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Brmorgan

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Joined
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Location
Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Been on holidays this week, so I've been putting the extra time to good use. The old deck on the back of my house had a bunch of rotten top boards, so I ripped it off two or three years ago. I've had the boards for the deck top for almost two years now. They're 2X6X104-5/8" Douglas Fir studs that I got from the mill I work at. However since I was a graderman at the time I pulled all #1 or better for myself. We only sell stud so no matter how good the board is that's all it's worth there, so I made off with about 3/4 of a sling of #1 boards for the employee price of stud.
I picked up the Alaskan mill and saws last year, along with the quad. I was going try to do it last fall but ended up trimming three fingers back on the jointer in September so I was out of commission the rest of the year. I did manage to cut a few pines up for my aunt 6 weeks later though! Anywho I finally got started cutting most of the beams about 2 weeks ago. I back up to public land, and there's a group of at least a dozen dead firs between 18-30" dia. less than a thousand feet off the back of my property. My neighbor wanted to share it for firewood, but I made a deal with him - I get first dibs on the bottom 50 feet or so to make lumber, and he can follow me around and clean up the tops if he wants, but I'll be taking some to burn too.

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There's the supplies and all the toys. It's a 20X16 foot deck. I just cut the 4X10X20' beam across the front today, along with the 4" cant on the pine round and the 3" one next to it on the ground. All visible pieces came from the bottom 50 feet of two trees. I can still get a 10-foot 8-inch cant from one and at least 25 feet of the same from the second.

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That's two 3X6X10' beams bolted to the house. One 3X8X16' beam has already been used to square and level the outside corner of the deck. 7 others are stacked in front. Quite a mess.

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Turns out I needed one more 3X8 beam than I had cut, so that will come out of the 3" slab lying on the ground. The slab up on the pine block is 4" and I can get almost 14" width out of it. Poker straight too. I got the 4X4 on top of it from the waste piece off the 4X10 face beam cut. I can still get two 2X4s from what's left.

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This pic looks screwy because of the wide-angle lens, but I guarantee it's square and level! I managed to get all the 3X8s cut to length, jointed, and placed today. Except the one I didn't think I needed. It'll be a fast cut tomorrow though. I cut out a lap joint on the house end of each one so that they sit on top of the beam, along with the beam hanger brackets on both ends. I'll take a closer pic tomorrow.

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Well, after 3 days it's starting to look like a deck! There will also be a walkway along the side of the house where it leaves the photo on the right. I have a sliding doorway in my bedroom at the far corner on that wall, and right now it leads into about 5 feet of oblivion! This walkway will be just above the dryer vent above the shovel handle. There will be stairs down at the corner there. As for steps off the deck, I was thinking of a big corner set that goes off both sides, either round or square. But I was also thinking that with my supply of D Fir, I can get lots enough wood to build a totally surrounding staircase. But it might be a bit too high for that to look good. I guess I can start with the corner and expand if I want to. I will also be building a garden toolshed addition and firewood storage between the end of the deck and the window at the left edge. Oh, and I do have a beautiful fir window door to replace that ratty old one with. But I might put in a double sliding or french set instead as that's the kitchen and dining area thru that door.

I really like how it's turning out. The only other deck I've ever built was a 6X6 entry deck at the other door, so I'm pretty much winging it on this one with a bit of help from my old man as he has time. I have a bunch more posts to install and a lot of work to put the top down, so I'll take more pics over the next few days as it progresses. I'm going to skim all the top boards in the planer, and then put a 1/2" roundover on the edges with the router, so that's gonna take some hard work and time. But there's something so satisfying seeing something constructive take place that I've built literally entirely with my bare hands. Not to mention at a fraction of the cost. I've gone through less than one 5-gallon ($35) can for the saws, and maybe a half tank in the quad, so maybe $50 total at the most. I haven't checked what 9 3X8 beams 16" long are worth, not to mention a 20" 4X10, but I can imagine a few hundred.
 
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very nice looking deck. Is all your decking going to have the bark edge or all you going to rip it down to a square edge.
 
where you have the stringers attached to the house plate--use joist hangers---the small overhang lip is where that board is going to want to break off--or crack the boards lengthwise--
 
very nice looking deck. Is all your decking going to have the bark edge or all you going to rip it down to a square edge.

If you mean the top boards, they're all squared already, I just want to plane a bit off to even out any irregularities and swollen knots resulting from them being stored and tarped for almost 2 years.

Wat a wast of good lumber ti wont last long tom trees

Ummm... Cedar might weather better but it's much softer and doesn't stand up to traffic as well. And Redwood would outlast D. Fir but I don't have access to that stuff... And the previous fir deck had lasted almost 25 years according to my neighbor and didn't appear to have ever been stained or protected. I'm not making that mistake.

where you have the stringers attached to the house plate--use joist hangers---the small overhang lip is where that board is going to want to break off--or crack the boards lengthwise--

Yup, I have joist hangers at both ends and lots of lag bolts too. Speaking of which I have to head into town right now to pick up a bunch more.
 
Maybe some flashing under the house boards? Your deck will look massive when down, hell it does now. Very cool.
 
