Keith Tanner said:
I've been working on a deck solo for the past four weeks or so. Gotta work during the day. It's almost done. I also went for diagonal decking as a last minute change and I'm really happy I did.
This one looks great.
thanks. I'm telecommuting right now, but the nature of my job makes it difficult to do more than about 10% of my work from home......and I can do that in the evenings while sitting on the couch, so trying to take advantage of being stuck here for 2 weeks (I'm back "on" in another week as we are alternating 2-weeks in the office with 50% staff or less).
We are starting an exterior renovation on our place and the last phase will be replacing the current deck. It's about the same height you have there. If the budget allows ill probably go concrete patio, but I may end up wood decking if I need to keep cost down. Also, I have no local friends...
So please explain the template you used for the joist hangers!
They're off the shelf for about a buck each at your local big box hardware store.
Keith Tanner said:
They're off the shelf for about a buck each at your local big box hardware store.
They sell the templates? I didn't know that.
Wish I'd known...
My bad, I'd missed the comment about the templates for mounting the hangers before the joists. I thought you wanted to make your own hangers, yikes.
On mine, I pre-installed the hangers using a chunk of 2x6. My lumber was consistent enough to make this work, and I found it a lot easier to hold in place than dealing with one end of a 9' board. Turns out the hangers also have little teeth built into them so you can hold it with one hand and "staple" the hanger to the beam quickly with a hammer.
I see no reason to not install the hangers first. I've been doing it for years!
I would have doubled the joist they are nailed to to make a better girder, but you specifically asked us not to critique, so... 
Looks good!
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
I see no reason to not install the hangers first. I've been doing it for years!
I would have doubled the joist they are nailed to to make a better girder, but you specifically asked us not to critique, so...
Looks good!
Lol, I thought I said you ARE welcome to critique (though at this point any critique won't really make any difference anyway lol) . I did consider doubling them, but with only a 5-ft span between each of the posts to which they are through bolted, I don't think there will be significant deflection, especially since this deck will not be used all that often and won't have much weight on it. I will fully admit that the choices made on this deck were on the low side of "things I can get away with because it's only a foot off the ground" lol
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
No nothing fancy just a couple pieces of wood screwed together. This did require using one hand to hold the hanger to the template thing while drilling in with the other. The correct way to do it would have been to put two bottom feet on as well.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Yes, you said we could critique, but since it's done I saw no point.
5' span? That sliding door looks like a 5' door, which would make the span more like 8'.
You're right, it will probably work well enough, and the risk is minimized by the height. But I've seen 2x8s warp much more than I would be happy with completely by themselves with NO load on the at all. Each of those is carrying the floor joists, so there is a load (even if it's small).
I guess I would have added the 2nd lamination simply because the effort involved in repairing the floor would be too great if there was any warpage or bounce.
For any others curious, I would have added the 2nd lamination to the girders, been careful about using screws to hang the joist hangers (most are not structurally rated), and I would have added a 2nd bolt to each connection to the posts.
Not because I'm nit picking your work. But because those efforts are so minuscule when building, and so difficult to fix later.
Like I said, it looks good.
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Yes, you said we could critique, but since it's done I saw no point.
5' span? That sliding door looks like a 5' door, which would make the span more like 8'.
You're right, it will probably work well enough, and the risk is minimized by the height. But I've seen 2x8s warp much more than I would be happy with completely by themselves with NO load on the at all. Each of those is carrying the floor joists, so there is a load (even if it's small).
I guess I would have added the 2nd lamination simply because the effort involved in repairing the floor would be too great if there was any warpage or bounce.
For any others curious, I would have added the 2nd lamination to the girders, been careful about using screws to hang the joist hangers (most are not structurally rated), and I would have added a 2nd bolt to each connection to the posts.
Not because I'm nit picking your work. But because those efforts are so minuscule when building, and so difficult to fix later.
Like I said, it looks good.
So nails instead of screws on the joist hangers? Nails or screws to double.the 2x8s?
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Yes, you said we could critique, but since it's done I saw no point.
5' span? That sliding door looks like a 5' door, which would make the span more like 8'.
You're right, it will probably work well enough, and the risk is minimized by the height. But I've seen 2x8s warp much more than I would be happy with completely by themselves with NO load on the at all. Each of those is carrying the floor joists, so there is a load (even if it's small).
I guess I would have added the 2nd lamination simply because the effort involved in repairing the floor would be too great if there was any warpage or bounce.
For any others curious, I would have added the 2nd lamination to the girders, been careful about using screws to hang the joist hangers (most are not structurally rated), and I would have added a 2nd bolt to each connection to the posts.
Not because I'm nit picking your work. But because those efforts are so minuscule when building, and so difficult to fix later.
Like I said, it looks good.
Yeah it's 8 feet. Idk why I even said 5. Being stuck at home is melting my brain. If anything, all the decking is put down with screws, so If someday I have to pull then up to reinforce things for some reason, not the end of the world .
Fwiw the screws used on the hangers are 1.5" structural-rated. Well, 95% of them.....I ran out near the end and had to do the last one with 2" deck screws.
I suspect that we will hardly ever use this thing for any kind of social activity, mostly just my wife sitting on it when the kids are out in the yard playing. we already have the two big dicks [edit: decks] above that we hardly use lol. I will freely admit that I built this primarily just to eliminate having to walk out into mud every time we go out the basement door, and for cosmetic reasons lol
I am secretly hoping my kids will store their bikes on it or something and get them out of my garage
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:
we already have the two big dicks above that we hardly use lol.
I'm not sure to be sad about this or not...
CJ (It's Just a Flesh Wound) said:
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:
we already have the two big dicks above that we hardly use lol.
I'm not sure to be sad about this or not...
I mean, I was just talking in an Australian accent...duh
ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Yes, you said we could critique, but since it's done I saw no point.
5' span? That sliding door looks like a 5' door, which would make the span more like 8'.
You're right, it will probably work well enough, and the risk is minimized by the height. But I've seen 2x8s warp much more than I would be happy with completely by themselves with NO load on the at all. Each of those is carrying the floor joists, so there is a load (even if it's small).
I guess I would have added the 2nd lamination simply because the effort involved in repairing the floor would be too great if there was any warpage or bounce.
For any others curious, I would have added the 2nd lamination to the girders, been careful about using screws to hang the joist hangers (most are not structurally rated), and I would have added a 2nd bolt to each connection to the posts.
Not because I'm nit picking your work. But because those efforts are so minuscule when building, and so difficult to fix later.
Like I said, it looks good.
So nails instead of screws on the joist hangers? Nails or screws to double.the 2x8s?
Nails on the joist hangers. Joist hanger nails are special nails- they are 10d shank diameter, but only 1 1/2" long. They are sold in the same end cap where the joist hangers are sold.
Doubling the 2x8's... either one. I like screws. They hold the 2 members tighter to each other. Technically, these screws are not in shear. The joist hanger ones are. They need to be exterior rated screws for PT.
Oh... No... Since you went there......
This pandemic makes us more productive, you did a job well-done with this DIY project.
