{"id":4130,"date":"2022-06-28T17:03:09","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T22:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/staging\/3703\/2022\/06\/28\/dealing-with-the-deck\/"},"modified":"2022-08-23T17:52:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T22:52:58","slug":"dealing-with-the-deck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/28\/dealing-with-the-deck\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with the Deck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the May long weekend as I was checking on various cottage systems during the opening process I noticed a problem with our deck. A fairly significant issue where wood rot on one of the beams is causing it to collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This beam has some serious rot right above the post which is also in rough shape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This issue is at the front (lake side) left corner of the deck that wraps around the entire cottage. This is also the point where the cottage and deck are highest off the ground as the ground is sloping downwards to the lake quite rapidly in this area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t around when the deck was being built and my dad and his friends did it all. There were some interesting decisions made in places and this is one of them. The ground right under this corner of the deck is quite uneven and has some large vertical rocks right where you would normally have the post to support the corner. A decision was made to insert two posts away from this corner and cantilever the deck out away from these two posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Far corner just hanging in the air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So the plan I came up with is to build a temporary beam, support the beam on several temporary posts and to use the temporary beam and jacks to lift the deck a bit and cut out the damaged beam. A new permanent beam would be inserted into place onto some new posts and improved footings. The temporary beam would be lowered and removed to complete the repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step one was to tackle the far corner where there is currently is no post by pouring a concrete footing over the vertical rock structure using the rock to anchor the concrete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area is pressure washed and as much loose material as possible is removed. Then a sono tube is customized to fit over and around the rock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three 30kg bags of ready mix concrete were used and mixed by hand in a wheelbarrow <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Custom shaping to sono tube to surround the rock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One thing I didn\u2019t anticipate was that cutting the sono tube like this (above) on both sides weakened the structural integrity of the tube. As the concrete was added the weight caused the bottom of the tube to flair out. Several rocks were used to hold it together preventing a blowout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting shape is a little interesting but it should do the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New concrete footing, a little splayed out around the bottom for extra support.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The new temporary beam is quite an engineering feat that I\u2019m hoping will do the job. The main piece is a 2×10 – 12\u2019 with a 2×6 – 6\u2019 stacked on the front end to account for lack of joists in this area because of the direction of the deck boards across the front. A notch is cut in the 2×12 to allow it to fit into some other deck members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019m working alone getting this 2×10-12\u2019 up in the air about 8\u2019 at the far end is a bit of a challenge. I create some slings from some wire and attach the sling to the deck boards above. This way I can lift one end at a time into the slings and then tighten them up to bring the beam up to the underside of the deck. With the temporary beam hanging in it\u2019s rough position I create several footings and posts with jacks on top in preparation for lifting the deck. Did I mention this is a two story deck? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temporary posts are installed and braced and some existing bracing is repaired on a few other near by posts. 40+ years is tough on the wood that is exposed to the elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the temporary posts next to the rotted post to be replaced and the temporary beam suspended overhead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My temporary Franken-beam hanging in it\u2019s rough position<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The beam being replaced is 16\u2019, my temporary is 12\u2019, what to do? Making good use of various bits and pieces of lumber that have accumulated around the cottage from other building projects I manage to extend the 12\u2019 by an additional 4\u2019. I use two 2×6-6\u2019 and a 2×6-4\u2019 to scab onto the 12\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The back of the beam with 3 2×6\u2019s laminated together supported by a post and a classic screw jack that was my grampa\u2019s

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the middle of the temporary beam is another post with a telepost on top<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At the front end another post that was salvaged and in rough shape on top of a footing that is also a bit sketchy with a nice telepost on top. Just over 8\u2019 to the ground in this corner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of this so far has taken four days. Not exactly full working days as I start between 9 and 10am by fogging for mosquitoes, applying insect repellent and gathering the tools. I work straight through until 2-3 pm when the insect repellant is wearing off and the mosquitoes are becoming annoying and I\u2019m getting tired. ? Things are slow as the ground is quite uneven and you\u2019re always hunched over under the deck. With extra beams, posts, bracing etc. it\u2019s getting to be quite the obstacle course and I\u2019ve still managed to bang my head on various things several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point I\u2019m ready to cut all the nails holding the old beam in place and start to lift the deck to free the old beam.

Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the May long weekend as I was checking on various cottage systems during the opening process I noticed a problem with our deck. A fairly significant issue where wood rot on one of the beams is causing it to collapse. This issue is at the front (lake side) left corner of the deck that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,232],"tags":[292,296,294,295,118,291,293,31,297],"class_list":["post-4130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maintenance","category-the-cottage","tag-beam","tag-concrete","tag-deck","tag-footings","tag-maintenance-2","tag-post","tag-post-and-beam","tag-repair","tag-wood-rot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4130"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4240,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions\/4240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigdadoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}