Building a Deck Part 2: Tools You'll Need

Before we head out to the deck, building site let us go over some of the tools you will need. Starting with hand tools you should have a tape measure, chalk line, layout square straight edge, carpenters level, framing hammer, utility knife, framing square nail set, chisels, wrenches, socket wrench, hand saw, pry bar and saw horses. For power tools you should have a circular saw, miter saw, reciprocating saw, hammer drill, cordless drill, corded drill, wood and masonry bits, extension cords, jigsaw and optionally a nail gun. If you do not, have all the tools required and do not want to purchase them visit the tool rental center at your home depot store. You can rent many of the tools you will need to complete the job. Okay now we are going to head out to the building site to start constructing our deck. We will be constructing a two level deck on a back of a home we sighting will be using MCQ pressure treated lumber which is more environmental friendly and not as corrosive to fasteners. The deck will be build two steps below the exterior door level there will be a step down from the house to the deck. The height of the deck will allow the ledger to be attached to the concrete foundation of the house.

The first step in constructing any deck that will be attached to a house is to install the ledger. The ledger is actually a header for the joist it sets the height of the deck and transfers the weight of the deck to the foundation of the house. Now using your plan measure to determine where the ledger should be attached to the house. Snap a chalk line to mark the position of the top of the ledger cut away any siding where necessary. If you do cut, away siding you will need to install flashing will do this in a later step. For the ledger board, we are suing two by eight lumbers to attach the board to the house drill holes trough the wood in the masonry using a masonry bit then use masonry anchors to attach the ledger. In many cases the ledger board will need to be secured to the wooden framing of your house in that case you will need to use log screws or log bolts to secure it. Once the ledger is in place, you can use it to locate footings mark the center of the outside post location.

Using your plan batter boards and masons line you will create the out line of your deck you will use the intersecting lines of the masons lines to locate the position of your footings. There is math involve and you can get all the details of how to do this and make sure your corners are square by referring to decks 1, 2, 3. Once the locations of the footings are determined, it is time to dig them out. A word of cushion be sure to check with your utility companies first for any possible underground lines. The depth of the hole depends on local codes but should generally be below the frost line for your area if the hole is not deep enough your deck will be susceptible to frost heat. You can dig the holes with a shovels post diggers or gas powered auger as you see here. There are several ways to handle footings and post, concrete can be poured in to the holes with or without form tubes. Post can sit on the top concrete footing on post bases there are also pre cast concrete peers that can be use either set on concrete or on top of level ground. Post can also be buried in the ground with concrete board around them. This is the method we will use on our deck local codes dictate which of this methods can be use so be sure to clarify this before you begin. Be aware that most locations required the building inspector to view the empty holes so be sure that is done before you fill them.

Now we move on to the framing step when our project continues.


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