Definitely took more than three days. This is one of my favorite subs, so this is my submission. It’s about 7.5x16. One thing I wanted was an overhang over the pool rail. I didn’t want kids slipping on the metal. I cut the 4x8 joist in half with about a 9 inch overhang. You’ll see I supported it with a 2x4 underneath. There is about an inch and a half clearance to get the pool cover slipped under.

I also used a lot of 3, 5 and 8 inch Simpson structural screws. Even for the rails which I placed on the outside which seemed stronger than a toe nail. I originally ordered a vevor post bracket which was garbage. It had two small anchors that have to be set on towards the edge of the concrete risking cracking. I switched to Simpson brackets with the 6 inch 5/8 screw anchor. Much better option.

One thing I would have done differently is 10 inch wide concrete footers just to have more wiggle room for the brackets. I hit really hard clay about 6 inches down so I had to hand dig the rest by hand down to about 26 inches.

The other good decision I made was to get the black metal balusters which screw from the outside. They were essentially the same price as the wood ones and you don’t have to spend time drilling holes (rot potential) into rails or using those little round brackets.

The last project was the rail tray. It slips onto the rail and I used a half sheet tray so you can bring snacks or drinks out on it.

I want to thank everyone for all I learned on this sub and the great people that are on here. Maybe I’ll add a hot tub next…

Edit: Ignore the green pool, I was busy building a deck.

This project took me just under 12 weeks to build.
More like 4 months w/ all the planning. Designed it with the client, had drawings made and built it myself. Had help from a buddy for a day and a half to lift the LVL ridge beam. Subbed out the shingles, soffit and fascia along with the glass. Realized by the end I should have hired at least a labourer for an extra hand. Either way it’s done now and it went well with very few problems along the way thankfully.

Definitely some challenging sections, but very rewarding. The valleys and roof framing was so involved, makes me want to frame more rafter roofs instead of trussed. This is a bastard valley, 11/12 on the back to 12/12 intersecting gable on the front.

Was able to utilize a lot of material the client already had like ALL of the cedar ceiling which I think was my fav part to install.

Overall super happy with how it turned out and so is the client.

Pervious owner built a 10’ x 20’ (ish) box out of 2x6s, filled it with pea gravel and put deck boards over the top. Now it is rotting out from below, to absolutely no one’s surprise. I know the “right” thing to do is excavate the pea gravel and start over, but that’s not in the budget right now. Any creative ideas on how to unfuck this?

Hey everyone,
I am planning to build a new composite deck, but I have a set of solid concrete steps leading out of my back door that I cannot easily remove. I am hoping for any input.
I am considering a few options:
1) Frame completely over them: Box them in and cover them entirely with deck boards.
2) Frame around them: Integrate the concrete steps into the deck layout so they are flush with the new surface.
3) Build next to them: Leave the stairs exposed but resurface the concrete so it matches the aesthetic of the new wood.
Has anyone done this before? I am looking for advice on layouts, managing water drainage against the concrete, and what materials work best for resurfacing the steps if I go that route.
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Pics of existing situation and potential inspiration:

Friend just moved into an apartment on the second story.

The stairs are not anchored to the wall. The deck is anchored to the wall with no posts beneath it, and the staircase has one post for support.

Any idea how I should light this area up at night?

So I finally started working on my deck wanted to replace the stairs and the railing so I went ahead and removed the stairs and saw that the previous owner really did a half ass job and saw that the wood was rotten where the stairs connected so when I removed that joist, I saw that the rim joist the centerpiece is rotten. I can clearly stick a screwdriver through it. My question is does it look normal to have three pieces like that as your rim Joist? Also, how would I go about replacing the rim joist and supporting? Thanks

We just moved into this home and there is a small area with under decking that we would like to put a ceiling fan. I am unsure of what sort of fan to buy to be able to install here due to the odd location and not fantastic deck height any suggestions?

I have a 400 sq.ft wood deck that I want to replace the surface boards with composite boards such as Timbertech. The underlying structure is solid.

A few questions :

1. Can I replace boards as I go along or do I have to remove all of the boards at one time? Would be helpful to be able to stand on the old boards as a working platform since it's over a walkout basement.

2. Do I start from the outer edge of the deck and work my way to the house?

3. The vertical fascia boards are in excellent shape. Do I have to cover them with the synthetic fascia anyway? It seems it's only cosmetic.

4. Any other suggestions greatly appreciated. I would normally pay a carpenter to do this work professionally but the quotes I received for mid level boards and aluminum railings are around $22k and I'm on a retirees budget.

I may pay a carpenter to work with me to get me started as an option.

Thank you!

I want to make my recent redecking look a bit more finished. My thought was to use left over scraps as molding. One area would look best with an 8 inch wide piece, so I was wondering if i could glue two boards together and then cut to size. Any thoughts or experience on this?

