So you bought a shed or built one to put all your stuff in but it seems that everything ends up in a pile in the corner and it is just as bad as when it was all in your garage. Well in an afternoon with a few tools you can put your storage in order and finally stop tripping over the lawn mower every time you need …
Decks & Sheds
How To – Building A Beam For Your Deck
Decks and Porch additions require that the joists be connected to the home with a Ledger Board and joist hangers. On the opposite side (away from the home) you rest the joists on top of a beam that is supported by posts.
In this HowTo we will cover the steps for installing the posts and building the beam for our deck project.
When designing your deck you will know its dimensions in our project …
How To – Constructing Footings For Decks
Constructing footings for your deck or porch project is relatively easy if you take time check the span charts for your beam and measure the locations correctly.
Some contractors will install beam posts directly in the ground with a small footing at its base and surround it with concrete. This is probably not the best way to build a deck because the concrete surrounding the wood post will eventually rot the lumber. Even pressure …
How To – Building Wood Porch Stairs
So, now that you built your deck you need a way to get off of it and stairs are a great way to do that.
The first thing you need to do is decide of you will be building the stair stringers (things that hold the stair tread steps) yourself or if you will be buying some pre-cut ones at the lumber yard. The cost of buying them isn’t that much and if you haven’t …
Making A Concrete Pad For Porch Steps
When you are building your porch or deck one of the last things you will need to do is build your steps.
You have many choices you can attach your step stringers to your rim joist of the deck with a header and then use a ground contact rated pressure treated footer at the bottom or you can go an additional step and pour a pad at the bottom of your steps …
Repairing a lose board on your deck
Sometimes when you build with pressure treated lumber it will shrink more then expected this is the problem with one of or deck boards. Although replacing the whole piece is an option once you have stained your deck a few times and it has weathered for a season installing a fresh board will mean a mismatch in color.
If you are using an opaque stain that will completely block the grain in the wood this is fine …
HowTo – Staining Your Deck
With proper maintenance your deck can last years longer so taking a half a day to paint it should not be looked at as a nasty chore but a protection of your investment.
Penetration into the wood is the main difference between Paints and Stains.
Paints can be thought of as a thick outer shell that will fail once it is chipped off. Stain will enter into the wood and continue to protect the wood …
Planning your Deck Project
Every good project starts with a good plan and although Decks are a pretty simple project you will probably need to submit plans to your Building Official to get a permit for construction.
For specifications of how detailed your plans need to be you should call your local permit office and ask them what they will need from you.
Most areas will require:
• A Plot Plan of your homes lot showing the location and …