1. The zoning laws had changed.  The deck no longer met the required setback from the road for the front of the house and I wanted to get clarification on what I was allowed to do.
2. We decided that we were not going to replace the deck in kind, but rather install a covered porch along the front of the house, which will require more money.
3. Lack of time.

After last fall’s mix up when installing the footings for the solar system, I wanted to be sure that we weren’t going to run afoul of the town code enforcement officer.  I reviewed the situation and he said what we were planning was fine, reducing the encroachment into the required setback is always welcome.

removal in progress

So, last Saturday, I got busy and removed the rest of the deck.  What I found explained quite a few things.  I think it was constructed around 1980 or so.  First of all, not all the wood used on the deck was pressure treated.  Several supporting members were full of carpenter ants.  Secondly, the deck was not properly attached to the house, it was nailed to the siding.  Thirdly, no flashing was used, so the ledger board was extensively rotted.  In fact, it is so bad under the front door that the rot made its way into the rim joist.

pile of junk

I used the trusty skilsaw, sawsal and 10 pound sledge hammer to get the job done.  In the end, I had a pile of mixed wood, some treated, some rotted, some not.  I took the stuff to the town transfer station, which charges $0.05 per pound for C&D material.  It ended up costing me $64.00 to get rid of everything, which works out to 1,280 pounds.

Front deck removed

Apparently I wasn’t quite tired enough, so I also got out the chain saw and removed the two overgrown rhododendron bushes as well.  The front of the house looks a little bare right now, but I kind of like it.

Fortunately, the rotted rim joist is one small section and it doesn’t seem to affect the sill plate.  I will examine the sill more closely when we get ready to replace the rim joist.

In the coming weeks, I will get a building permit and put the front porch on before winter time.  It will be nice to have this project done.

I made a new dock for the cottage in Canada.  The old dock was built about 20 or more years ago, nobody is really sure.  It had a useful life but last winter the ice caused the dock part to become detached from the crib and fall in the water.   Since Parks Canada no longer allows crib docks in this part of the lake, I had to construct a combination pole/floating dock.

This is the old dock when it was being taken apart:

Old crib dock being disassembled

Here I am working on one of the sections of the new dock:

New dock sections

They are made from 2×10 fir with heavy duty galvanized corner brackets and gusset plates.  I used 3/8 galvanized bolts to secure everything.  The decking is 5″ by 1 1/4″ ACQ deck lumber.  Treated lumber is only allowed on parts that do not have contact with water.  I used 24 inches on center for the decking support, it seems to be very sturdy.

Assembling an eight foot dock section

There are three sections, on 16′ by 4′ section that is attached to the boat house and supported by concrete filled poles.

The next section is an 8′ by 4′ floating section, and at the end is another 4′ by 8′ section forming a T.

This will allow the dock level to change with the water level, which can vary as much as 30 inches over the course of a season.

Since the cottage is on an island, it was easier to build the dock on the main land and tow it into place with the run about:

16 foot dock section underway

Once the dock was secured to the boat house, the poles were driven into the lake bed as far as they will go.  This worked out to be about 24 inches before they struck solid rock.  Still, these are 10 foot 2 inch schedule 40 poles:

Sixteen foot dock section secured to boat house

The main section is secure, the inspector is here and approves:

Code enforcement officers are a rough bunch

T section underway in the channel:

Towing T section into place

Pumping out the poles and filling them with concrete.  This should make them more rigid and better able to resist the ice movements.  The floating sections will come out during the winter.

dewatering support poles

filling support poles with concrete to make them more rigid

Construction is completed, now it is time for the test:

Dock under test

Test is successful

The next item on the list was to build a shed. With the high cost of gas, food, etc, we have to look closely at the family budget to see what we can afford.  The shed may get pushed back to next year in favor of fixing the front of our house.

I started removing the old front deck, basically because the thing was about to fall off of the house. The builders used improper hardware for pressure treated lumber and all of the nails are rusting through. The whole thing will likely collapse under one more heavy snow fall, which we seem to receive quite often around here. Rather than have the “Front door to nowhere” look, I want to replace the deck with a covered porch that runs along the front half of the house. Of course, this is a much bigger project than I initially thought.

I did a couple of really quick drawings using google sketchup.  I will have to go back and fix them up for the building permit, basically my idea is something like this:

The porch would be 8-10 feet wide, running about 24 feet along the front of the house.  There would be one step on the end.  The roof would hip into the house roof about 1/2 way between the edge and the peak.  I will have to measure, but I believe that span would be about 14-16 feet long.  I believe the porch roof will require 2 x 10 or even 2 x 12 lumber.  The porch and roof would be supported by 6×6 posts on 12 inch footing to a depth of 48 inches.

I believe this would greatly improve the front of our house and once this is done, we can get the siding done and all of that will much improve the curb appeal if we decide to sell.  This would be the view if one were walking up the path from the drive way, just about to step onto the porch.  Of course, I will put shutters on the windows, and perhaps some hanging plants, a bench or some Adirondack Chairs, etc.

The other project for this summer is going to be a photovoltiac system.  The cost of electricity just keeps going up and up.  While the solar hot water is doing great (our electric bill for May/June is 50% of last year’s bill) I would like to reduce that even further.

The shed will have to wait until next year.

1. I am trying to save as much lumber for re-use as possible.  There is one 2×8 that cracked in half around a large knot.  The rest of it seems to be pretty sound and can be re-used for the decking material on the new porch.  This means removing each piece, removing all the nails, then stacking it neatly next to the side of the house, out of sight.
2. I have been distracted by many other things, such as winter cleanup, the grass growing, the garden rototilling, planting new grass before it gets too warm to name a few.
3. I have also been very busy at work and at the side job

Regardless of all that, I hope to have the entire deck removed in the next couple of weeks.  Here is an updated picture:

And, just in case you are not enjoying all this good weather we are having around here… Last year at this time it looked like this:

Personally, I rather like the 75-80’s vs 6 inches of snow…

Then the factor struck… Known as the “F” factor, this is loosely defined as the things you are unaware of before you start a project, but become painfully aware of soon there after. The F factor in this case, the deck is literally falling apart. It seems whoever build the deck did not use fasteners rated for treated lumber. All of the 16d nails are rusting in the middle where the two wood members meet.

This became apparent in two ways. Once I removed the railing, I noticed a distinct bow in the middle of the deck on one side. Then I noticed the header had become detached from the house on the other side (It is not bolted to the rim joist, something I had intended to fix). Then I began taking up some of the decking lumber and noticed that the nails where breaking off instead of coming out of the wood. This explains some of the “popping” noises we hear when the weather gets really cold.

Conclusion, the entire deck needs to be removed before it falls down.  Using fasteners rated for pressure treated lumber is an important detail, and should not be ignored.

The good news; the lumber from the deck is actually in pretty good shape. I think if I can clean out the nails and such, I can reuse most of it to build a new front porch. Instead of a huge square deck, my wife and I decided that a long covered porch along the front of the house, at least down to the front door would be nicer and more inviting.

I will also have to talk to the building department about this. There are two issues, the original the deck itself may not have been built under the auspices of the local building department, and the entire house does not meet the current zoning regulation’s set back requirement from the street. The old deck protruded out into this set back like a sore thumb.  If anything, building a new porch will reduce the encroachment on the street by 8 to 10 feet, which should make the building department happy, or happier anyway. If not, then I will simply “repair” the current deck as is.

I will work on a drawing after I talk with the building department.