Category Archives: Exterior

Oct 07 0 comments
Exterior

I water sealed the deck

And then it rained.  The weather forecast was for dry conditions until Tuesday.  I used the Advanced Thompson’s Water Seal.  According to the instructions; “Do not apply if rain is expected within 48 hours.” This has been how things have been going lately.  On the plus side, I did it yesterday afternoon when it was almost 90 degrees.  It has been very dry lately and the wood soaked it right up.  It seemed to dry very rapidly, but still felt a little “slippery” by diner time.  It started to rain at about 8 pm or so.

water puddling on a water sealed deck
I am not sure what the effect of rain on the not yet dry water proofing will be, but it is probably not good.

water puddling on a thompson’s water sealed deck

I suppose the worst case scenario is I will have to re-apply the water seal next year.  Good thing I bought the 3 year formula.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Aug 20 3 comments
Exterior, yard

Removing an asphalt driveway

I may have mentioned in a few previous posts, one about the patio and one about installing our well pump, that our house was previously surrounded by asphalt. Not one to question anyone’s taste in landscaping schemes, but paving over half the property did seem a little excessive.

I began ripping out the asphalt when I installed the gutter drains. That was a very necessary thing since the basement flooded anytime a cloud passed overhead. For this I used a Caterpillar 303 excavator from the local Taylor Rental Center to pull up large sections, which would then be broken down into smaller, easier to handle chunks. For the areas close to the house where the excavator couldn’t go, I used a pick ax and shovel. Once or twice I may have come a little too close to the house with the excavator, not wanting to do more manual labor than absolutely necessary.

The asphalt ranged in thickness from 1 1/2 inches to 4 inches or so. The thicker it was the harder it was to break up and the heavier it was to move. All in all, it was a lot of hard manual labor. While handling the asphalt I used work gloves so my hands did not get all torn up. The result was the gutter drains worked perfectly, but we then had piles of torn up asphalt behind the house.

asphalt driveway edge after cutting with a masonry blade

Since we were planning on saving some of the driveway, I decided I wanted a nice clean edge to the asphalt where it ended. I used a concrete/masonry blade on the circular saw to cut through the asphalt. This created a lot of sticky black dust, so I would strongly recommend using a dust mask as well as goggles if you are doing this type of work

I had several suggestions about how to get rid of the asphalt, some said throw it in the woods, some said bury it in the ground. Instead I did a little research and found a recycling center that would accept the asphalt and grind it up to be reused. I liked that option the best.

Since the recycling place was sort of on my way to work I began the cycle daily runs to the recycling center with a truck load of asphalt. After work, when I got home at night, I would load up by hand another truck load for the next day. I lost track of how many loads I took in, but it is something like 10 or 11. I probably removed about 1/2 of the asphalt surface area on our property, the driveway being the only thing left.

I think of all of the renovation jobs around the house, manually breaking up and load the asphalt was the hardest. The result of that work is now the house looks more like a nice landscaped country home instead of a house in a parking lot. Here are a few before and after pictures. Before the patio was put in:

asphalt patio

After:

Flagstone patio with trellis

The entrance, before:

Asphalt around back door

After:

Back deck completed

I am satisfied with those results.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Aug 18 5 comments
Exterior, Landscaping, Structure, yard

The deck is done!

The deck is done and ready for the final inspection by the town building department. When that has been passed I receive the CO (certificate of occupancy). This has been a fun project and I learned quite a few things. First, dealing with the town building department has been easier than I thought it would. I can’t imagine why somebody would take it upon themselves to build unauthorized structures on their property. It can create many problems with insurance, tax adjusters, and possibly transferring the property. Building codes are in place to insure constructed properly and are safe to inhabit.

deck completed

I found the building department personnel to be helpful, answering any questions I had, doing inspections in a timely manner, etc. If you involve them and ask their advice, often they become friendly and the inspections are a breeze. Now, it may not be like that in all municipalities, but in smaller towns and cities, it seems it would be pretty easy to get friendly with the building department.

As for the deck itself, it seems to have taken a long time to build from start to finish. I had a very busy summer this year, with several trips out of state for family reasons. I think if I added up the total hours I worked on it, it would come out to about 35 to 40 hours or so, including digging the footings. Digging the footings was by far the worst part of the whole project. Crawling around in the crawl space bolting the stringers to the side of the house was second. The actual framing was pretty easy, and screwing down the deck boards was easy, although repetitive.

I am not sure how these prices will hold up, but for the summer of 2007, the total cost break down looks something like this:

