Deck Building Project Pictures (and Some Questions)

Ler0y Jenkins

I have a question:

I plan on attaching my stairs to the header joist indicated in this picture. My question is, how do I attach the header joist to the floor joists(currently, it is only temporarily attached with drywall screws)? I guess I could just nail or screw the header joist into the ends of each floor joist but I'm worried about the strength of that connection because I will be nailing/screwing into the end of 2x8. Is this typically how its done or do I need to attach it a different way? Perhaps with lag screws?

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AtlanticWBConst.

Face-nail the rim joist directly into the joists behind it. You could add some off-angle, inside corner, joists hangers, for the purpose of mechanically fastening the rim joist to those joists.

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Ler0y Jenkins

Since my last set of pictures the work has slowed. Installing the decking boards was a lot more difficult and time-consuming than I expected. It took about 15 hours total, which I had to do over the course of two weekends. In any case, here are some pictures with the decking installed. Since these pictures, I've also installed the railing posts with the vinyl covers (including the post cap and post skirt). I bought some lights that install on the posts and I'll hopefully install them this weekend. After that, I just need to install the railings and do the stairs. I'm thinking of ordering Viking Railings. Has anyone heard of this brand? Any input. Thanks.

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Ler0y Jenkins

I was lucky enough to have the last decking board fit perfectly on the last row (I wish I could say that I planned it that way). I also tried to match the boards so that each row contained a consistent style/color of boards. I think it came out pretty good. Here are some more pictures:

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Termite

The deck looks great so far. Cool looking dog too!

Ler0y Jenkins

Thanks. The deck is coming along nicely. The dog is Tamaskan, btw. That's a breed of dogs designed to look like a wolf but without the wolf content (or so they say).

Here are some more pictures. I installed the railing posts and added lights:

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Renovator,LLC

Looks good. Keep up the good work, with great pics and explanations. Although the inner beam/posts probably weren't required, given the cantilever, the deck is better off with them.

Ler0y Jenkins

Yeah, I contemplated building it with only one beam but decided to add the back beam as extra support. In the end it wasn't that much money (probably less than $200.00) or time since two of the five posts are mounted to the existing slab. Thanks for checking it out.

AtlanticWBConst.

Looks great so far.

Love the lighted rail posts!

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Knucklez

hey, nice sandles ?

but seriously, love the post. thanks for discussing your thought patterns & design solutions as i'm sure i'll run into similar issues next year with my own deck.

Knucklez

Ler0y Jenkins

I took some time off from working in the deck (summer vacation) and I had to wait for the railing to come in from Lowes. I went with a vinyl railing from Viking. In the meantime, I rented a floor sander from Lowes and began the process of finishing the deck.

I used Thompson's Water Seal but I'm not that impressed. It's only been about three months and the deck doesn't look nearly as good as it does in these pics. I was having an issue with the water not evaporating (sometimes for two or three days) so I bought a floor squeegee. That worked well for sweeping the water away but I think it swept some of the Thompson's away too. Anyway, here are some pics:

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Ler0y Jenkins

The next step was to install the railing. I ordered some 45 degree brackets from Lowes to make the angles. Originally, they gave me all top-rail brackets and no bottom-rail brackets. I returned half of the top-rail brackets and ordered bottom-rail brackets. After I checked them out, I realized that they were up/down angle brackets and not left-right angle brackets. The only left-right angle brackets they sell with that railing are the kind that mount on two sides of the post. That was going to be a problem because of the lights I had previously installed.

Luckily, I was able to order some adjustable brackets that just happened to fit the railing I was using. I forget the name of the manufacturer but they are great brackets. Made the whole project a lot easier. Here are some pictures:

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Ler0y Jenkins

Next, I had to begin the stairs. I delayed for a while because I lost my motivation once the deck became usable. Anyway, I poured a 4" thick pad to mount the stairs to. Here are some pics:

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Ler0y Jenkins

After the stair-pad cured for about two weeks, I constructed the stairs. I had a hard time planning them out. When I first laid the stingers out, I forgot that the pad is technichally the last step so my lay-out was too long. Also, I initially planned on notching out the stringers and laying the steps on top but then I realized that I would have nothing to mount to. So I decided on this set-up. It looks nice and it works. Here are some pics:

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Ler0y Jenkins

And finally, the finished product. Well, technically it's not 100% finished. I still need to run the wires (as you can see) for the lights. Also, I want to put blocking under each step to help reduce the flex. And, there's a post that is 1" too high that needs to be cut down. Other than that, it's all done. I also built a gate that came out really nice. I don't have pictures of that yet though. I'll post pics of the gate later (if I remember).

Anyway, thanks for all the help from everyone on this forum. Here's pics of the final product:

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