Girder: Oct 22-30, 2005

On Oct 22 , I cut some 4X4's to 3 to 4 ft pieces and installed them on the post anchors. I held them close to a vertical position (using Ajmal's post level), and drove in a couple of 16d nails through the post & post anchors. I was concerned that there was some play between one of the anchors and the concrete pier. There was also some play between the posts and the anchors.

On Oct 27, Reddy and I strengthened some of the piers by mixing and applying concrete. We also used a water level to mark the joist line on all the posts.

On Oct 29, Reddy called up in the morning and asked why I was not working on the deck. He then showed up and we spent a tremendously fruitful Saturday morning! We accomplished a ton of things such as:

1. Braced the posts to a perfectly vertical position using stakes and 2x4 s
2. Sawed two 4x4 pieces and attached them to the center post using lag screws
3. Attached 4 (four) girder beams to the posts. We used C-Clamps to hold them in place, and then applied screws for a more permanent hold.

Posts, Ledger Board: Oct 15-21, 2005

Oct 15: Memorable first day!

First Dave & I hauled some gravel and went to Lowe's to buy some tools/hardware.

Fueled by some Indian food (cooked by Manisha) and assisted by some Labatt's, we (Reddy, Dave & I) broke ground! We marked the deck corners, dug a few holes, poured concrete and installed post anchors in the dark. The errors introduced by the beer apparently canceled the errors induced by the darkness.

Results:
- Deck area marked off by weed block and gravel
- 5 x 3ft deep holes filled with concrete and topped by wet/pronged post anchors
- Muscle aches for the next 2 days!

Follow-up (Oct 17-20, 2005):



I unrolled more weed block and spread the gravel until the post line. I also prepped the ledger board and estimatedplanned the work to be done for the flashing & ledger board.

Follow-up (Oct 17-21, 2005):

With help and advice from Ajmal and Uncle (Munawar's dad), I prepped (more like ripped :-) the siding, installed vinyl/tar paper for water proofing, and installed the ledger board with lag screws (with caulking).

First Things First: Design

I planned to build a 16 ft x 20 ft deck. I drew it up using Microsoft Visio.