PEP BB dimensional.sand.decking - Lay 10 sticks for decking

I installed a deck this past winter.  But it was on the ceiling.

This was on the ceiling of our guest bedroom.  The wood was used cedar decking I reclaimed from my parent's deck.  One pass through the planer and it was as pretty as could be.  Pro Tip:  If you're planing down deck boards, plane the side that was against the joists and leave the top side untouched.  Otherwise the grit from all the foot traffic will wreck your planer blades in no time.

I don't exactly have a photo of a pilot hole with the screw laying next to it.  But I scoured my pictures and found one that shows the pilot holes, the box of screws and the drill that made the holes and the driver that would soon drive the screws.

Deck Boards were mostly ash reclaimed from an 1880s downtown warehouse. It will be under cover and protected from precipitation, so I’m hoping it will prove durable. Grabbed a couple cedar 2x’s laying around to round out the surface. Support was reclaimed cedar from an old deck. Screws were salvaged from another job. Cinder block piers were leftover from when my great great grandpa built our farmhouse. Cost of deck was $0.

Wondering if the full deck build above will count eventually for straw badge.

Beau Davidson wrote:Wondering if the full deck build above will count eventually for straw badge.

There is a better than average chance that it will.  Hopefully whatever requirements are listed for the straw badge align with photos you have.  Nice build by the way!

Mike Jay Haasl wrote:

Beau Davidson wrote:Wondering if the full deck build above will count eventually for straw badge.

There is a better than average chance that it will.  Hopefully whatever requirements are listed for the straw badge align with photos you have.  Nice build by the way!

Cool, thanks Mike! I can always add a few pictures if I need. Or if the spec’s require a different foundation method or whatever, there’s always good reasons to build another deck.

sorry to go off topic
i was thinking of using dowel to affix floor boards instead of screws.... is this a terrible idea

s. drone wrote:sorry to go off topic
i was thinking of using dowel to affix floor boards instead of screws.... is this a terrible idea

I don't think this is a terrible idea, or off topic, but it will do little to restrict any vertical movement of the boards as they go from wet to dry and as the seasons change from hot to cold. I imagine they would work pretty good for left to right movement. I built one of my decks using ring shank nails, and a few of those are coming up, just a little bit, and I need to go around with a hammer and reset them. I do believe that screws are the best fastener for wood, especially outdoors, as screws will help restrict the movement of the wood from year to year.

oh good
the boards are still rough and my thought was to rent a hardwood floor sander to smooth it once everything was in place
this will likely be next year though

Here is a deck we are building for our house. It is using cedar decking which i cut all the boards, joists,beams,header board.  I am using SS screws and i am screwing them in from underneath. It is time consuming though i am happy with having no screw holes from the top. I tried to show me screwing them in from the bottom in the photos. Since it is all cedar i see no reason to drill holes...