03-14-10. Another day of working on the deck in the cold drizzle. I'll admit that I had a hard time getting motivated with the crappy weather today. I didn't start working until noon, and I worked until 5:00. I finished up a little framing and bracing, and I laid half of the decking on the upper deck. I'm working a little slower on the second level. I'm not as sure footed as I once was. I remember walking across the open joists on the second level of Dad & Karen's house like it was nothing. Now, I'll barely attempt to crawl across the open joists. Anyway, I didn't feel like putting too much effort into the photo of the day, so I just took a picture of my tools. You might notice the wet sawdust covering everything. A mess I'll clean up on another day.
03-13-10. Hopefully you can spot the difference between the 2 pictures. It was a cold, wet, windy, nasty day today, but that didn't stop me from getting more work done on the deck. I started the day by attaching the ledger board to the side of the house. This involved removing the siding, installing flashing, and bolting it to the house. The old ledger board didn't have any flashing around it, and it caused a leak anytime we had a driving rain from the west. The new installation with proper flashing better not leak. Next- lift 4 2x12x16 beams above my head and attach to the posts with 1/2 inch carriage bolts. This is where clamps, and extra braces come in handy when working by yourself. After attaching the joist hangers to the ledger, I was ready to start setting the joists in place. This involved a lot of trips up and down the ladder. I also had to spend a little extra time framing around the bay window. I'll need to add blocking between the joists, and then I'll be ready to lay down the decking. Hopefully the weather will be a little better from here on out.
03-12-10. You'll see what these are for in a few weeks.
