Exclusive Building a detached deck

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
wizenheimer said:
does that include your decking?

if that's the case, you need to talk to your paint supply store about painting pressure treated wood. I'm not a painter but in my experience, the biggest mistake in painting pressure treated wood is not allowing it to fully dry. Until PT wood is fully dry, the chemicals inside slowly bleed out and that would cause rejection of any paint and/or primer

To be safe, I'd wait at least a month unless the wood you have seems really dry already. Some recommend waiting 6 months. I think you can test the wood by sprinkling some water on it. If the water absorbs the wood is dry; if it beads up, it's likely not dry.

IIRC, to paint PT wood, you want a high quality exterior latex primer/paint....water based. I think oil base doesn't work well for PT, but again, talk to your paint supply store if you trust them. That would be a place like Rodda or Miller Paint. The clowns at Home Depot or Lowe's won't know much

there will be plenty of advice online about this, some probably better than mine
Click to expand...
The contractor that built my fence recommended that I wait a year before painting it because of moisture in the wood.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
To your chagrin, I'm still going with plywood sheets for my flooring surface (although I've decided to upgrade to some 1.25" T&G underlayment), but I believe she wants to paint everything else except that. Good to know that she needs to wait to paint it though; hopefully she'll get used to its appearance in the interim and change her mind. Also as likely: me taking so long to complete this project that everything is fully dried and paint-ready by the time I'm done.
Click to expand...
Tongue and groove is okay if it's kept dry otherwise it will warp and buckle as it swells. All the tongue and groove that I've seen used was subflooring indoors in a heated home.
 
Lanny said:
The contractor that built my fence recommended that I wait a year before painting it because of moisture in the wood.
Click to expand...

depends on where you get the wood. If you get it from a place like Parr Lumber then chances are high it will have a relatively high moisture content. That's because Parr moves a lot of inventory and what you get has very likely arrived from the mill in the last few weeks, at most

however, if you get lumber from a place like Home Depot, you may find material that has been in the store for a few months and is substantially dry

and yeah, I know painting contractors that won't touch PT until it has cured, in place, for 6-12 months
 
By the way Mr. Platypus, if you have had all your lumber delivered, make sure you cover it with a tarp while it's still stacked. You don't want the sun to beat down and warp the hell out of the wood with uneven drying. Cover it with a tarp, but try and leave the tarp gapped off the ground around the stack for good ventilation. It's a little bit of a pain in the ass when you want to pull out boards, but it's a lot bigger pain in the ass to work with heavily warped wood or discard 20% of your inventory as unusable
 
wizenheimer said:
depends on where you get the wood. If you get it from a place like Parr Lumber then chances are high it will have a relatively high moisture content. That's because Parr moves a lot of inventory and what you get has very likely arrived from the mill in the last few weeks, at most

however, if you get lumber from a place like Home Depot, you may find material that has been in the store for a few months and is substantially dry

and yeah, I know painting contractors that won't touch PT until it has cured, in place, for 6-12 months
Click to expand...
It used to be that in the old days all wood was kiln dried. Nowadays it's hard to find any dried lumber. This change began in the 60s. I seriously doubt that you can find any general contractor who will price his bid on using dried lumber and if you do it's guaranteed he's building an expensive house.
 
wizenheimer said:
By the way Mr. Platypus, if you have had all your lumber delivered, make sure you cover it with a tarp while it's still stacked. You don't want the sun to beat down and warp the hell out of the wood with uneven drying. Cover it with a tarp, but try and leave the tarp gapped off the ground around the stack for good ventilation. It's a little bit of a pain in the ass when you want to pull out boards, but it's a lot bigger pain in the ass to work with heavily warped wood or discard 20% of your inventory as unusable
Click to expand...
Wood warps when it dries. Dried wood hardly warps at all.
 
Why aren't we getting updates on this?

We need pictures, dammit!
 
