My deck is level, but that did not prevent it from ending up on my honey do list. A fair share of responsibility goes to knucklebusted, to whom I want to express my gratitude. How comes? Well, I followed knucklebusted's thread about his deck. Some weeks ago my wife was standing behind me, while I was reading on V8. The pics of knucklebusted's deck cought my wifes attention and inspired her to start thinking ..... Before I knew it, a complete make over of the deck was on my list. Renewing the planks (approx. 450 sqft), replacing the guardrails and the handrails (approx. 120ft). So folks, you better watch your back while spending quality time on V8 Started yesterday, removing the guardrails. ... more to come over the next weeks.
A good pressure washing, using hot water if possible, would do wonders for your deck. Then after it dries I'd seal/stain it. Keith
I'm sorry! Tell her the price of lumber is through the roof and it will be cheaper in six months. LOL
Thanks Keith. The deck is 14 years old and made of Douglas fir. About every second year I pressure washed it. I probably could do it some more times. The point is, that I would need to sand it. It is a hazard to walk w/o shoes. That, and the desire for a new look is the reason why we will install WPC planks. Thanks, hopefully I will not forget next time when I take pictures of the progress. Doesn't help, as we go with WPC. My sticker shock was not convincing enough for my wife . Today I removed the remaining guardrails. In total 210 rails (do not know a better word for the vertical wooden stakes). Fortunately the builder of the deck used stainless steel screws, so that it was not difficult for my 18V power drill to take them out.
...another piece of useless info stuck in my brain forever, it's called a baluster and the whole assembly is a balustrade. Kinda like cob, pen, and cygnet for male, female, and baby swans...
Thanks John and you know what the funny thing is: It is called and spelled exactly the same way in German language. However it is somewhat "old" German language. There are synonyms, which are used way more often nowadays. Maybe with this info it will be stuck in your brain forever plus one day
Yes my wife comes by and looks over my shoulder sometimes and asks what are you looking at ? Her hobby is horses and saddles and all the horse tack so we keep each other in check , Kind of...
Today the truck showed up with the material for the flooring. My wife and I handled every piece twice. First unloading the truck, putting everything on our driveway and second hauling the stuff downhill (we have a walkout basement) from the driveway to our backyard. About 60 planks 20 foot long, in total 1.6 metric tons. My health app counted almost 20k steps. I guess my wife and I will have a good nights sleep
Put about 3 hours into it today and removed the planks from one section. Goal for tomorrow is to have all planks removed and to start building the aluminum support for the WPC.
Did not get to start with the aluminum subframe until yesterday. Here is the progress after two full days of work. My teenage son helped me today after school attaching the brackets for the reinforcement rods. Hopefully tomorrow we will finish the subframe and put the adjuster underneath to obtain the desired slope. Thursday I hope to be able to start laying the WPC planks. One thing is sure: A week like this with hands on work is hard for a paper pusher like me .
Just rough-quoted a re-decking project for a potential customer; same deal- removing all the wood decking & railings & going with composite. 1400 square feet.
That looks fancy and relatively weather proof? I find I still have pressure wash it every season though...
Still alive, but I have to say it was a challenging week. First for my body and second also emotionality. Working bend over and on my knees for a week with 12 hour days is nothing I am used to. The emotional rollercoaster is mainly because I am not meeting my own expectations. Not in regards of the result, but because I am about 2 days behind, compared to my personal "project timing". It is probably the lack of experience and routine which makes me slower than what I thougth my pace would be. So, what got accomplished: The aluminum subframe is done, it is level on the long side and has a slope of about 1.5° away from the house on the short sides. Just the leveling alone took me almost one day. I installed about 11 planks of composite, but had to stop last night. Today is a public holiday in Germany and making any kind of noise is a big nono. So I decided to do silent stuff and check out how the new look of the balustrade looks like. So I installed the stainless steel cable on two sides of the deck. Wow, thats about 3 times the size of my deck. That must cost a fortune, just based on what I paid for the material only. Just out of curiosity, how long will it take for you to get that 1400 square feet monster done?
So do I, however I am so slow, that I could not make a living out of it now that you say it; but nah, I will tame that beast