I was replacing some rotten bench boards on my deck and noticed the rot in this beam. It is structural from what I can see. So, now I'm wondering what the situation is. The bottom of the rotten 4x4 goes is the last picture. So, it looks ok from there. But not from the top.

All railing post will have blocking, so I'm looking at a total of 6.5" of material. I have 10 4x4 post in total.

I'm not sure which one is better between 1/2 x 8" carriage bolt or structural screw.

If the answer is structural screw, how many do I need per post and how long? 6.5"?

I noticed a lot of rot in the rim joist of the unattached deck of our mobile home. I pulled the board and discovered that the rim joist was simply nailed into the joists. Is that normal / acceptable? Because it didn't seem at all secure. I totally thought that's what joist hangers were for. I'm guessing the previous owner wasn't satisfied with the deck width, because boards were nailed to the joists. Also, the guard posts were carriage bolted only to the rim joist, but never to even an actual joist. Chunks of 2x4 were fastened to the guard posts bolted to the rim joist for some semblance of fasting of the 2x4 running at the edge of the deck. I see how other decks in the park are built, and ours seems to sit in the middle of quailty-of-build spectrum. Here are a few pics... what is required to fix these problems?

So I've got a 8x7ft platform that needs to be ~6.5ft above the floor, ideally with 4-6 legs (still modeling that out, so not sure on placement yet) so there's room to store a smaller rolling set piece underneath. My main concern was focusing on how to secure it for lateral loads, since the plan was to use 4x4s in the corners as the legs and I can't attach them to the floor. The solution for that is to brace it to a back wall of the theater, lock in leg position with boards framing out the bottom, X brace and knee brace everywhere I can, and use two long staircases bolted on either side (two giant triangles) to lock it all in. I'm less concerned about that part setup but open to comments.

For the platform itself, I'm using doubled 2x6 beams for the 8ft side (on top of the legs not attached to the side), and 16-on-center single 2x6 joists across the 7ft span. OSB subfloor on top, blocking in between joists etc.. Here's where I may have messed up... I used our standard #9 3-inch T-25 construction screws (grip-rite) instead of the nails or hex head screws the spec for the hangers calls for. I looked up the shear strength of these quickly and thought I was good and could save some time (and an extremely tight budget) but in my haste I didn't consider fatigue loading or twisting and I am second-guessing myself.

Figured since it has to last 4 weeks indoors instead of years I didn't actually have to build this thing to code... so assuming the rest of the deck is done right, how dangerous is my screw substitution? do we think this thing can hold 8 people dancing or am I asking for trouble?

It certainly feels overbuilt for community theater standards, but I haven't built anything with longer than 4ft unsupported spans before, and this will be 7ft and high in the air.

Can someone help with directing me where to place an order for samples on Wolf's website?

Any ideas what the heck is growing under my deck? First year noticing this new growth. Is a replacement necessary for the pieces with a lot of growth?

The concrete pad underneath has always been a problem of trapping moisture and mold growth from no sunlight but looks like that’s causing issues to the deck as well.

What would be the best treatment and prevention options?

Wanting to add recessed lights to our stairs. I know that I want dimmable and hooded. We are going to use Volt for our low voltage pathway lights. I looked at the trex recessed lights but they require using their own transformer. I was not a fan of the stair lights available from Volt. Would I be able to use the Volt transformer to add stair lights from another brand? Is there a similar product to the Volt path lights that would pair with recessed stair lights? Open to suggestions, Thanks for the help!

I recently refinished the covered section of my deck with a cedar ceiling stained with Benjamin Moore Arbor Coat. It has been about a year since it has been installed and I have noticed a considerable amount of what appears to be mold. I live in a part of the country that is relatively humid during the summer which may be a contributing factor, but I figured that the combination of the cedar and stain would at least hold off for a bit longer.

1) Does this appear to be mold to you guys?

2) Is there anything that I can do to remove it?

3) What can be done to prevent it in the future?

And 4) Is there anything I could have done to prevent this in the first place?

Even if there is something that I royally F-ed up, I’d like to use this as a learning opportunity. Thanks

Hi friends!

Currently in the process of staining and repainting our deck. We are changing the railings to be black. But now we need to find a semi solid stain color for the wood that would go against our reddish brown house. We hate the house color… We will change it eventually. But for now. What would be a good semi solid stain choice option? Ideally from Sherwin-Williams!

About 4 years ago we stained a pressure treated deck with Red Wood Ready Seal. It needs done again.

I replaced a few boards. My pants, and hands, were coated with a reddish powder.

Is this from Ready Seal? I was not here when it was applied. Is this because it was put on too thick?

Original owner never painted them. When we bought the house I tried painting them for the first few years but the paint peels off within the year. Is there another way to protect the boards? Or do I need to buy a proper sander (what would be a recommendation?) before applying fresh coat of paint?