Nomenclature Number Cost Each ($) Total ($)
cardboard Sonotubes, 8 x 48 inches 3 6.38 19.14
#4 (1/2″) Rebar, 48 inch 8 2.12 16.96
1/2×8 inch J bolts 3 1.57 4.71
Steel Wire 18 ga, 500 foot roll 1 3.59 3.59
Sakrete ready mix concrete, 80 pound bag 8 4.95 39.60
Joist hanger, galvanized straight single 32 0.69 *
Joist hanger, 45 degree RH single 4 6.79 27.16
Joist hanger, galvanized straight double 1 2.19 2.19
Joist hangers, 90 degree corner bracket 4 1.19 4.76
Post mount brackets 6×6 3 16.27 *
Carriage bolt 1/2 inch by 5 inch galvanized 4 1.87 7.48
Carriage bolt 1/2 inch by 8 inch galvanized 12 2.00 24.00
Carriage bolt 1/2 inch by 10 inch galvanized 2 2.35 4.70
Hex nut, 1/2 inch galvanized 22 0.14 3.08
Flat cut washer, 1/2 inch galvanized 22 0.25 5.50
Screw, 4 inch stainless steel square drive, 1 lb box 4 13.49 53.96
Screw, 2 inch, galvanized square drive, treated wood rated 1 lb box 4 6.97 27.88
Butyl membrane, 18 inches by 52 feet roll 1 45.75 45.75
Aluminum flashing 18 inches by 50 feet roll 1 35.95 **
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X10 16 foot 4 19.59 76.60
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X10 8 foot 4 8.77 35.08
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X8 14 foot 9 15.97 *
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 5/8X6 12 foot 15 10.97 164.55
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 5/8X6 10 foot 16 8.97 143.52
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 5/8X6 8 foot 6 7.97 63.76
Lumber, ACQ .40 treated 6X6 8 foot 1 19.97 *
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 4X4 8 foot 1 7.97 *
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X4 8 foot 2 6.78 6.78
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X6 8 foot 1 5.97 5.97
Lumber, white cedar 1/2X4 6 foot 10 1.69 **
1/2 inch wire mesh fence, 18 inches by 50 feet 1 19.98 19.98
Thompson’s Water Seal, gallon 3 9.98 29.94

*Some or all of these items were given to me by Jay, who removed a deck from the back of his house and replaced it with a screened in porch this summer.

**These items were on hand from other projects around the house.

The building permit cost $45.00 and the rental of the post hole digger cost $89.10, so therefore the total cost for building the deck was: $970.74

The actual deck size is 170 Square Feet, so the cost to build it myself was $5.71 per square foot. I estimate I saved about $1,500 in labor. The average cost for a wood deck in this area is $15-25 per square foot if you have somebody else do all the work.

By using some salvaged lumber and and joints hangers and things I already had on hand, I saved: $331.36

Treated lumber comes in several different flavors. Since about 2003 or so, the primary treatment product for pressure treated wood has been ACQ, which stands for Alkaline Copper Quaternary. This replaced
CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate), which contained arsenic. ACQ is a pesticide and is toxic to humans. You must take the proper precautions when handling this material such as wearing gloves and a dust mask when cutting, and disposing excess material in a land fill. You should never burn treated lumber and don’t use sawdust and scraps as mulch, etc. For more information, see the ACQ safe handling sheet.

Basically, pressure treated lumber is rated by retention of ACQ in pounds per cubic foot of wood (lb/CuFt). That give and indication of how much wood preservative is present after the pressure treatment process. These are the applications:

  • Above Ground – 0.25 – Decking, fence boards, hand rails, deck supports
  • Ground Contact Fresh Water – 0.40 – Fence posts, landscaping, piers, docks,
    etc.
  • Permanent Wood Foundations – 0.60 – Wood foundations, crawl spaces
  • Poles – 0.60 – Building, transmission and distribution poles

Overall, I can say that I learned quite a bit, and had fun building the deck.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Aug 07 4 comments
Exterior, Landscaping, yard

Update on Deck Construction

Jay has been pestering politely inquiring about the progress on the deck. Even I thought it would be done by now, but it is coming along. I flashed around the house and I have most of the deck lumber screwed on. This weekend I ran out of time due to social obligations and lumber due to poor material estimation.

deck part way finished

deck part way done

I will be working on it again after work today.

Update:

A little something to keep those interested happy… somehow this happened:

deck-lumber-on.jpg

A few things that I noticed; it is bigger than I thought it would be!  That is nice because normally when you build something, everyone stands around and scratches their heads and says “It is smaller than I thought it would be.”  Also, screwing those boards down is a lot of work.  Mostly bending over, which at 43 years old, my back does not like to do all that much of.

I will do a finishing post about the railing, the steps etc once I get the railing, the steps, etc done.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Aug 03 2 comments
Exterior, Structure, yard

Second Deck Inspection passed

The town building inspector came by on Tuesday and checked out the framing for the deck. Everything passed inspection, now I can put the decking on. I intended to do that this weekend, time and weather permitting. In the mean time, I get to look at the beautiful incomplete frame outside the kitchen door. It is, after all, mighty impressive. Before I attach the decking, there is some additional work that needs to be done:

  • The frame needs to be water proofed. Once I have installed the decking, I will not have access to the under side. I will water proof the framing lumber with Thompson’s Water Seal to preserve it for as long as possible.

deck frame sealed with thompsons water seal

  • I need to put aluminum flashing around the house where the deck will come in contact with the sheathing. This ensures that water does not pool up between the deck and the sheathing causing rot.
  • I accidentally drilled two incorrectly placed holes in the stringer when I was attaching it to the house. I will seal those with a good urethane caulk.
  • I am going to caulk underneath the door sills where the flashing meets the door sill. As Todd pointed out, this is a major area where moisture can get in and cause rot.
  • I am going to install a chicken wire barrier around the outside of the deck to keep small animals from crawling under it. I saw this done down in West Virgina when we were on vacation this year. Some chicken wire buried about 8 to 10 inches deep should work.

I was going to work on this during the week when I got home from my day job, but its just too stinking hot out there. Today, I was sitting in my air conditioned office, imagining the sweat running down my face and stinging my eyes. It can wait.

Once those things are done, I will attach the decking, finish the railing and get the final inspection.

Popularity: 3% [?]