We used the brackets to temporarily install each joist in its final position.
After I figured out all of the spacing, I used the level and some string to verify the joists were aligned correctly.
I've been checking the level of the project throughout the entire process so at this point everything was pretty much good to go. There were a few joists near the porch that needed to be raised by a 16th of an inch and the beam and joist along the side of the patio needed to be lowered by an eighth of an inch. The edges matching up to the patio are very important because we want there to be a perfect connection between the tile and the final deck wood.
We ended up chopping up a few spacers to raise a couple of the joists and then used an electric planer to take 1/16 of an inch off of another one. I can't remember where I got the planer from (either I bought it a long time ago or my dad let me borrow it) but it really did the trick in a short amount of time. Going to build the deck? Buy one of them!
