Lake House Deck Project

[linus69]

I decided to forge ahead with the deck project on our lake front home after finding a deal on EverGrain composite decking I could not refuse.I found a dealer around 125 miles away who was stuck with 20 trailer loads of Cedar colored decking due to someones error and is selling it for $1.45 a linear foot.
www.ironstonerental.com
That is around half of retail price, and since green wood decking is 75 cents a foot and turns ugly quickly we took the plunge.This composite has a 25 year warranty and of their 4 primary colors it is the one we would pick anyway.
The footing piers are 12in sonotubes dug down to the frost line, without the backhoe to do the digging this project would have never happened.





The decking stored in our garage after delivery, being guarded of course by one of our snarling mongrel canines



Framing begins, this is what got done the first afternoon, God Bless air nailers





The decking begins







It is a bear to screw down but looks great when laid down, so far over 3800 StopSplit cedar colored T20 head composite screws have been predrilled and installed by yours truely,they are $132 per 2500 and claim to be self tapping but predrilling gives better results.We couldn`t be happier with the results and when the first floor gets finished I get to start on the second floor balcony deck which will be 35by8 feet.

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The 10 sonotubes took me a week,the digging here is awful, all rock I did them the old fashioned way 3-2-1-shovel method. But a mason gave me a good tip he had, use 5gal buckets to measure the aggregate, sand and portland cement.
The frame of the lower deck went up in 6hrs, wood was delivered at noon and me and a buddy started at 1. Another poor soul stopped by and was put to work holding up wood, he had no hammer skills, he was a software engineer, but he could carry wood.We quit a little after 8 due to darkness.
I finished the rest of the framing and decking alone, and I have been going ahead with railings and I started the upper deck yesterday afternoon. I hit it hard today and should finish the frame tomorrow. It`s a little tough to set 12 foot 12x12s by yourself but with rope and enough ladders it was possible, and of course an air nailer.
Here was todays progress, it`s hard to work around furniture, plants, conrete statues and pumpkins, but I`m way too smart to say a word to the woman that put them there.The same woman who made me stop screwing down decking in 90deg weather to go pick a bin of pumpkins in 90deg weather at my friends farm, he laughed at me and called me a name I can`t repeat here.But that woman has a thing about pumpkins, every year a bin full and not one gets cooked, she puts them everywhere. But I have 3 tractors, so I shut up.

[linus69]

In keeping the theory of a low maintenance deck going, we decided to go with a vinyl railing system. We are lucky and have a local dealer supplier about 10 miles away who supplies custom vinyl fence and railings to fence contractors.
Even paying wholesale trade prices this stuff is pretty dear, we started out wanting straight square balusters but did not want the "Play-Pen" look they have on an open area. We decided on the newest style available called New Orleans Belly Balusters, which of course was a large cost jump as they were special order out of Utah.
But we didn`t want to spend the rest of our lives wishing we had gotten them, and we are very happy with the results. The dogs are thrilled, they get a real kick out of the second floor deck, and like to go in and out of the sliding door when left open.
The weather was the same for the railing install, very hot and humid, very unseasonal for the mountains.I didn`t get any cool weather during the whole deck build, so much for waiting for summers end to build it.
The entire project was a solo affair, other than that first afternoon when I had one skilled and one unskilled assistant I was alone.I dug 150 feet of trenches for my skilled friend and I treated the unskilled friend to a dinner of Italian food.It took a little less than 5 weeks to build.
I expressed an interest in a Pergola style garden arch to my vinyl supplier Precision Vinyl
www.precisionvinyl.net
He expressed an interest in clearing out this seasons garden arches. We haggled and I took the three he had left in stock for less than they cost him.
I got two of these
www.newenglandarbors.com/products/newport-arbor.asp
and one of these.
www.newenglandarbors.com/products/fairfield-arbor.asp

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I put up the first of the Newport model arbors today and I have to say it was one big pain in the butt to assemble and install.
But it looks nice now that it is in and maybe the next two will go easier now that I`ve gotten my feet wet. It`s one of those things you just don`t have enough hands for when assembling, and very awkward to move around.
I had to dig the 4x4s it`s anchored to the old fashioned way with a post hole digger and an 80lb bar for the rocks, the backhoe was forbidden to be used in this spot by the BOSS, so it took me hours to dig the four holes.
I used bagged concrete this time to save time, one bag per hole did just fine, it was fast setting so I waited a few hours and dropped the arbor in place over them

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The next arbor the Fairfield II was put in place today and it also was a royal pain to deal with. It got placed behind the house and the digging was horrible, I had to move locations three times due to buried boulders. But once again they look nice when you finish and your blood pressure comes down.




The final Newport arbor has been assembled and put in place. I would like to say the third was the charm, but it was just as miserable to install as the last two were. But once again I have to say it looks very nice now that it`s finished.

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I finally got around to adding a set of coach style lights to the seond floor deck sliding door. I make a 7/8ths hole and add a pinhole photo cell to the right side light that turns both on and off. I`ve been doing that to my outside lighting for years, now they sell outdoor lights with that same feature.
But since I have photocells on the shelf I continue to do the retro-fit, I also now use fluorescent bulbs everywhere I can.

[GuglioLS]

WOW Paul
Do you ever rest?

What do the rest of you guys think? Is this nice work or what?

Paul,
Your joint looks like it belongs on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens. You should be very proud of your accomplishments.

That railing you picked out and installed on the deck sure is something else, You deserve a blue ribbon award on that one for sure.

The Arbor you put together and installed is looking really nice too. I am not worthy of your presence. Your making my place look like I built it from material salvaged from the county land fill.

Great thread, please keep the pictures coming.



Larry

[FLICK]

Very nice Paul

Paul:
Another poor soul stopped by and was put to work holding up wood, he had no hammer skills, he was a software engineer, but he could carry wood.

lol, I bet he was pulling splinters out for a week after

Great work Paul

Matthew.

[linus69]

Thanks Larry and Matthew,
The deck turned out nicer than we ever expected it to, especially since the design was all done "seat of the pants" It has been wintering over well, no movement of the concrete support piers from freeze/thaw. The composite decking and pvc railings don`t seem to mind snow load or single digit weather at all. I was out on the 2nd floor deck this afternoon having a smoke, watching people skate on the ice.



Paul.

[3RRL]

Hi Paul,
I glad to see you are posting the progress of your Lake house. I wondered where you were with that. Man, it is coming along really nice. Looks like you got some bucks and a lot of time invested in it. It shows and looks great.
The decks, balusters, trellaces, railings and arbors etc give it a special look.
Not to mention the home itself.
I really admire you doing all that yourself.

As I recall, I don't remember seeing any photos of the basement? Maybe I missed them.
Rob-

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I added a couple of water features to the deck because the bride and I love the sound of waterfalls. There is one on each end of the deck,I generally fall asleep within minutes of sitting down within earshot of them. just like an old geezer.
This one is new and is made of resin, I got it when a big high end dept store folded up in June, it has white led lights in the top where the water bubbles up, looks cool at night.



This one is concrete and is about 15yrs old, it layed next to the garage here since we moved in, it used to be white and gray but the paint was mostly all worn off. I painted it gloss hunter green and boy it really looked like ass.
I had a can of flat camo brown so with nothing to lose I toned the green way down.
It actually looks pretty decent now and this one has a great sound to it, a heavy thing to hump around though.





Paul