Building The Deck

Building The Deck

The Imagination…

The Reality…

Deck Design
I modelled the deck in Solidworks and created a drawing for my permit application.

The Size

The deck is 25ft wide X 12 ft deep X 10ft high. The pergola on the left side is about 12ft X 10ft. The stairs come down halfway to a small platform where it takes a 45 deg turn to the final landing.

Material Choice

The material was a toss-up between maintenance free or cedar. I ended up with cedar and I’m really happy that I chose cedar. Fresh cut cedar smells and looks great.

Pressure treated was used to frame the entire deck and the stair stringers. Black aluminum balusters was used for the railings to give it a modern feel.

The final stairs had post caps that matches the post caps in the house.

The Pergola

The pergola was an addition that I insisted on having. It is entirely done for looks. It makes the deck stand out from the neighbor’s deck.

The Stairs

The stairs were one of the hardest part of the project. It took a lot of aligning, adjusting, cutting, measuring, notching, and everything in between to get it to come out right.

It’s worth mentioning because I chose one of the hardest ways to put stairs in – at an angle. This meant that I needed to build a small platform, measure it, calculate the angles, level it, deck it to get it just right.

PROJECT COMMENTS

The material cost is currently 1.5 times more than what I have anticipated. Time to find ways to cut cost down.

Start of project

Staked the first post hole

all post holes staked

It rained badly on Friday night so the ground was very wet and hard to walk in the morning.
The post holes dug
Looking into one of the holes with a 12″ form in place

Some holes are a little deeper than others but I’ll have to let it go. The post holes are partially backfilled to keep the posts stable. I’ll have to finish that up tomorrow… I’m so tired.

Post hole with filled concrete

Signs of relief – filled post holes

So, Home Depot estimated that it would take 7 60lbs bags to fill a 12″ diameter hole that is 48″ deep. I did the math and it was about 32 80lbs bags that I’ll need. (Funny how they sell 80lbs bags but they show you what you need based on 60lbs bags). I decided to get a few extras and I got 35. 35 is what it took to fill 6 holes. Can’t beat perfection.

(1) Pads on footings

(2) 3/4 way into the framing

(3) Post on pads

(4) Front view of the partial structure

(5) Another view of the partial structure

Deck Framing Completed

Joists Hung

Started Decking

Decking to the end

Decking towards the stairs section

Header board

Finished up the skirtboard and decked to the edge of the deck! Yay!
I spent the day cutting stair stringers. Realized that I hung the brackets for the stairs too high! Urgh!

Started removing the brackets, slowly and painfully.

Got all 4 stringers hung and levelled. Yay! I also got the flashing for the pergola installed.

Stairs to First Landing

First set of stairs decked

Started the ground work for the first stairs landing.

Pergola – done. Finished the stairs’ first landing area.

Pergola Rafters and Runners

Decking Completed

Railing Posts

First set of Railing

Ran into a slight problem with the final stairs’ landing. I did not account for the fact that I need to be on the ground with less than 8″ of rise when I cut the stair stringers. Options…

Final stair stringers

The stairs & the first landing

The last stair step

More posts for railings

Options are always a good thing. 1. I could recut the stair stringers (least preferred). 2. I could pour a patio but it requires a 3ft landing space. 3. I could build another step out of what I currently have.

I went ahead with option 3. Build the additional step and started decking the stairs. It looks good and feels stable.

Bought another set of skirtboards, decking boards and 4X4 post. Finished framing and decking the final stairs. I also finished decking the 1st platform landing. Lots and lots of 45 deg cuts. It’s pretty impressive. Cut and installed the skirtboard for the stairs. It’s taking great shape…

Notched some posts for the railings. Installed the posts for the stairs railings. Cut the railing 2X4s for the stairs. It definitely took a lot of patience when it comes time to install the balusters. Gotta try a different method as I got 3 more to do!

Installed the final set of stair railings. It took a lot of cuts, recuts and fitting to get the stair railings in place. The final result is amazing! Installed 90% of the railings today.

Installed the last set of railings – the angled sections. It took a lot of custom fitting to get it all to line up right. I also fitted the last skirtboard tonight. Started on the handrail and ran into problems trying to figure out how to make the angled cuts to make it continuous.

Decked the stairs and the first set of stair railings

View of stairs from top

View of stairs from the bottom

One of the post caps, Handrail

The stairs from a different angle

Took the day off. Had a doctor’s appt mid morning and wanted to finish up the deck and had it inspected. Started the day by fixing that one post. Figured out the angled cut for the continous handrail. Installed the finishing pieces to the railing – putting a piece of decking board along the top of the posts to make it pretty.

Different angles of the finished deck

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-- Krisztian (from Hungary) VA