Construction, not woodworking....

Re: Construction, and Woodworking....

Bruce McCrory

This deck was replaced twice. I had twenty-five years to design the latest action:

There would be no butt joints. Planking is 45-degrees to joists. It's cedar and joist spacing had to be reduced from 16" (more), even with going to 5/4 thickness. I hated all of the exposed nails. Attachment is by specialty toenailed screws.

I underestimated the detail of cutting and fitting each plank (~150) about 4 times before alignment of ends was good enough.

Two years later I am still debating how to finish it. Wood, not physically shielded from weathering lasts about 20 years with or, without the best preservative. A finish just makes you feel better.

Re: Construction, not woodworking....

Dave Bair

Be warned; the power trowel is a machine from hell for us amateurs.

Re: Construction, not woodworking....

John in NM

I've heard they take some practice to control

Re: Construction, not woodworking....

Wiley Horne

Those joint lines are really attractive. I started to say ‘random’ orientation—but that isn’t right; there is a logic to the arrangement, even though I can’t figure it out.

Looks great! The finish too. Thanks for sharing!

Wiley

Re: Construction, and Woodworking....

Wiley Horne

Just stunning, Bruce!

Can you say a bit more about how you screwed/nailed the boards down? Ican’t figure it out, and especially how you did it while maintaining such perfect spacing.

Wiley

Haha, the logic is just convenience...

John in NM

The layout is for ease of forming. The building is octagonal, with a central octagonal cupola supported by four posts. So the pattern is to first pour triangular slabs with the sonotube under the post at the peak of the triangle - the forms can lap past the side of the sonotube footing. Then the trapezoidal slab between the two triangles is poured, and only a small bit of formwork is needed where the short top of the trapezoid forms one side of the square under the cupola.

Of course, two of those pictures were taken when the form work became less easy - the entry to the building is on one of the triangular sections, so it had to be left for last.

When I was earlier thinking of pouring a big, single slab, putting in joint lines was going to be a bit hard - now they are almost decorative

Also, normally this slab would be sure to settle unevenly what with the way it was poured in pieces and having no pins across the joints. In this case I think I will get away with it because the ledge rock (stable yet fractured rock above true bedrock) is only 10 inches or so below the soil surface.

Re: A "Camo Marksman...

Bruce McCrory

... Pro" specialty gizmo tool that looks like a staple gun.

It is set to standard deck spacing, 3.5 -5.5", and length of screws for thickness of plank. The stubs standardize the gap at about 3/16th inch. They pinch together via the two handles and operator leans into the jig to close an over-large gap; or, jambs them into a pinched space. A ring in the screw guide-spacing stub stops the screw at the wood surface, surprisingly, without stripping much softwood. Western cedar is like tough balsa.

I'm not a fan of stuff that will fade into obscurity but with fiddling (trimming) every board into proper length with a pull saw in the next operation, this tool saved my sanity--or, minimized the insanity. You get the glossy operational picture. I had to learn some tricks but nothing a monkey couldn't do.

I did the project summer of 2019. Last fall I had my shoulder replaced. It will be my last big project.

Re: A "Camo Marksman...

Wiley Horne

Thank you, Bruce. Again, the deck looks fabulous!

For anyone else wondering how it is no screws are showing, here is a photo of the device Bruce described:

Wiley

Re: A "Camo Marksman...

Bruce McCrory

If only it had been this easy.... I should have stolen nearly the same picture from the HD site. Actually, almost did.

Just know that a lot of weight and force is required to jamb the bit into the guide and hit the trigger at the correct place. The kicker is watching/hearing the screw fall through to the ground (stones) below when alignment misses the joist.

I grump but the design is quite good, and simple. Unlike convoluted Kreg-like fiascos. It's tough, too. There has to be another several thousand feet of life in the jig.

Thanks for the kudos. I spent the entire summer in working on it. The framing and deconstruction was most of the work. The pretty parts look nicer.

Re: A "Camo Marksman...

Wiley Horne

Ha! Yeah, they always show a picture where it’s almost doing itself, it’s so easy .

The thing I liked best was, not only the ‘two-point perspective’ of the diagonal planes, but also that you didn’t miter them where they join, and create a long seam. Rather, they are lapped, which makes the join itself a point of interest.

Wiley

Re: Haha, the logic is just convenience...

Pat Evans

Your "ease of forming" and "almost decorative" lines are also exactly where they should be to accommodate concrete shrinkage. All concrete shrinks as it cures, and many people fail to take into account that a column or wall corner or any obstruction will cause a crack if it interferes with the concrete movement.

I hadn't thought of that...

John in NM

But you are quite right about it. The original plan was to pour it in one go, but I never really warmed up to that idea and never got as far as thinking where the joints should be. Never really got past the puzzle of bull floating all at once or trying to do it piecemeal - then trying to cut all the joint lines in from the doorway.