Fixin' The Deck Part 5

If you read this, then you probably saw this post coming. This progress was accomplished over a 4-day weekend (i.e. the Friday was a Holiday, and we took a vacation day from work on the Monday). Here's a last look at the roof before we started tearing out the posts you can see at the right side:

I said tearing out, but we just pushed the first one over....

Next the old roofing material and the tar paper below it was peeled back and the plywood exposed.

We're starting with a small section of the roof nearest the doors. The area immediately outside the doors will be the high point of the new deck, and from there it will slope downwards, away from the building.  

The area around the rotted out post was heavily stained: 

Started pulling up the plywood....

Under that was another layer of tar paper and then another layer of plywood...

This seemed like a good time to remove the gutter. The gutter is one piece, so it was heavy and difficult to move it down to the ground, and impossible to move it anywhere else. We will need several people to help when it is time for re-installation.

Started pulling up the second layer of plywood:

This is some considerable time later after the final layer of plywood has been removed, the area below inspected, and the plywood temporarily replaced so that we can walk around on it. Each section is secured with two (2) screws so they don't slide around but can also be removed with minimal effort.

The only significant damage was in the area below the rotten post:

The post which supports the roof is in good shape, so we won't be replacing it. The new deck will be installed around this post. All the other posts support just the perimeter railings; these will be going on top of the new deck, rather than through it. Clearly a post will be the most stable when it is lapped into the supporting structure, however the plan we have in mind should be just as strong.

By this point we have a pretty impressive debris pile in the back yard:

That was as far as we got on day one. The next morning we started with the repairs to the perimeter structure...all moisture-damaged material was cut out...

...and replaced. This work was a lot easier than it might have been thanks to the oscillating tool, reciprocating saw and the big nail gun I bought a few years ago. We're lucky to have so many great tools to use.

The next task is to make a structure which will support the new deck boards AND slope uniformly in the correct direction. The new deck boards clip together in such a way that a watertight seal is formed between boards. This means in essence that the new deck and the new roof will be the same thing. However, to work correctly, the new deck must have a 1 to 1.5 percent slope (this is equivalent to 1/8th inch per liner foot). I started by beefing up the support immediately outside the doors - I just added some blocks between the existing joists. That was as far as we got on day two because we had to break off early to enjoy a BAMA event.

Next morning, bright and early....I need a shim of just less than three inches right outside the door. This was made with one length of 2" x 4" lumber installed on its side, and a second perpendicular piece on top that was cut to give the correct overall size and produced an L-shaped shim. The same process was followed at the next floor joist which is twelve (12) inches further out, and this time the shims were cut to give an overall height of 1/8th inch less than outside the door:

This is later after the first eight joists have been shimmed in the same way. Once the shims are below 1.5 inches thick, I can make them from a shingle piece of material. There was a lot of up-and-down to the workshop and a lot of re-measuring with the laser level. We had a few issues where we needed shims that were tapered, and these were cut on the band saw. We also had to adjust our measurements to account for the variable distances between the floor joists. All of the shims were made from lumber that we salvaged from the old deck and I previously fed through the jointer. This made production a lot easier than it might have been since every board had one flat edge.

By the end of day three we had shimmed out the first part of the deck, beyond the point where our first deck board will end:

We have also built out the areas where the posts will be located to be Flush-On-Top (FOT) with the  adjacent shims. This is an important step because it is imperative than the posts have a solid base to stand on.

Day four: We were kind of under pressure today because we have work tomorrow and there is going to be an atmospheric river (AR) the day after that. If you don't know, an AR is what was called a storm up until a couple of years ago. As far as I know, this has nothing to do with the European Union.

We got going early, and cut out the new flashing from a roll of six inch wide aluminum: 

I had to hack back quite a bit of the stucco to the left of the door to accommodate the flashing:

This is how it looks installed:

And so, finally, by late morning on day four, we got to install some of the new deck boards. The first board has to be trimmed to custom width, and then the roof support post came between boards two and three, so getting going was a bit tricky.

A gap of 3/16th is left around the post, and then filled with Lexel.  

After four boards were laid down, we needed to stop and add more shims:

Added another four boards. It was late afternoon by this point, so I had to down tools and go pick up Samuel Sheep from school.

When I got back I had less than two hours of daylight left. This was not enough time to install the rest of the boards properly, so I had to take Emergency Action. Basically, another eleven boards were added in super quick fashion with just two screws in each board and no time spent getting the gaps even or boards properly aligned etc. Towards the end I ran out of shims, but I just carried on regardless. It was dusk by the time I was done. These boards will have to come back out next time and be re-installed properly but should at least be watertight for now.

There is a gap of about an inch between the new deck boards and the old plywood. 

I covered the gap with some sheets of plywood, rolled back the old roof covering and threw down some more plywood and a couple of bags of trash to hold it all in place. We will find out in a day or two how well this stands up to a storm....

This bit of the deck looks finished, even though it isn't really. 

To be continued...