HILLSIDE REDWOOD DECK (550 square feet)

This original deck was 30 years old and framed with 30 foot long 2 x 12 joists from an airplane hanger that was being torn down in the '50s. The joists were layed on #2 20 foot long, 8 x 15 inch beams and not attached to the house. The original decking was 16 foot long, pine 2 x 4's. This decking was rotting along the exposed edges, most nails had raised and lost hold and all contact with the joists were soft. To stay within client's budget, instead of buying all new lumber for new joists and use cheaper decking materials, I came up with an idea for the client to afford a new redwood deck using expensive decking clips that attach to the joists from under the decking without having to replace all of the framing joists. The major problem was that the beams that held the joist were too far apart and over 30 years, the long joists sagged in-between putting stress on the decking allowing for dettachment and leading to exposure and enabling rot to occur.

After removing all the original decking, all joists were flipped upside down. They were tacked in place as they originally sat. The joist edges along the house were cut back 6" and the street facing side by 8". Three joists were scrapped because they had too much rot. The existing beams were jacked up and supported to the height allowed for new decking and joist height. New concrete post pads (3) for the driveway side beam support were made next. I attached the beams to the new pads with treated posts at the new height for the new decking level to the existing driveway.

I then built a beam, bolted together with #2 staggered 2x12x12 treated pieces of lumber, sandwiching a treated 12" long 4x4 length placed vertically inbetween the 2x12's every 24".I placed this in-between the beam span of the 2 existing beams as a third beam. The outside end of the new beam was held up by a post attached to the retaining wall beneath the outer edge of the deck. The canitlever of the beam was supported by a 45 degree, hang-mans support. I then made and installed to either side of the bottom of the joists where they met against the support beams at the new height, 8" lengths of treated 2x4. The 2x4 "feet" were cut with a 45 degree angle across the top for water drainage. The seam where the feet were attached to the joists and the beams were later caulked with outdoor epoxy caulking. I used #6 new 2x12x12 treated lumber pieces, sistered together, for the 3 new joists I had to replace.

Then the ardeous process of attaching all the decking clips began. After which I began applying the redwood decking in a preconfigured, consistantly-staggered layout using screws included with the decking clips. The railing posts, horizonatal railing supports, railing ballisters and decking skirt came next. The final step for the construction was the 2x6 redwood, cap railing.

The client then wanted a railing for the steps at the front of the deck. I built a platform step at the top of the existing concret stairs. I then attached 4x4 posts against the existing retaining wall along the steps. I installed the cap rail with a hard angle change midway down the stairs to maintain a comfortable railing height to compensate for the unevenly constructed existing stairs. The entire deck was then cleaned, rough sanded 120grit, random-orbit by hand, cleaned, finish sanded with 200 grit and cleaned. 2 coats (3 gallons) of Penofin Redwood Stain was used.