Post by fauxmaha on Oct 11, 2019 15:05:56 GMT -5
I've hinted at this here and there, but here's the full rundown on this summer's project.
This all started with the desire to pull the old deck boards off and replace them with some nifty new stuff.
Then it got out of hand.
Here's more or less what things looked like when it started:
First step was to knock down the old stairs that we never used anyway:
That got to the first bit of real out-of-handness. The old deck structure wasn't in that great of shape, and it would have been dumb to put a bunch of time and money and labor into putting fancy new decking on top of it. So the whole thing had to come down.
Problem is, the old deck is also supporting the roof (remember that project from years ago?), meaning I had to suss out a way of keeping the roof supported while we replaced the deck under it.
Decided the way to do that was to cut through the existing decking so I could install these temporary supports, putting the load from the roof directly down on to the old beam.
Cranked those up over a few day's time to get all the load off of the old roof posts.
While that was settling in, I started tackling the next part of the project. I wanted to replace the old deck's post and beam system with a new one, for a number of reasons. First, I never liked the way the posts from the roof didn't run all the way to the ground. That was something of a hack, and I wanted to take the opportunity to correct it. Second, part of the overall plan was to pour a big patio under the deck, and I wanted to go from five posts to four in order to have one fewer obstructions on the patio. Third, the deck was obviously heaving, which made me think the old piers were not deep enough.
So time to dig some new piers. In the spirit of "anything worth doing is worth over-doing", I dug four holes, each sized to accept a 14" dia tube, going down 50". My grandson thought they were pretty fun.
Here's a shot where you can see the new piers after they were poured. Ended up using just over a yard of concrete on those things. You can also see the string lines we used to align the piers with the outside edge of the deck, which was part of the process involved in getting the posts for the roof aligned with the new beam/post/piers. I picked up a very nifty self-leveling laser beam thingy that made it easy to get the piers perfectly aligned with the corners of the roof. You'll also see that at that point, I had a pretty good start tearing out the old deck, but the old posts supporting the roof were still in place.
Things started getting real when the first batch of lumber arrived. The new beam, which came in three sections, is sitting on top.
Next step was to get the new posts in place. I got some fancy mounting brackets for the bottom of the posts, which was nice since they pretty much stood up on their own.
I initially stood them up at their original length, then used the same laser beam thing to precision mark for the notches needed to accept the new beam.
My soon-to-be-son-in-law came over with his Bobcat and lifted them into place. I was too busy standing on a ladder guiding the beams into position to take pictures, but it was a fairly terrifying process. Eventually, the new beam was bolted to the new posts, but the real exhilaration came from the necessity of removing the original roof posts in order to gain clearance for the new beam. Turns out the temporary posts held.
Not wanting to rely on those temporary posts any longer than I had to, I quickly got the new roof posts notched and installed. And with that, the new post and beam system was in place, even though most of the old deck (and all of the old deck post and beam system) was still in place.
From there, we pulled down the old deck, which was mostly tedious, but became very exciting at the end:
So just that easy, the old deck was gone. That's my good friend Joe in the background. He's been helping this whole way, and says I'm going to have to pay him back this winter when he re-does his basement.
To be continued....
This all started with the desire to pull the old deck boards off and replace them with some nifty new stuff.
Then it got out of hand.
Here's more or less what things looked like when it started:
First step was to knock down the old stairs that we never used anyway:
That got to the first bit of real out-of-handness. The old deck structure wasn't in that great of shape, and it would have been dumb to put a bunch of time and money and labor into putting fancy new decking on top of it. So the whole thing had to come down.
Problem is, the old deck is also supporting the roof (remember that project from years ago?), meaning I had to suss out a way of keeping the roof supported while we replaced the deck under it.
Decided the way to do that was to cut through the existing decking so I could install these temporary supports, putting the load from the roof directly down on to the old beam.
Cranked those up over a few day's time to get all the load off of the old roof posts.
While that was settling in, I started tackling the next part of the project. I wanted to replace the old deck's post and beam system with a new one, for a number of reasons. First, I never liked the way the posts from the roof didn't run all the way to the ground. That was something of a hack, and I wanted to take the opportunity to correct it. Second, part of the overall plan was to pour a big patio under the deck, and I wanted to go from five posts to four in order to have one fewer obstructions on the patio. Third, the deck was obviously heaving, which made me think the old piers were not deep enough.
So time to dig some new piers. In the spirit of "anything worth doing is worth over-doing", I dug four holes, each sized to accept a 14" dia tube, going down 50". My grandson thought they were pretty fun.
Here's a shot where you can see the new piers after they were poured. Ended up using just over a yard of concrete on those things. You can also see the string lines we used to align the piers with the outside edge of the deck, which was part of the process involved in getting the posts for the roof aligned with the new beam/post/piers. I picked up a very nifty self-leveling laser beam thingy that made it easy to get the piers perfectly aligned with the corners of the roof. You'll also see that at that point, I had a pretty good start tearing out the old deck, but the old posts supporting the roof were still in place.
Things started getting real when the first batch of lumber arrived. The new beam, which came in three sections, is sitting on top.
Next step was to get the new posts in place. I got some fancy mounting brackets for the bottom of the posts, which was nice since they pretty much stood up on their own.
I initially stood them up at their original length, then used the same laser beam thing to precision mark for the notches needed to accept the new beam.
My soon-to-be-son-in-law came over with his Bobcat and lifted them into place. I was too busy standing on a ladder guiding the beams into position to take pictures, but it was a fairly terrifying process. Eventually, the new beam was bolted to the new posts, but the real exhilaration came from the necessity of removing the original roof posts in order to gain clearance for the new beam. Turns out the temporary posts held.
Not wanting to rely on those temporary posts any longer than I had to, I quickly got the new roof posts notched and installed. And with that, the new post and beam system was in place, even though most of the old deck (and all of the old deck post and beam system) was still in place.
From there, we pulled down the old deck, which was mostly tedious, but became very exciting at the end:
So just that easy, the old deck was gone. That's my good friend Joe in the background. He's been helping this whole way, and says I'm going to have to pay him back this winter when he re-does his basement.
To be continued....
