Last month we started in on laying the decking by completing the landing and putting in the first three lengths across the deck proper. For the first time since we built the house we could now walk out the back door and across the yard without walking on the ground, or worse, hopping over floor joists!
The next challenge is to deal with a curve. The artist in me had enough of straight lines so I had decided from the outset to join the deck into the paving using a curve.
Below is the curve in question.
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| The Curve in Question |
So when Stefan laid the paving for me I deliberately asked him to leave the paving unfinished at the bottom, as from the very start I knew it was going to be a tricky prospect getting the decking to line up with the paving.
First up though I joined the ends of the joists together using noggins cut to size and then screwed into the end of the joists. This was to provide a stable edge for the decking.
The photo below shows where the paving stops.
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| Meeting up with the paving |
Once the timber was down I had to figure out how to get the curve, which ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be!
I used what's called an electricians cable strap, made from "yellow tongue" which is basically just a long yellow thick plastic strap. An electrician will use it to feed cable up a wall by sending the strap up the wall, then tying the cable to the end and pulling it back down through the wall, pulling the cable along with it.
Anyway, all I did was lay this plastic strap edgewise along the timber and clipped it to each end of the curve, adjusting it until I got a nice even curve. All that was then required was to run a pencil along and voilà, the curve was marked down! I then got a jigsaw blade and cut it down (so it wouldn't hit the concrete under the boards) and then ran it along the line.
As you can see below there's now a lovely curve.
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| One curve completed! |
Now that the curve is done I need to get Stefan back in to finish up the paving!
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| Time to add in the missing paving |
Below shows the completed curve with the paving done. As it turned out, Stefan actually had to rip up the old paving and re-lay it to match up with the end of the deck. So in the end all that advanced planning ended up for nought.
Looking ahead below, you can see the end result and it was worth the mucking around!
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| Paving completed! |
So whilst all this curving was going on, I continued laying the decking.
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| Meanwhile the decking continues to progress |
As you can see below I started to move back around the corner to complete the top right section of the decking towards the back gate.
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| This stuff is so easy to lay |
The decking continued to go down fast and easy and my $400 compressor was holding up well to the task. Below shows the approach up to the back gate. The excess which you can see in the right is so minimal with the Deck Master system, because I can pick and choose the timber I want to use and I can make the but join anywhere on the deck without the need for putting it over a joist.
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| Stretching around the corner |
As shown below I'm almost all the way across, and I pretty much laid this in a day.
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| Almost all the way across now |
Next post we'll finish off the top decking and start in on the sides and the steps.
