Houselopnik phase 3

"Zaphod's Heart of Gold" (anavriniv)
06/08/2020 at 08:26 • Filed to: Houselopnik

Last Tuesday was the scheduled framing inspection for the new deck.. For some reason I was asked to be there for this one, presumably because it is more involved than the footing inspection which is just a bunch of holes in the ground. I was not worried about the framing as I did everything to code but I worked from home in the morning anyway to make sure I was there. I asked for an early morning inspection, which is the most granular timing I could request, and was all set up at 7:30 hoping I was the first stop.

At 11:00 (super early, I know) the inspector shows up, informs me she will be around back, I watch her take a few glances at some things, then leave about 10 minutes later telling me everything looked good. Government agencies catch a lot of shit for being inefficient. Sometimes the people have a point.

I would loved to have just gotten down to business right then and there but instead I packed up and went to work.

That night I started on some more things. My plan for the step (there is only one) was to build 4 separate boxes that would drop onto concrete pavers set on level ground. My parents had a bunch of 12" x 12" pavers from years ago that were just sitting so I grabbed, like, 40 of them a few weeks back. I had to dig out at the corner of the deck to a certain depth, set the corner paver, level it and verify the height. THIS TOOK FOREVER. Luckily, the other 20+ I ended up needing also took forever! 2 nights of digging, measuring, packing, shifting and shuffling, finally got them set.

2 of the stair boxes are shown there, I made those up before starting the digging. Oh, they’re heavy, and those 2 are the lighter half.

Thursday I took the time to notch the pergola posts. Cutting 24"+ with a sawzall is tedious work, also feels kinda dangerous on top of a ladder. Especially when it’s on a couple boards that are just....there. Oh, and I had to do it 8 times. FUN. I cranked through 3 or 4 batteries and got the saw so hot I could barely hold it but damn it if that thing didn’t just keep on going. 4 of the 2x8s were mitered, positioned, drilled, and bolted, and 2 of the 2x12s. I wanted to finish the boxing but at 10:00 that night I figured my neighbors were tired of hearing my impact running. I need a bigger impact to finish running the bolts in but I’m super impressed with how much power my little 1/4" gun has

I took Friday night off of working after not feeling so well (re: drunk) and got crackin’ over the weekend. Saturday morning I built the remaining stair boxes and used ledger bolts to attach them to the deck frame. My inlaws came in for the day on their way to the beach and my FIL was a massive help in getting things put in. He has 30+ years of experience working at a lumber company and has built pretty much everything.

I decided early on to do a picture frame deck. The appearance is fantastic but getting the border right and all the lengths perfect is a chore. I did the outer edges (all the ones not along the house), screwed them down, and started laying decking.

Saturday night I got all the way to the center girder then ran in screws. In laying down the decking we secured the ends of each board and took any bow out of the board and secured there, but left most of the screws out to save time. Going back and doing them later SUCKS but it is a pretty quick job all told

Sunday morning it was me and the wife doing the rest. Finishing the picture framing sucked, I should have just done it on the outside and left the inner straight but it’s done now.

Then did the stair treads. Then had a beer, it was a long day. The whole weekend was too hot for this.

Happy doggo

Tonight we will finish the pergola box. I should call in the final inspection but I think I’ll wait until it’s 100% complete just for posterity.

Based on my tool list you’d think Makita sponsored me. They do not, but if anyone at Makita is reading this I fully endorse every product I have bought and suggest them to anyone and I’m willing to talk about an endorsement! Here’s part of my Makita collection

Holy shit I’m sore.

DISCUSSION (12)

OPPOsaurus WRX > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 09:16

That looks really good. I took today off so I could rebuild some of my pool area fence

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 09:16

Very nice! Looks great.

vondon302 > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 09:24

Nice!

Future next gen S2000 owner > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 09:44

That looks like hard work. I’ll have a beer for you.

Tapas > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 10:08

Amazing work!

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > OPPOsaurus WRX
06/08/2020 at 10:11

I did the fence around my yard last winter except the back stretch where neighbors already had theirs. It’s a lot of work!

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > Future next gen S2000 owner
06/08/2020 at 10:13

it’s not physically easy but it makes sense to me and it has gone incredibly quickly. Usually I underestimate the time it will take to pull off a project, I overestimated this one

Verdog ~ manual Bro, Bro - HellHawk Equipped > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 10:37

Top notch work.

ClassicDatsunDebate > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 10:43

Looks fantastic! The picture framing was totally worth it.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > ClassicDatsunDebate
06/08/2020 at 10:50

If I could go back I would leave it to the outer border and not frame against the house. It looks good but took forever and I don’t like one of the gaps I ended up with. But overall the result is good, just would have saved a couple hours of frustration. Glad I went with the 2 boards to match the step though, pulls the concept together the way I wanted

ClassicDatsunDebate > Zaphod's Heart of Gold
06/08/2020 at 11:05

Yeah I bet. Practical trigonometry is not fun.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > ClassicDatsunDebate
06/08/2020 at 11:17

Right angles are easy, it’s making sure it ends up square that’s hard. Any slight variation means the corners don’t line up or one end is longer than the other.

End of the day I was only about 1/8" off on the final board that I had to cut, and I can easily put that down to variation in the board widths over different runs.

As a side note I’m mechanical engineer so simple numbers like this come very easy to me, and I’ve always had a propensity to building things