Day 674: The grand re-opening

So our final day on the job. Today was spent putting down the decking boards on our finely crafted, perfectly level and square frame.

And everybody put in a helping hand. The only limitation we had was drills - and later batteries. 

Today's top tip was the use of countersinking screw bits (see below). These rings allow the screw to go flush with the deck - to avoid trip hazards and other RWI's but prevent your super-torque driver from burrying the screw way into the wood causing water pockets and premature rotting of the wood.

After a while, the batteries started expiring (definitely not the workers!). However, Victor kept things moving along with his trusty plug-in drill (who needs batteries?!)

Before it was fit for general use, Montecello Inc management (aka Jen) came to inspect the integrity of our work. 

It passed inspection! (of course) so the workers then tested the load bearing capacity of the corners. 

And voila, a new deck! The pressure treated wood will be left for a year to age before staining/sealing.

The Montecello patio is once again open for business.

And for the record, no adults were harmed (RWI'd) in the making of these posts.

Day 673: Strong foundations

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.