. Building myself, even with some help , takes longer but I get more satisfaction from it.

Research has been a big thing and then nutting it all out. Your pic of the handrails was a starting point, more really of what I didn't want to do . For me fixing the slats on the outside of the rails, while on the inside looks neat, I think on the outside, while quicker to erect, it's not as neat as I'd like. When I get to the h/rails it'll be the downhill run of the construction phase.

I can't remember where the snapped tip is , I'd even forgotten about it. All up so far, one snapped tip and no more than 6 screws that I did the heads on.

[UteMad]

Heres one thats cut in top and bot although rails are a cleaner square look and not moulded



cheers utemad