Wednesday. Yet another lumber list was our first order of business, and we got on it right away. Mom's other decking order was purposefully short, as she had hoped to avoid the 25% restocking fee on returning surplus. So we calculated our anticipated extra decking and I drove back down the hill to call in our order to ROSSIs while Erin touched-up the stair stringers with a little construction adhesive, threw Maia in the pond, and started one of two special custom decking pieces, as seen below. These pieces are necessary because, as you can see, our boards don't always end flush with the corners, but 'wrap' around the edge. Our two custom pieces required cutting and routering on one edge, along with precision fitting.
When I returned to the prop, we continued on with laying out and screwing down the next set of boards - mostly 8 to 10 footers. We didn't really break for lunch, but kept right on trucking through the next set of boards - 16 footers - until we'd exhausted our lumber pile. Many boards have ended up with more than 10 inches hanging off the end of a joist; therefore, we have inserted additional blocking and joisting, but we do this as it comes.
The Fiberon fake-wood decking is an interesting animal. When we arrive in the morning, those purposeful 1/8" and 3/16" spaces between boards are well and good. As the day progresses, and the sun beats down on our weary heads, the gaps are nowhere to be found. Well, you say, this is exactly the purpose of the spaces! Well, retort, it is causing some problems. Imagine starting your construction day working with cold, contracted boards, and progressing on working with hot, expanded boards. How on earth are your precise little 1/8" spaces going to be consistent with this variable? The boards change length, my friends, in a matter of a few hours. The overall effect is hardly noticeable (unless you're an asshole), but we like things to be perfect and and we cannot limit our productivity to only early mornings!
On another note, we'd like to introduce you to our decking tabs, of which we will probably use 1000 by the end of this project. We have had to betray our love affair with the star drive and switch to the more-easily-stripped square drive, as the included hardware includes squares. So about 95% of our decking has no visible screws in it, which is awesome.
The Fiberon fake-wood decking is an interesting animal. When we arrive in the morning, those purposeful 1/8" and 3/16" spaces between boards are well and good. As the day progresses, and the sun beats down on our weary heads, the gaps are nowhere to be found. Well, you say, this is exactly the purpose of the spaces! Well, retort, it is causing some problems. Imagine starting your construction day working with cold, contracted boards, and progressing on working with hot, expanded boards. How on earth are your precise little 1/8" spaces going to be consistent with this variable? The boards change length, my friends, in a matter of a few hours. The overall effect is hardly noticeable (unless you're an asshole), but we like things to be perfect and and we cannot limit our productivity to only early mornings!
On another note, we'd like to introduce you to our decking tabs, of which we will probably use 1000 by the end of this project. We have had to betray our love affair with the star drive and switch to the more-easily-stripped square drive, as the included hardware includes squares. So about 95% of our decking has no visible screws in it, which is awesome.
note: delicious apple in the background
sighting down the line
almost all the way 'round!
Our extra decking will not arrive till Friday, thus tomorrow marks the occasion of our first full day off together since the project began. I personally have not had even one day off between yurting and the other job, since the project began. We had hoped to go kiteboarding, but alas, the tides at our super-secret kiting location aren't predicted to rise sufficiently. We will count on a field trip nonetheless, and report on our adventures on Friday.
1 comment:
Yet another obstacle overcome by the dream team of Maia, Linz and Erin. This project rocks. Mama
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