Brmorgan
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Been on holidays this week, so I've been putting the extra time to good use. The old deck on the back of my house had a bunch of rotten top boards, so I ripped it off two or three years ago. I've had the boards for the deck top for almost two years now. They're 2X6X104-5/8" Douglas Fir studs that I got from the mill I work at. However since I was a graderman at the time I pulled all #1 or better for myself. We only sell stud so no matter how good the board is that's all it's worth there, so I made off with about 3/4 of a sling of #1 boards for the employee price of stud.
I picked up the Alaskan mill and saws last year, along with the quad. I was going try to do it last fall but ended up trimming three fingers back on the jointer in September so I was out of commission the rest of the year. I did manage to cut a few pines up for my aunt 6 weeks later though! Anywho I finally got started cutting most of the beams about 2 weeks ago. I back up to public land, and there's a group of at least a dozen dead firs between 18-30" dia. less than a thousand feet off the back of my property. My neighbor wanted to share it for firewood, but I made a deal with him - I get first dibs on the bottom 50 feet or so to make lumber, and he can follow me around and clean up the tops if he wants, but I'll be taking some to burn too.
There's the supplies and all the toys. It's a 20X16 foot deck. I just cut the 4X10X20' beam across the front today, along with the 4" cant on the pine round and the 3" one next to it on the ground. All visible pieces came from the bottom 50 feet of two trees. I can still get a 10-foot 8-inch cant from one and at least 25 feet of the same from the second.
That's two 3X6X10' beams bolted to the house. One 3X8X16' beam has already been used to square and level the outside corner of the deck. 7 others are stacked in front. Quite a mess.
Turns out I needed one more 3X8 beam than I had cut, so that will come out of the 3" slab lying on the ground. The slab up on the pine block is 4" and I can get almost 14" width out of it. Poker straight too. I got the 4X4 on top of it from the waste piece off the 4X10 face beam cut. I can still get two 2X4s from what's left.
This pic looks screwy because of the wide-angle lens, but I guarantee it's square and level! I managed to get all the 3X8s cut to length, jointed, and placed today. Except the one I didn't think I needed. It'll be a fast cut tomorrow though. I cut out a lap joint on the house end of each one so that they sit on top of the beam, along with the beam hanger brackets on both ends. I'll take a closer pic tomorrow.
Well, after 3 days it's starting to look like a deck! There will also be a walkway along the side of the house where it leaves the photo on the right. I have a sliding doorway in my bedroom at the far corner on that wall, and right now it leads into about 5 feet of oblivion! This walkway will be just above the dryer vent above the shovel handle. There will be stairs down at the corner there. As for steps off the deck, I was thinking of a big corner set that goes off both sides, either round or square. But I was also thinking that with my supply of D Fir, I can get lots enough wood to build a totally surrounding staircase. But it might be a bit too high for that to look good. I guess I can start with the corner and expand if I want to. I will also be building a garden toolshed addition and firewood storage between the end of the deck and the window at the left edge. Oh, and I do have a beautiful fir window door to replace that ratty old one with. But I might put in a double sliding or french set instead as that's the kitchen and dining area thru that door.
I really like how it's turning out. The only other deck I've ever built was a 6X6 entry deck at the other door, so I'm pretty much winging it on this one with a bit of help from my old man as he has time. I have a bunch more posts to install and a lot of work to put the top down, so I'll take more pics over the next few days as it progresses. I'm going to skim all the top boards in the planer, and then put a 1/2" roundover on the edges with the router, so that's gonna take some hard work and time. But there's something so satisfying seeing something constructive take place that I've built literally entirely with my bare hands. Not to mention at a fraction of the cost. I've gone through less than one 5-gallon ($35) can for the saws, and maybe a half tank in the quad, so maybe $50 total at the most. I haven't checked what 9 3X8 beams 16" long are worth, not to mention a 20" 4X10, but I can imagine a few hundred.
I picked up the Alaskan mill and saws last year, along with the quad. I was going try to do it last fall but ended up trimming three fingers back on the jointer in September so I was out of commission the rest of the year. I did manage to cut a few pines up for my aunt 6 weeks later though! Anywho I finally got started cutting most of the beams about 2 weeks ago. I back up to public land, and there's a group of at least a dozen dead firs between 18-30" dia. less than a thousand feet off the back of my property. My neighbor wanted to share it for firewood, but I made a deal with him - I get first dibs on the bottom 50 feet or so to make lumber, and he can follow me around and clean up the tops if he wants, but I'll be taking some to burn too.
There's the supplies and all the toys. It's a 20X16 foot deck. I just cut the 4X10X20' beam across the front today, along with the 4" cant on the pine round and the 3" one next to it on the ground. All visible pieces came from the bottom 50 feet of two trees. I can still get a 10-foot 8-inch cant from one and at least 25 feet of the same from the second.
That's two 3X6X10' beams bolted to the house. One 3X8X16' beam has already been used to square and level the outside corner of the deck. 7 others are stacked in front. Quite a mess.
Turns out I needed one more 3X8 beam than I had cut, so that will come out of the 3" slab lying on the ground. The slab up on the pine block is 4" and I can get almost 14" width out of it. Poker straight too. I got the 4X4 on top of it from the waste piece off the 4X10 face beam cut. I can still get two 2X4s from what's left.
This pic looks screwy because of the wide-angle lens, but I guarantee it's square and level! I managed to get all the 3X8s cut to length, jointed, and placed today. Except the one I didn't think I needed. It'll be a fast cut tomorrow though. I cut out a lap joint on the house end of each one so that they sit on top of the beam, along with the beam hanger brackets on both ends. I'll take a closer pic tomorrow.
Well, after 3 days it's starting to look like a deck! There will also be a walkway along the side of the house where it leaves the photo on the right. I have a sliding doorway in my bedroom at the far corner on that wall, and right now it leads into about 5 feet of oblivion! This walkway will be just above the dryer vent above the shovel handle. There will be stairs down at the corner there. As for steps off the deck, I was thinking of a big corner set that goes off both sides, either round or square. But I was also thinking that with my supply of D Fir, I can get lots enough wood to build a totally surrounding staircase. But it might be a bit too high for that to look good. I guess I can start with the corner and expand if I want to. I will also be building a garden toolshed addition and firewood storage between the end of the deck and the window at the left edge. Oh, and I do have a beautiful fir window door to replace that ratty old one with. But I might put in a double sliding or french set instead as that's the kitchen and dining area thru that door.
I really like how it's turning out. The only other deck I've ever built was a 6X6 entry deck at the other door, so I'm pretty much winging it on this one with a bit of help from my old man as he has time. I have a bunch more posts to install and a lot of work to put the top down, so I'll take more pics over the next few days as it progresses. I'm going to skim all the top boards in the planer, and then put a 1/2" roundover on the edges with the router, so that's gonna take some hard work and time. But there's something so satisfying seeing something constructive take place that I've built literally entirely with my bare hands. Not to mention at a fraction of the cost. I've gone through less than one 5-gallon ($35) can for the saws, and maybe a half tank in the quad, so maybe $50 total at the most. I haven't checked what 9 3X8 beams 16" long are worth, not to mention a 20" 4X10, but I can imagine a few hundred.
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