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Home » Buy and hold real estate investing properties » 4th House: Raised Bungalow Build » Week 27: Covered Deck with Diagonal Deck Boards

4th House: Raised Bungalow Build Buy and hold real estate investing properties

Week 27: Covered Deck with Diagonal Deck Boards

We finally finished off the covered deck at the back of the house! This was one of the last big things we needed to finish before we can get our occupancy permit from the township. This deck was supposed to be my little project that I could work on in my spare time…so naturally it took a little over three months, and that was only when I called in for some help.

back-deck-railing-2-2

Here is how the deck looked in the summer. It was basically just the joists and the supporting posts with no deck boards (the second picture has temporary plywood down just so we could walk on it safely).


Tony left it up to me to decide on the pattern for the deck boards. So I decided on a fancy pattern with a perimeter board and diagonal deck boards. We used brown pressure treated lumber for everything.

angled-deck-boards

So why did I decide to do this pattern? Our plan is to someday extend the deck and make it twice the size that it is currently. I thought it would look really nice to have a big diamond pattern made up of four smaller squares with deck boards on a 45 degree angle (similar to this picture). Great idea, right?  This was my first ever deck so I may have taken on more than I could handle. If you want a quick and easy deck project, don’t do angles.

covered-deck-2

There was a lot of extra work involved with the diagonal deck boards. I did a perimeter board around the two halves of the deck, so this meant that all the inner diagonal boards didn’t land on the main structure of the deck. So I had to add extra blocking between the joists to support the ends of all the deck boards. My dad helped me with this part, which was a huge help because I really didn’t know what I was doing.

covered-deck

I finally got all the deck boards done (with Tony’s help) by the beginning of November. Then we got snow and things were put on hold for a while.

20161121_102026-1.jpg

During a few of the milder days we started to work on the handrail. Tony installed all the posts for me; he used large bolts and fastened the posts to the joists from underneath the deck.

back-deck-railing

We decided to go with a simple railing design that would be very sturdy. We used brown pressure treated 2 x 4’s for the top and bottom rails that we screwed to the posts. The top board is a 2 x 6, which is wide enough that it can also be used as a handy spot to put your drink. I also did my first ever scarf joint on the top board of the handrail. Tony told me that it was probably better than he could have done, so I took that as a huge compliment!

deck-railing

Once we finished with the top and bottom rails, I screwed the spindles to the 2 x 4’s, spacing them around 4 inches apart.

deck railing

Even though the deck seemed to take forever, I’m pretty proud of how it turned out. It was a difficult pattern, it’s not perfect, but it’s not too bad for my first deck project. And I really enjoyed doing the work, especially on some of those beautiful days in September and October. I so look forward to next summer when we can sit here, have a drink, and relax!


5 Comments

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gail says

    December 6, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    Wow Jess, it looks great! You are so talented. I’m thinking of changing my “honey” do list to my “Jessie” do list!!

    Reply
    • Jessica Vanderveen says

      December 6, 2016 at 1:15 pm

      Anything you want! You know we like to try new things on someone else’s house

      Reply
  2. Hazel + Gold Designs says

    December 8, 2016 at 10:58 am

    Impressive! Nice job! It looks really good and I’m sure you guys will love it for a long time.

    Reply
    • Jessica Vanderveen says

      December 8, 2016 at 12:01 pm

      Thank you so much!

      Reply

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  1. How To Build A House | The Vanderveen House says:
    December 31, 2016 at 10:39 am

    […] (Vedder Woodworking), Tony and I, as well as Dovetail Carpentry. We also finally finished up the covered deck at the back of the […]

    Reply

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