Another Code Enforcement Permit Signed Off!!!

Woo-Freaking Hoo!!!!
The inspector just recently came to inspect the giant mess of a deck redo project.

I missed two things...I forgot a couple of Simpson brackets called out for in the plans and I
didn't get the nail pattern correct for the doubled up beams.

Took an hour to fix that and now its good to go!!!!!

I'll say it again...
Woo-Freaking Hoo!!!!

The one year hard deadline is fast approaching in mid October so this is none too soon.

The final code enforcement issue is the kitchen...I'll be posting about that later...

Sorry no pics for some reason...guess I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Deck Rebuilding Part 3..what comes next?"

After a week of working (well, not really a week more like 3 half days) I've got all the joist hangers replaced that I can until I figure some more things out.

This post should of been titled...
How Am I Going To Double These Freaking Things?

Take a look at the diagram below. Notice where it says that I need to double the existing 2by12's.

There are two spots that my SE says were under built and that I need to add more framing. The long diagonal edge of the deck and half of one of the single 2by 'beams'. This deck already exists and I need to double the 2by12's.... I admit, I'm at a loss as how to sensibly go about doing this? There are tons of joists hanging off of them (with the still incorrect hangers).
Do I remove all the hangers cut the joists back by 1.5" and then push up the new 2by12 and then attach the new hangers? I'd have to build a temporary wall to support all of those joists I'd think?
Ugh...

Long Diagonal
Here's a shot of the long diagonal rim board that needs to be doubled.

Initially this seems to be the easier task.
I've bought through bolts long enough to accommodate the added wood.
Could it be as easy as lifting the new wood into place nailing it off and then using the existing holes as guides in the posts drill the new wood for the longer bolts and then bolt the whole thing together?

More Shots Of The Long Rim Board
From the other side this time.

If I replaced it from the inside I'd have to cut back all of these joists and rehang them with my new hangers...that seems kinda nuts to me if there's an easier way.

Short Beam

Closer up shot of left arrow.

Closer up shot of right arrow.

Its hard to see but the post supporting this 'beam' is notched to hold the beam.
Short beam from the other side.

Doubling this short beam seems mighty darn impossible to me.
Same amount of joist hangers on either side so that doesn't help me decide.
I'm thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to put the new wood on the long side of the
supporting post. I could cut it back and then the new 'beam' could sit on top of the post.

So I think that to do this safely I'd have to build a temp wall to support all the joists.
Then remove all the hangers.
Then cut back the ends of the joists by 1.5" (How do I do this with the joists in place?)
Then slide up the new 2by12 and nail-glue-screw it off.
Then attach old joists to new beam with new hangers.

Does that sound like the way to go?
Can anybody think of a better way to do this?

Ugh, did I mention how much my back hurts?

Why You Shouldn't Build A Deck Without A Permit.

Started on the deck redo this week and what I found quite honestly frightened me...
I don't honestly know how this deck is still standing....

Here's what ~$900 in deck rebuilding supplies looks like.

First thing I did was install the new correct lag bolts into the header.
No before pics but check out this after shot.

There was slightly less than half of the bolts you see here originally.
The bolts they used for the ledger board left something to be desired...

None of these bolts where Hot Dip Galv. You can see where the 2by PT ledger was corroding the bolt. Another scary thing, check out how long the bolt is. Near as I could figure only about 3/4" of this bolt was actually in the house framing.  So, the bolt was rusting out like its its job and each bolt only had a toehold on the framing...scary.
The bottom row of lags where screwed right into the 2by6 wall framing and the uppers into blocking installed between the floor joists...no rim board unfortunately.
When you use lags in this manner you are supposed to have at least 3/4" penetrating the framing for the inspector to see. In this case the upper row of bolts didn't even penetrate the blocking.

Here's what the upper row looks like now.

On the lower row since they penetrate the wall studs there is no practical way to do this...hopefully my BI will be okay with this.

New Hangers

Here is a shot of the new hanger installed with the vycor deck protector wrap. The Simpson Application Engineer stressed this step as being really important for a long lived deck. Why don't they just figure out a coating that will last?

Super Scary Old Hangers

This is what non ZMax hangers look like after being installed for 8yrs.

Even scarier, check out the decay (and size) in the non HDG nails they used.

The nail on the left is an actual nail I pulled out of one of the hangers!
The nail on the right is the correct size of nail (10D) that is supposed to be used with the LUS26 hanger.

