Monday, July 26, 2010

The deck structure is complete



I've lost track of what "Day" this is of deck building. Basically, Reid and I have spent a lot of evenings - usually just a couple hours here and there - working on this deck. But this past Friday night, Reid and I finished the deck stairs and installed the remaining trex.
We installed an electrical box under the deck and ran a 24' strand of LED rope lights along the stair risers for safety and ambient lighting. It really looks nice and feels like such an accomplishment!
Although it took us until well after dark, we celebrated the deck structure's completion with some local beer and honey sesame cupcakes from Main Street's ForkHeartKnife. There's nothing else like a celebratory beer on a hot summer night on the roofdeck. It's so quiet 4 stories up! Nothing but the moon, stars, and a beautiful skyline.


Now for the details...the hardieboard siding & trim are next!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Miscellaneous Maintenance

The deck stairs are coming along. Even though they look a little crooked, Reid assures me that it's OK. He says he's got it figured out...(He had to work on them himself this weekend since I worked nights all weekend and had to sleep all day.)









I resumed the miserable task of scraping wallpaper from the 20' tall wall in the window well. There are at least 3 layers of wallpaper, topped with peeling paint. I've found that swimming goggles get less fogged up than safety glasses when wearing the respirator, hence my sexy headgear.





Reid made his way up to the roof of the back building to clean construction debris out of the gutter. Since there is no longer a stair for this building, there is really no way to get between floors. So Reid threw a ladder up to the second floor, then hoisted himself up to the third floor through a hole in the floor and then took the attic stair up to the roof! Crazy. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw him up on the roof with a rope around his waist.

The things we do for this building.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Day 5 - trex are installed




Yesterday we were able to cut the remaining trex boards and screw them into place. We set up a tarp to act like an umbrella, keeping us from getting sunburned and alowing a nice breeze to blow under. Despite the "umbrella," we were sweaty enough that sawdust was sticking to us!





next weekend, we build the 3 stairs.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Day 4 - beer tap positioning




We need to build the stair before we can lay any more trex.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Day 3: An early start

We got up early this morning to beat the heat (and I had to be at work at 10am). We finished the deck's framing, minus a couple stabilizers between boards. (Reid can finish those today while I'm at work.) When I get off work later today, we'll finish what we can before it gets too dark. More pictures to come...



Even our neighbors 2 doors down were out working on their roof! (this is great because they needed a new roof 10 years ago)

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Day 2 of deck building

Of course, nothing ever works out exactly as planned. When we measured the position for the joist hangers, we used a scrap piece of lumber from the 16' long 2'x12'. We assumed it was exactly the same width as the 20' long 2'x12's, but turns out, they're 1/4" wider!!! So we had to shim all of the 18' spans to get them flush for the trex boards...











a minor inconvenience, really. and if this is the biggest glitch we face in this project, we're doing OK!



Halfway there!












Taking in the view from the new (half-finished) deck! We'll be working again tomorrow...



Thanks for all your help today, Alex. We couldn't have done it without an extra set of hands!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Hauling 59 boards up to the roof - click here to see the You Tube video















Hauling 59 boards up to the 4th floor was definitely the hardest part of building the roof deck. While the deck isn't finished - we might have been overly ambitious in thinking we could complete the entire project in 1 day - we got all of the pressure treated lumber and trex boards up to the 4th floor! Thanks for all your help everyone - we couldn't have done it without you!






Prep work for the deck - drawing a level line to show where to attach the structural boards.











Of course, the saw decided not to work today. Reid had cut the cord several months ago and my dad had repaired the cord. Looks like it's going to need another fix. Kristen had to hold ends of the cord together - don't try this at home!











Thanks Alex for helping bolt the deck structure into the brick wall!