New Deck
 

My new house was a quickie flip, and by the time the flipper got to the deck, he was out of money. The deck ended up a comedy of construction errors and defects, all blithely approved and signed off on by the city. We knew going in that it would be coming down.

In a fit of good judgment, I decided to hire the work out. Having seen the process, I'm glad I did. Work started three weeks ago, and will wrap up tomorrow. Here's a few shots of the work in progress.

Demo was done by a pair of guys who race Hondas. We had a lot to talk about. Between the three of us, armed with sledge hammers and sawzalls (they let me help!), we made short work of the deck. I have read that people who do demolition have extremely high levels of job satisfaction. I get that.

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The deck wraps around the house, and the back side is partly built above a garage under the house. Water was already leaking into the garage and molding up the new drywall. We opened it up and saw that long term water leakage had rotted some of the joists, which had to be fixed before a new, waterproof deck could be built. Here the builders have removed the rot and are sistering in new joists. Not sure why the pic is sideways.

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They used a waterproof membrane system below the decking to route water away from the house and into funnels that lead to a drain. Lots and lots of meticulous custom work.

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The membrane is cut, stapled to the joist, then caulked, then butyl taped.

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I originally wanted the decking material to be Ipe, also called Ironwood, but the cost plus the need and expense of ongoing maintenance, made me go with Trex. Railing is powdercoated aluminum. Puget Sound and Mount Baker in the background.

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Deck was built by a pair of millennials who really impressed. They were serious, hardworking, polite, and really meticulous. Beautiful workmanship. If I still owned my company, I'd be trying to steal these two!

Next project is building the garage behind the house, and I'm awaiting a bid from this same contractor to build it. These guys really passed the audition with flying colors.

What a nice deck with a great view. Nice getting it sorted out!
That drainage system under the deck is clever, I haven seen that before, excelent.

Cheers Richard

What a great view?

Nice to see young people getting in the business and to top it off, with great craftsmanship and responsible. Hope these guys go far and make lot of money. Ask em' if they want to come to LA:)

A treat to see. Membrane stuff is slick. First time exposed to that. Outstanding!

Roughly related but an opposite in craftsmanship story.........Please forgive, just gotta get it out.

There was a guy names Jerry that worked on the Thames river fixing stuff in the early 1800's. He was so bad at repairs he originated the term "Jerry Built".

Move to 2019. Sister's "sub", Bob, is channeling his inner Jerry demonstrated by the pic below.

Pic taken yesterday morning with my phone. Sis asks if I can fix it.

Where's Bob, I ask. In jail with his fifth DWI.

Sweet.

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On topic. Why the insulation?

We were lucky to find this house. We wanted a compact (less than 2000 sq ft) house with the master on the main floor, a view of water/mountains, and room for a detached garage. A unicorn. Most houses with a view end up being 3500-500 sq ft hooray-for-me places. Our neighbors expected te flipper to raze the lace and follow suit, but he decided to keep the 70-y.o. bones.

Loving that view. Next project a boat?

Nicely done, Corg! Agree on that magnificent view! Good luck with the next chapter.

Here's your sideways pic - righted for you......SmileWavy

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What part of town? Trying to be think of where you could see Mt Baker and puget sound in Seattle.

Curious about the drainage system. Lots of leaves here, I was considering same but am concerned with leaves and maintenance.

Looks nice. My deck frame is iron. And my decking is Ipe, it was expensive but it should last forever. I decided to go the no maintenance route and just let it fade to grey naturally. It only needs to be pressure washed yearly. Oiling a deck looks like a PIA.

I think that Bob may have built my original deck.

It sits on what is the "ceiling" of the garage . More importantly, some water pipes from the water heater go through that space. I was glad we found that, as we were one hard freeze away from waders. (I know from 7 yrs in the biz what that amount of water damage does to a house.) Needless to say, those pipes are now very well insulated.

I wondered about that too. The Trex "boards" are about 1/8 of an inch apart, which means that whatever gets through should be pretty small. Hopefully. But I plan to keep an eye on it.

That drainage system is very cool. We don't get enough rain here to warrant that and the ground under my deck is graded properly. I used a synthetic material as well on my current houses deck.

I built my first deck back in 2006 or so and used Brazilian Redwood (similar to Ipe). It was a fair amount of work to maintain every 2 years.

Makes perfect sense. I've seen Brazilian Redwood. It's beautiful stuff. Two guys gave me bids for Ipe, and both were about 50% more than Trex. I like natural materials, and resisted having a "plastic deck," but Ipe seemed like it would take too much effort over time. Apparently it's super labor intensive to install properly. Trex is just fine, and tonight they sent me a cheery email letting me know that my 25-year warranty had been registered.

Interesting times to be building things in Seattle. Real estate prices are crazy, and builders and remodelers are living large. The small guys are so busy it's hard to even get bids, and then they are booked way out. I signed the contract with my guy in early June, and they didn't start until mid-October.

Building boom is everywhere but I think its going to slow down in the next couple years. After the election will come correction. I can't get my subs to see the jobs without making me wait a few days. We have backed up for a 1.5 -2 years for the past 4-5 years. Crazy.

I like that deck Bob. Does it face the sun?

That's a good problem to have, but as you say, these things are cyclical. The risk with a big backlog is that when the economy goes away, those customers you thought were in the bag walk. Then you're stuck if you've built the business up in anticipation of endless growth that doesn't materialize. I watched a couple of my competitors die from that mistake.

I like to talk to employees of contractors I hire to see what they think of their jobs, how they like their owner, etc. I don't pry, but it's usually pretty easy to get them to talk if you show an interest and respect for what they are doing. The lead guy on the deck was really anxious intense, and a real perfectionist. When they found the rotted joists, it really threw him at first. Took him awhile to regroup. The other guy was really easygoing and talkative, but he was also a perfectionist. I'd watch him out the window shave a bit off a board, test fit it, shave off a bit more, over and over.

IMO, we as a society have failed to pay proper respect to people who can work with their hands. As a result, there is a shortage of folks in the skilled trades. Those that remain and are good are in high demand because supply is so low. Building a deck is something you can't automate or outsource to China.

I have four guys on my payroll. My lead guy has been with me for over 18 years. I picked him up when he was 18 aimlessly bumming around doing odd jobs. I tested him once when he hung a couple cabinet doors for me. I stuck a feeler gauge and tested the gaps. He did ok, close, but not perfect. Now, I see him doing it to others. I laugh in tears quietly in the corner. The others are in their 40s with one donkey doing some of the slightly heavier work. Any more then that, I call the big guns instead of burning out my men.

My current client (a big cheese at JPL, involved in the next big lunch) is in love with him. She talks to him a bid but just loves the fact that he can create so many things with his hands with just a couple of others. I still find it fun to actually do the finish work. Now, I involved with all the design and shop drawings so they just follow and put it together. I have been asked by many to grow the company. I shake my head and no, no, no. That only means I have to manage more employees. No way, that means real work. I don't really have to go to my job site but do it daily just to fart around and show my face, chat with my clients. They want to see me, not my men, that's for sure.

We are currently not taking any more new clients unless they are referred to us by past clients. Our jobs last 3 months to over a year so I can only handle no more then two or three at once. Any more then that, I lose control of the quality and the personally relationship. I spspect the economy is really going to slow down after the election. We will ride this out OK (knock on wood). We rode out the last one with all my men working 5-6 days weeks without any real slow down. Thank goodness

I have been looking for a younger person who wants to join and build interesting stuff. I found most younger guys just want to swing a big hammer and get done but not at all interesting in custom and finer work. They jsut don't exist around here.