Today was a very productive day! We started off by driving out to JW lumber to pick up some additional items. We were short a few L brackets and wood glue for the plugs on the picture frame border boards. While we were there, we picked up some mangaris board cleaner. We we'll use this prior to staining the boards and preparing them for the final install. We also picked up a special countersink drill bit that I will use when installing the picture frame boards. The bit will pre drill the hole for the screw that will hold the board down and bore out hole in the board that matches the depth of the wooden plug that will conceal the screw head.
We decided to divide and conquer today's work. Michelle put a coat of paint on the porch and front window.
I carried 20 boards out from the backyard and placed them on the front deck. I then spaced them out 3/16 of an inch apart using a combination of some wooden shims I made and the actual hidden deck mounting screws that we will use for the final install.
It gave us our first look at what the deck might look like.
There was another reason why we did this. I needed to know the exact width of the deck prior to making the final cut on the joists. You'll notice in the photo below, the extra joists are exposed and ready to be cut off.
After looking at the situation, we could add one additional board on to the deck which would increase the width by 5 1/2 in. We double checked the math and reviewed our board inventory and realized we have enough wood for this option. The only hang up was the picture frame board that would go along the east side of the deck. The original deck was designed to be 15 ft 10 in. Because of this, we ordered a 16-ft board. But since we decided to expand the deck 5.5 in on one side and while we were at it to expand it 5.5 in in on the other side, we now were stuck with a picture frame board that was too short. We gave JW lumber a call and confirmed they had an 18-ft board in stock. We ordered the board and decided to expand the size of our deck by 11 in.
With the final deck size confirmed, we restacked the boards and proceeded to make the final cuts to the joists. After that, we treated the exposed ends with wood sealer and then installed the rim joist. The photo of the deck below shows how The substructure box is now complete!
Tomorrow we will install the fascia and remaining deck lights