PtldPlatypus said:
Actually more like a rectangular gazebo (12x16). Planning on using concrete deck blocks and 4x4 posts every four feet. Wife wants joists and crossbeams to just be 2x4s to keep the deck surface close to the ground, but I'm not sure that's reasonable and/or wise.

With zero experience in framing a structure, I'd be interested in any tips any of y'all have for making this thing solid without costing me an arm and a leg.
Click to expand...
Where to start. Explaining would depend on how much you know about the subject.
For starters, you should look up joist, joist hangers, pillar footings and beams. Figure out your decking. Then look up what fasteners you'll need. Next figure out your tools. Plan your project. Go to town. I haven't done this stuff in over 50 years but that's what I remember.
 
So this thread really motivated me to build my own deck. Since I’m half Mexican, you would assume I’d be good at this, but we just came home to THIS!!!

32948176-6219-4D19-B6BA-092C20485603.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • 32948176-6219-4D19-B6BA-092C20485603.jpeg
    32948176-6219-4D19-B6BA-092C20485603.jpeg
    138 KB · Views: 41
SlyPokerDog said:
Why aren't we getting updates on this?

We need pictures, dammit!
Click to expand...
I'm terrible about taking pics, but I can steal a few from my wife's Facebook.
 

Attachments

  • Capture+_2020-09-04-04-58-37.png
    Capture+_2020-09-04-04-58-37.png
    1.4 MB · Views: 18
  • Capture+_2020-09-04-04-59-40.png
    Capture+_2020-09-04-04-59-40.png
    1 MB · Views: 20
  • Capture+_2020-09-04-05-00-10.png
    Capture+_2020-09-04-05-00-10.png
    1.3 MB · Views: 21
  • Capture+_2020-09-04-05-00-51.png
    Capture+_2020-09-04-05-00-51.png
    1.4 MB · Views: 19
  • Capture+_2020-09-04-05-02-22.png
    Capture+_2020-09-04-05-02-22.png
    1,000.1 KB · Views: 20
  • Capture+_2020-09-04-05-02-47.png
    Capture+_2020-09-04-05-02-47.png
    1.5 MB · Views: 18
wizenheimer said:
maybe the platypus has too many blisters from the project to type...or, he's getting divorced because of the project
Click to expand...
Nah...she gets everything she wants, though if we're building it ourselves, it might not necessarily be to the level of quality she might hope. For the time being though, she's pretty happy with the progress.
 
tlongII said:
Very nice! It looks more like a gazebo.
Click to expand...
Yep, deck/gazebo all in one. Wife is working on building the louvered vents for the four sides of the cuppola, and then we'll still need to shingle the roof, and screen the walls, and build some doors, and...

I really don't know if we'll ever get this completely finished.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
I'm terrible about taking pics, but I can steal a few from my wife's Facebook.
Click to expand...
Contrary to what Sly's been saying about you behind your back, it actually looks like you know your ass from a hole in the ground.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
Yep, deck/gazebo all in one. Wife is working on building the louvered vents for the four sides of the cuppola, and then we'll still need to shingle the roof, and screen the walls, and build some doors, and...

I really don't know if we'll ever get this completely finished.
Click to expand...
You know what you need, don't you. You need indoor ligthting, central air, a big screen TV, a pipe with pipe tobacco and a mini frig. stocked with your favorite beer.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Looking good! You're doing a great job!
Click to expand...
I appreciate that. @wizenheimer was definitely right about "wobble" (and I think part of that is because my wife wanted 10-foot-tall walls), but as long as I don't plan on spending much time on top of the roof, I don't think that's going to cause any real issues.
 
Lanny said:
You know what you need, don't you. You need indoor ligthting, central air, a big screen TV, a pipe with pipe tobacco and a mini frig. stocked with your favorite beer.
Click to expand...

C'mon over, Lanny!

deck 2.jpg Deck 1.jpg
 

Attachments

  • deck 2.jpg
    deck 2.jpg
    148.3 KB · Views: 39
  • Deck 1.jpg
    Deck 1.jpg
    143.6 KB · Views: 39
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Featured content

Back
Top