Now that the old deck risk was mitigated, it was time to build a new safer deck in its place. To keep the laborers motivated, the management of Monticello picked up the builders breakfast of champions - Timmys!
Today's task was to build the foundations for the new deck to rest upon and put the supports in place. Safety was the number on priority on the job site as the events of recent days put this all into perspective.
Our architect, Paul Skemer wasn't going to take any risks with this deck. This deck was designed to be strong enough to launch a NASA space shuttle.
After the workers had finished their glorious breakfast, we got started on the foundations. The blocks were burried in the ground and quite solid. They were designed to carry a 4x4 post. The only issue was that they were far, far, far from being level. The team elected to put the posts in place and run a line level between them to get something more true.
Then we started running 2x8's across the length and width of the porch to create the frame. Of course nothing was perfectly square so this took a lot of moving things around to get right.
With the frame in place and reasonably level and square, we started putting the cross joists in place. These were hung on metal joist supports and spaced to allow the decking boards to be screwed in place. This was where we needed to decide on what lengths of decking boards to use.
A helpful step came in from another Paul in the team - try and avoid cutting boards if possible. Time is money, and cutting takes time. Not to mention the risk of another RWI! On a 20ft span of deck, this meant alternating 12ft and 8ft lengths of boards. All installed with no cutting required. Simples.
And there you go .. a deck frame all completed. Time for a much needed break.
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