Monday, May 01, 2006

Plans and materials

Today I spent some time talking to Ray, my neighbor, about how the porch is shaping up. I also sat in the thinking chair for quite a while, contemplating and going over the two books I have on building a porch/deck. Then I firmed up my idea for the joists and went to the hardware store. I got screws, new gloves and gorilla glue (just to have). I talked to the guy there about building decks. He gave me his 2 cents worth.
On the way to the lumber yard for the joists, I realized that each person and each book has its own ideas about how to do this thing. So from all my talking and reading and setting posts and whatever else is in my brain that allows me to move a concrete slab by myself, I became confident in my own plan.
I am going to have 2x6 joists hung on hangers 16" apart (unless I decide on 24" tomorrow). I'm going to use 5 decks screws on the header joists at the posts. I am treating the 8x16 foot deck as 2 8x8 decks and I am going to hang my joists and lay my flooring accordingly. I will probably use 2x6s for flooring.
Ray and I talked about the roof a bit and agreed that we could discuss that again when the deck is done. I will deal with the stairs when I get there and also the railings. For now, I am looking forward to having the deck done by Wednesday. Kelly is coming over to help me Wednesday afternoon.