Tiny Nail

This is more typical of the amount of decay on the joist hanger nails.
This nail is like 1 1/4" long by about 1/8" wide.
What kind of nail is this and in what situation would this be an approproiate choice?
The Simpson catalog says that you are supposed to use 10D commons with the hanger...the nail they used is pretty far from a 10D I'd say.

Here's an exciting shot of a loooong row of hangers I did yesterday.

There was 15 of them and it took me all the free time I had in the day...gotta get faster at this.

Old, New, and Ugly

This is an interesting shot.
Fancy new hanger on the left, old decaying hanger on the right and a big double wide hanger in the middle.
This big double wide, a LUS210-2Z, is the only hanger on this entire deck that is ZMax.
They unfortunately used the tiny nails here too...there's a lot of load on this hanger...how it hasn't failed already I don't know.
I'm going to replace it with a new hanger, and the correct nails, so I can do the deck wrap thing here also.

That's all I got done in a week the ledger board and about half of the hangers retro-fitted.
Man, my back is sore and so is my neck and shoulders...the bottom of the joists is at about 5'-6" and I'm 6' tall. I spent a lot of time hunched over working....

Ummmmmmmm, Scotch...

Deck Redo Issue

Okay when last we met about this subject we were trying to figure out about what to do about the metal fasteners on the deck....

Here's what I think I've learned.
Our environment does not require stainless steel fasteners for the deck.
Yes I do have to change out the dang joist hangers and here is where it gets interesting.

Just got off the phone with my local Simpson Application engineer.

She says that I absolutely can not just yank out the LUS26's and replace them with LUS28Z's...
She says that the holes are in the same places and even if I used their SD screws that the pre-drill hole would be too big! It looks like the hangers are put up with standard 10D nails and she says that's too much of a pre-drilled hole!

She wants me to use HUS26Z's which cost twice as much take twice as many nails but that the holes are in different places....dang.

So, I get a 'bright' idea and call up USP and talk to their joist hanger application engineer. I ask him if the nail holes on their version of an LUS26 are in the same place. I'm figuring they couldn't be...but no! He says with a little shame in his voice that their connectors are exactly the same!?!?!?! How could that be legal?

Then the Simpson engineer gets back to me with another option. Simpson actually makes a joist hanger that is designed to go over another hanger! Who Knew?
Its called a NRU26Z and it special order only....she could not tell me the price...but heck, if its not stupid expensive then I could just use it and not have to rip out the old ones! That'll turn a multiple day job into a half day job I bet....

We'll see what they cost...at least if I use the HUS26Z's I don't have to worry about removing the nails I can just break them off at the surface with a cold chisel and a sharp whack.

Just got an email from my local lumber yard.....guess how much the above hanger costs???
C'mon guess!?!?!?!!?

$16!?!?!?!?!? Each!!!!!!!!

Dang, guess I'm going with the HUS hanger and all the screws....hurray!!

Deck Project Planning

Alright, while we are waiting the 3-4 weeks for our kitchen cabinets and exhaust hood we need to focus on getting the deck up to snuff...and when I say up to snuff I mean untrucking all the wacky stuff the PO did and bringing it up to modern code. From what we can tell the deck was built around 5 years ago, which means its built with the extra nasty PT wood.
What I think that mostly means is;
   Adding risers to the stairs.
   Changing out ALL the non-PT rated hardware, bolts, washers, screws, nails, joist hangers...etc...hurray!
   Adding code compliant hand rails to the stairs.

Here's how the deck looks from afar.

Pretty big and impressive isn't it?
Now, lets look a little closer...help me figure out what needs to be replaced and how?

First there are no risers to either run of stairs.

This run has 6 1/8" clear between the treads.

This run has 6" clear between the treads.

I need to put in a riser that passes the 4" sphere rule.
Does anybody have any opinions on the best way to do that?
I think a single PT 2by4 would work and pass the 4" rule and allow some light to pass through.
I'm sorta thinking if it was centered in the opening it would be best.
I have PT rated pocket screws. Would two in each end and into the beefy 4by12 carriage be a strong beefy connection?

It also looks like I'll have to replace all the treads in the lower section that are not PT as they are showing signs of rotting...

Speaking of Stairs.
The PO used some sort of bracket that is not a Simpson Bracket and I don't know anything about it.

Unknown stair bracket.

The bracket itself doesn't appear to be rusting but those bolts sure do...and I believe you have to fill every single hole with these brackets.