Very nice deck start there... and regardless of what some others might say, that wood will be fine. Will it outlast redwood? No... but who has cash for redwood? I like the fact that you used what you had, and the price was right :)
 
Here's a closer pic of one of the beam joints.
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I got that last beam cut and installed along with the other two posts along the front edge. I started running the decking boards through the planer but got rained out after doing about 30. I might end up having to do another pass as a couple still have some small saw marks from edger saws that weren't perfectly lined up. After that I have to rout the edges and then it's time to screw them down. Hopefully I don't get too wet tomorrow though it is supposed to rain a bit.

Also, anybody have and suggestions for a really good clear sealant to put on the beams before I put the top down? I don't really want to color the wood much. I think Douglas Fir is one of the most beautiful softwoods as it is.
 
Also, anybody have and suggestions for a really good clear sealant to put on the beams before I put the top down? I don't really want to color the wood much. I think Douglas Fir is one of the most beautiful softwoods as it is.
I would put on something like Woodlife, a clear wood preservative that will keep it from mold and mildew. There are many variations out there of that stuff. Some are water based, some oil. The water based don't tend to color the wood as much as the oil based versions. Personally though, I happen to like doug fir with an oil finish, it darkens it a little and brings out the grain. Great looking tight joint there... you do nice work.
 
Looks good BR, nice. All I can say is do not use a sealant, use stain. And those joist hangers need to be nailed down good. I was taught to toe nail five 31/4" common nails (with 2x10 joists) through the joist to the beam first, then put on the hanger with more nails.
 
I would put on something like Woodlife, a clear wood preservative that will keep it from mold and mildew. There are many variations out there of that stuff. Some are water based, some oil. The water based don't tend to color the wood as much as the oil based versions. Personally though, I happen to like doug fir with an oil finish, it darkens it a little and brings out the grain. Great looking tight joint there... you do nice work.

Thanks for the kind words. Dad always taught me that if something's worth doing once, it's worth doing right so you don't have to do it again. Perhaps that's why we didn't always get along the best when I lived at home.:monkey: Our ideas of "right" don't always line up. At any rate, I cut those notches by hand with a regular ol' handsaw. It did raise some suspicion with my neighbor though, as he's been watching me cut all this wood with my bevy of chainsaws, and then all of a sudden I decide to whip out the elbow grease and do something the hard way. I just don't trust a chainsaw to make the cuts accurately enough (blasphemy?!?). Maybe the XL-2 but it's not running right now (project for tomorrow if it rains...)

As for the protectant, I did find a gallon can of Thompson's Water Seal in the basement. It's also the clear stuff so it won't color the wood other than make it appear wet. I'm not sure off-hand whether it's an oil base or not. I'm inclined to say no. It does say that it'll cause water to bead off the wood though, which is basically what I want. I don't know how effective it'll be on the rough surface of the beams. I'll look into that Woodlife stuff tomorrow. I've never seen it before so maybe it's not available in Canada, but I should be able to find out.

Looks good BR, nice. All I can say is do not use a sealant, use stain. And those joist hangers need to be nailed down good. I was taught to toe nail five 31/4" common nails (with 2x10 joists) through the joist to the beam first, then put on the hanger with more nails.

I'm not arguing here because I really don't know, but is there a good reason to not use sealant? Keep in mind that this is not for the top decking boards, but for the beam structure. I just want to seal them up so that any water that gets in between a deck board and a beam will not cause rot. That was the main problem with the previous deck - the joists were rotting out while most of the top was still serviceable though badly weathered. I'm not sure yet whether I'll end up staining the top or not. I stained the other entryway deck 2 years ago and it's already mostly weathered away, and the deck boards are going gray. Time to bust out the belt sander and resurface I guess. I'll be trying something different this time.

Also... I hate nails. After the difficulty of ripping the old one apart I'm building this one so that if I have to replace a piece it will be (relatively) easy. It's all lag bolts and coated deck screws. I will be putting a 3"-4" screw through each of the nailing holes in the brackets, which will have the same effect as toe-nailing the beam in.

Here's to praying against the forecast for a nice day tomorrow...:help: Especially for Saturday. Dad and I were going to take the quads into the mountains to a spot I've been wanting to go for years.(In the middle of the pic here.) If you have Google Earth go to Lat. 52°18'49.18"N, Long. 120°37'19.11"W, turn to view towards the south, and pan the view down to near ground level. It was a mining camp well over a hundred years ago. It's a beautiful area. I really want to try to get to the next bowl over with the two lakes though. Bah, I'm rambling again...
 
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My buddy painted his deck railings with that stuff, Thompsons Water seal, it flaked off in bits after only a year or so. A real pita to clean off. With stain, you just stain it again. You could put flashing on the beams as well, and caulk it where the planks meet just before you fasten them. Maybe the seal you have will hold up well without direct sun, paint it on there a few coats then.
 
Excellent work BR.

It's a great feeling too use you're own stuff on your home. I recently did my front porch. I actually got too use a tree from my yard (Larch) for a 6x6 beam I needed. Looks pretty stout too. I also (like you) used large decking screws instead of nails. :cheers:
 
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