Deck Framing
It’s been almost one month since starting this three season room project, and I gotta admit, it’s fun, but it’s kicking my ass! So far it’s been a LOT of grunt work and between the jack hammering, post hole digging, shoveling wet clay and lugging around wet, heavy treated lumber and 3/4″ treated plywood sheets, I’m ready for a trip to the chiropractor! That or a dip in the hot tub, which has been out of service for a month. OK, enough crying – let’s seen what’s getting done…
As you can see in this photo, the flooring deck is nearing completion. I’m leaving the excess hang out from the base 4×6 which may be used as a support for a step to the side entrance. For now I am using the old concrete step. If you ever need to move a heavy concrete block like that, just think like an Egyptian, use a demo bar to lift a corner, then place some re-bar under it for rollers. Once I did that, this 400 lbs block could be moved with just my foot.
The base support now comes in handy because it allow the entire frame to slide left or right, hinged at the ledger board. This allows for easy squaring of the entire deck which is of paramount importance.
Be sure to verify that your deck is square using the old Pythagorean formula of A2+B2=C2. Just measure a fixed distance along the ledger board, then the distance from the ledger to the outside edge. Then measure the hypotenuse and adjust as needed. This will give you a perfect right angle in the corner. If you forgot how to calculate this, just use this handy online Pythagoras Calculator (and then admit that you’re not smarter than a 5th grader). See? Math class comes in handy after all these years!
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When positioning foundation piers, strict attention needs to be paid to where your anchor bolts will wind up. In a rush, I just guessed at the position and luckily this design had enough “slop” factor to allow for a general location. However, it came very close to catastrophe as you can see in this photo. The anchor bolt should really have been placed further to the right, but as it is, I just shortened the outside beam a bit and the bolt fits right in the pocket. The entire pier should have been a few inches to the right, but the concrete boys were in a hurry and the rain issues threw the holes off a bit. Enough excuses, the bottom line is that things worked out in the end.
Also, keep in mind that other bolts may prevent you from squaring up the frame if they are in the wrong position. Not to worry, thee is always a way around it but either moving a floor truss or cutting & notching it then reinforcing with another floor truss. Just don’t rush this squaring process. Take your time and if you come across a snag, take a few minutes to think it over. There is always an easy solution. This ain’t rocket science.
Stepping back a moment, when you start the floor truss framing, start from the ledger board. Get it level and anchored down properly then attach your trusses using truss hangars, then adjust the ends the outside end of the floor trusses as needed. Setting the ledger board is a two man job, but I had nobody around at the time, so I just blocked it up to where I needed it, then used a few 2 1/2″ screws to hold in place temporarily. Set a few trusses to verify level, then secure it to the house. I used several 5″ long 3/8″ bolts drilled through the ledger and into the house floor support band, then a few 20d nails to help out. The truss hangers work very nice and I used two screws to position them in place every 16″ and used double hangers at the floor deck seams.
Today we will continue with the deck framing around the hot tub and hopefully get it back in operation to soothe these weary old bones. For a nice change, next week we’ll proceed to constructing the walls, window and door headers and finally doing work from the “upright” position which will speed things along a bit. Stay tuned….
