Restoration and Extension of My 31 Year Old Deck

[Frank Pellow]

Today, I started and finished a job that I had not been looking forward to doing; that is to dig holes for then install the five posts to support the extension. The reason that I dreaded the job is that, when digging the holes for the original deck, I hit lots of crap such as bricks and cement that the builders of our house had dumped outside the foundation. Today I was lucky –all I hit was one rock big rock that meant I had to relocate one hole.

Deck building 25 -Digging a post hole -1 -small.JPG Deck building 26 -Digging a post hole -2 -small.JPG

Thirteen (30 kilo) bags of concrete mix later we have 5 posts ready to spport beams for the extension:

Deck building 27 -Taken from the east -deck repaired and posts poured -small.JPG

Here is a close-up view of the deck I took this evening:

Deck building 29 -Closer look at refinished part of deck with one coat of stain -small.JPG

All the boards have now been sanded and repaired. The brighter boards in the foreground have just been stained. The boards really soak up the stain and that is why most of the boards in the background look faded. If the dry weather holds tomorrow, I will apply a second coat of stain to the whole deck. This will make it look a lot better.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I am very intrigued when you say you filled the holes in the decking. Aside from Bondo, I've never seen any filler stand up to the elements...what are you using and have you seen it work before? Does it take stain well?

[Frank Pellow]

I am very intrigued when you say you filled the holes in the decking. Aside from Bondo, I've never seen any filler stand up to the elements...what are you using and have you seen it work before? Does it take stain well?

Kelly, I used wood in some places and Bondo in others. Earlier in this thread, I show how I am applying the Bondo. It does stain well but does not exacly match the old cedar. With the stain applied, it is fair close to the new cedar colour. I dedcided early on in this project that it wold be impossible to match all my my patches to the old wood, so I decided to "feature" them.

[Frank Pellow]

As promised in last nights post, I put a second coat of stain on the deck today. Here is a photo taken after the stain had dried.

Deck building 30 -Refinished part of deck with two coats of stain -small.JPG

I like the look of different colours and I even kind of like the fact that you can see the repairs. Our deck reminds of the interior our cedar and canvas canoe which is about 80 years old and which was repaired about 20 years ago.

As well as staining I took up the turf in the area of the deck extension:

Deck building 31 -Turf removed under extension area -From north-east -small.JPG

If the rain holds off tomorrow, I will put down thick plastic then cover it with crushed stone.

I saved the pile of turfs to use as topsoil in an expensive yard and gardens re-org that is planned for next spring.

Deck building 32 -Pile of turfs -reminds me of L'Anse-aux-Meadows -small.JPG

This reminds me of the turf buildings that we saw at the Viking re-creation habitat at L'Anse-aux Meadows in Newfoundland that Margaret and I visited last June:

Deck building 33 -Turf (peat) walls at L'Anse-aux Meadows -small.JPG

[Frank Pellow]

Sorry, but I am bumping this thread in order to test the problem that I reported in thread: http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=44074

[Frank Pellow]

I only got in about 6 hours work on the deck today, but I accomplished a lot. First, the plastic is now spread and covered with about 10 centimetres (4 inches) of crushed stone. I then installed some to the beams and one of the joists. Leveling the posts to the existing deck is best done with a good old fashioned and inexpensive line level:

Deck building 34 -Line level -small.JPG

For me, it works much better than a modern laser level.
Sticking to the low tech theme, the posts were cut to the correct height with a non-power crosscut saw:

Deck building 35 -Low tech saw -small.JPG

Here is the site as I left it this afternoon:

Deck building 37 -Stone, some beams, and 1 joist installed -From east -small.JPG

Things are going very well but I am sorry to say that I have to break off work on this project now and will not get back to it until a week from today at the earliest.

[Frank Pellow]

Today, an appointment was cancelled so I had an unexpected 5 hours to work on the deck. As a result, all the beams have been installed, and most of the joists have been installed.

There were a lot of irregular angles to content with but I found that by clamping the 2x6 and 2x8 timbers to the miter gauge I could easily cut most of them.

Deck building 38 -Most of the angles I was able to cut on table saw -small.JPG

I used long spikes on some of the joints:

Deck building 39 -Some joints recieved large nails -small.JPG

Here is the end result after today’s labour:

Deck building 40 -Beams all in and joists mostly in -small.JPG

[Art Mulder]

Looks really solid, Frank. Goin for another 30 years on this one?

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I like the way you think Frank...you build them to last like I do!!

[Greg Sznajdruk]

Gee Frank, I'm totally exhausted just reading your post, never mind doing the work.

Greg