Deck The House
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I completely missed The Hoy on Monday after pumping it up in my previous post. ChickJax has been sick lately and I was trying to not be selfish and put all my focus into the computer and poker. After getting dinner finished up and the kids off to bed, I spent some time hanging with ChickJax before trying to quickly sign up for the tourney. As I went to click the register button, it vanished. I missed the registration by mere seconds. I did manage to play The Bodonkey last night, but flamed out pretty early in, I think, 41st place. Not a good start to my WSOP seat I must say. I guess there is always next week. Looks like I'm going to miss The Mookie two weeks in a row as I have a work function tonight. I hate missing The Mook blogdamnit.
As it turns out a deck of cards will not be my focus for the next few weeks anyway. I've been planning to build a deck in our backyard for years now and I'm finally going to bite the bullet and go for it. Right now I'm trying to figure out if it would be best to go it on my own or just contract it out to professionals. I have some very handy friends who have all agreed to help so I'm thinking I'll go that route, but I also wanted to ask my dear readers opinion here. What should I do???
Has anyone out there built a deck themselves recently and have any stories to tell? Good, bad or indifferent. Any thoughts or suggestions for how and where I should start. I'm not looking for anything huge or extravagent. Maybe just a 15 X 15 that starts at our back door and has railings and steps down to our yard.
Help me people.
Until next time, may the deck be with me.
posted by TripJax @ 2:56 PM,
13 Comments:
-
At 3:12 PM,
Unknown said...
-
Me trying to do anything like that would be a comedy that could be made into a TV series that would eventually go into syndication.
-
At 4:24 PM,
said...
-
I've done it twice. As long as it's simple, you should be okay. A deck that small ought to be a single weekend's project if you have all the materials and a basic plan ready to go, and a couple of GOOD friends.
Hint: Unless you can hit a nail square every time, use screws. That's too many nails to be bending and straightening. Better still, find a friend with a nail gun. -
At 4:26 PM,
SirFWALGMan said...
-
Build the deck. Worst case. Hillarity ensues on the blog. Or maybe that is best case.
Tell the Lovely ChixJax I hope she feels better. -
At 5:25 PM,
Jestocost said...
-
Support the economy and your sanity. Hire professionals. At least if your deck building skillz are as mad as mine.
-
At 5:38 PM,
KajaPoker said...
-
leave it to the pros. who wants to be outside in this weather anyway? some decks have to adhere to county building codes and other complimicated stuff like that. it will take you a long time and they will do it in one day. problem solved.
when i bought my current house i wanted to tile the basement floor. i took a friend to floor & decor to get a tiling lesson. at the end of the 3 hour lesson i hired the teacher to come lay the tile. i asked him how long he thought it would take me and my friend to do an 850sf basement. he said two weeks. i asked how long it would take him. he said two days. he showed up with his filipino mail-order bride and they knocked it out in one afternoon. then did the grout the next day. problem solved. beautiful basement. -
At 10:27 PM,
OhCaptain said...
-
Some of the pros around these parts will take six week to do a deck that size. A few guys and a 12 pack of beer would take a weekend.
My FIL and I did mine in a weekend. We have tougher codes for the footings than you probably do. If you go to Home Depot or the like, they will usually do the plans for you.
You do want someone that sort of knows what they are doing. Most of the project is pretty easy, it's the couple of tricky things that might be the biggest problem.
Of course, my FIL is a home builder...that did help. Know any carpenter to get you past the hard stuff? -
At 10:13 AM,
4dbirds said...
-
Please blog about your deck experience. I want to learn from you. Hubby and I are seriously considering building one ourselves this spring.
-
At 10:27 AM,
Unknown said...
-
Get the friends over, buy beer, build deck, take their money at the card table when its too dark to work and they're tired and drunk.
"Look hon, we got a free deck!" -
At 11:53 AM,
Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa said...
-
Dude...TripChick is sick? The Rooster didn't know this. In any case, have the pros do it...TripChick deserves the best.
I was looking at your blog and notices that you shill for a lot of people..are you and Payton and Eli friends? -
At 1:42 PM,
Riggstad said...
-
My first company was building decks. If you are building a 15x15 deck you don't need the pros.
If you know how to swing a hammer and mix some concrete (maybe), and run a saw without losing an appendage, save yourself 3 weeks and 4 grand.
get some plans off the internet, or the home store. Ask advice from some of the people around you or here in the blog...
Screws, not nails to attach the decking. Other than that, Drizz is right.. beer, nrighbors, and friends... sounds about right. -
At 2:06 PM,
TripJax said...
-
All,
Thanks for the comments. I have 2 friends who are landscapers and build decks in the winter to make extra money for their businesses, so I know I'll have some great help. I also have another buddy who is pretty solid with wood and nails.
If I do have a nail gun, am I better off using that instead of screws? I have a buddy who has offered to let me use his nail gun and I think I would rather use it than screws, unless there is a much better reason to use screws.
Joaquin,
How do you think I'm paying for the deck man. Shillin' yo! ChickJax is starting to feel bettere. And regarding your other comment about more pics, she just finished up a modeling shoot last week so hopefully I'll have some of those pics to post. Giddy up! -
At 7:10 PM,
bayne_s said...
-
If deck is low to ground it is trivial.
1) If permits required dig holes when rain not expected. Inspectors like to see no mud in bottom of holes and have bad habit of showing up on rainy days.
2) Make sure frame is level and square before first plank goes in.
3) use scrap wood shims to regulate plank spacing.
4) Screws don't pop, Use power screwdrivers (or drill) -
At 9:24 AM,
said...
-
If you don't want to fall out with your mates after they screw up your decking then probably best to leave it to the pros.
Then you can sue their ass when they get it all wrong. A lot harder to sue your friends though...
Will the poker be taken outside then once the job is done?? :-)
Post a Comment