Monday, September 9, 2013

( Sep 9) The Deck is Done

We got the joists laid out on the frame today. I'm putting them on 12" centers to give a really firm feel to the flooring.


Built a beam for the middle and then attached a piece of track on either side to accept the joists. We looked at several ways to do this before we started. One would have been to lower the piers in the center line to accept a support beam under the joists. This way they could just sit on top of it. In the end we talked to some people in the construction field and decided that putting the middle beam even with the others offered better support. Either way, we could put a grand piano in here now if we wanted. 



Put down a layer of tar paper to help keep moisture from coming up off of the ground onto the bottom of the deck.




Pretty exciting to see a deck here in the woods where there was just brush before! 





Used Advantech ¾" decking for the sub-floor. It's water resistant. Not water proof, but very resistant. Lots of examples on the web where people were able to leave it out in the weather for several years without significant swelling. We paid more for this than standard plywood but much less than marine plywood which was my other choice.



2 comments:

  1. Do you mind if I ask questions?

    Was there any thought about insulating the floor?
    I live in Florida (until Tuesday when my home sells) and my home is also built on piers and I find the floors cold in the winter - I know our winter here is much warmer than yours, but I am barefoot most of the time.
    Like you, my decision for metal was termites. I'm thinking building a frame like yours, then flipping it over to put treated plywood on the bottom, resetting it in blocks, filling in the space with closed cell foam, then the Advantech floor ...

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  2. Probably a good idea! We initially started the building as a storage shed. It wasn't until we were well into the framing that we decided to put windows in it and make it a house. By then it was too much trouble to insulate the floor. We just went through our 1st winter here with it completely closed in. Floors were cool but not really cold. I had 3/4" Advantech on bottom with 1/2" plywood on top of that with a layer of 30# tar paper between. We also got flooring that had a layer of foam insulation under it. Into the 20s and our little space heater did really well. Sometimes we would turn on the stove for a few minutes just to speed up the process. I've heard some giving caution about foam insulation under flooring. I don't know anything about it but you might check it out thoroughly. They quoted me about $2K to foam insulate the building compared to the $400 for batting. We would never make up the $1,600 difference in that we don't pay for hardly any electricity now. I love the Advantech flooring. Lowe's used to carry it here on the shelf. Now, it's special order. We would also go with their Zip System siding if we did another instead of messing with house wrap or tar paper. Between the 12' OC floor joists and the two sheets of flooring, its really solid. One place that creeks. I meant to add extra screws to the subfloor before we put the flooring down but we got carried away and covered it up. I wasn't about to take it all apart to fix. Now is has a little character! lol

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