Nails
The PO really, really, liked nails...

None of these nails should be rusting if they are of the correct type right?
So, I think I have to replace every single (if its actually doing anything useful) rusting out nail with something else.
I'd like to replace them all with PT rated structural screws from McFeelys, does that sound reasonable?

Corroded Structural Bolts
Notice how rusted the washers are. The bolts don't look so bad but I haven't backed one out yet to see...I'm afraid too..

 Look at all the rusting out nails holding this stuff together. Are they even required with the bolts in place? Seems to me that the nails are mostly just chewing up the wood.

Whats a PT rated joist hanger?

Or hanger nail?

None, of the fricken joist hangers are PT rated...just standard hangers and they are starting to rot pretty well, some are actually green and fuzzy from corrosion...It also bugs me a bit that they use hangers for 2by6's on 2by8's and 10's.

Questions: (remember that this is a one man operation)
Is everything that is rusting after 5 years need to be replaced? IE, the correct hardware would not be doing this right?
What's the best way to remove and replace the joist hangers? I've got slightly over 50 to do!
What's everybody think of my idea to remove the rusting out nails and replace them with PT rated structural screws?
Best way to add a riser to the stairs? Does my idea sound reasonable?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, I know that the most sensible thing to do is to tear the entire thing down and do it right from the beginning but we don't have the money or time for that.

Another Deadline Met!!

The end of Sept was also the deadline for us to get our plans re-submitted to the city with all the changes their plan check engineer wanted.

As usual it was a crazy last minute rush with me having to rush over to the engineers office so he could sign and stamp the plans. Then when I got to the building dept. the women who usually handles this stuff was off and the person filling in had a different take on what I needed....I only had 2 copies of the plans but she said I needed 4 because planning had a hold on the plans...This was serious, new news to me. Last I heard we had passed the major design review and planning had signed off on all of it....

I had to rush home and print out two more sets of the plans...luckily the sets for planning did not need to be stamped and signed by the engineer.

Without Further Ado...The Plans!!!

Here is the framing plan for the main deck.

I have to add two 2by12's to the spots noted to beef up the rim joists...that is going to suck as I will have to shorten the existing joists then install the new rim and re-attach the joists.

Here is the post-footing plan.

The existing footings are 12" square...which means I will have to dig up and redo the three footings that need to be 18"...that's not super great...but now I won't have to dig up all the footings and redo them.

Construction Details.

Framing Plan for the Balcony.

I'm going to have to do some work on the landing and the stringer connection....which will be fun as its super high in the air...

Some Renders of the different views of the existing stuff.

I had to put the note in about the floor to floor distance as the cities engineer didn't believe it was 12'. He thought it was more..
And Finally the plan for our super fab kitchen.

I'm seriously hoping that the cities plan check engineer takes another 3-4 months to look this over. My biggest fear is that he'll get back to me quickly and they'll issue the permit at the beginning of winter and I'll lose several months of outdoor construction time because its raining...only have a year to finish everything after the permit is issued....

Bye-Bye Old Scary Stairs

Its Time for a Deconstruction.

Okay, Today's the day to deconstruct the rear stairs....I've been trying to put it off as long as possible but they are getting more and more unstable and I feel veering towards being officially unsafe soooo.....

Just to remind everyone, here's the stairs...with the super slippery unsafe ramp that I slapped on a couple years ago...

Here are all the tools I think that I'm going to need to do the deconstruction. I'm using the term deconstruct instead of demo because I'm not going to be smashing things with 20# sledges. I'll be unscrewing and cutting nails to take the rear stairs apart.

Yes, on the left is a super-fab $20 Harbor Fright sawzall...at that price, its pretty much disposable...I did put a decent demo blade on it and I'm hoping it will last thru this project and the siding project.

After removing the ramp I was treated to this scary sight. The wing-dings that built this stair used untreated plywood as a spacer and it is mostly turned back to dust now.

A couple of taps from the 5# sledge loosened things up enough that I could slide the sawzall in and slice the nails off the railings.

I rigged up the ryobi impact drill to remove the big honking lag bolts holding the posts to the rim board. The lags where a pain to remove with a wrench but with the impact driver they just zipped right out...highly recommend one.

Here's a shot of the right side stringer after I removed the top step. its not nailed to the rim joist its nailed to the post! The post which I just un-bolted! Luckily the post was also nailed in place from behind through the rim joist.

Here's a shot after all the treads had been removed. That left side stringer wasn't even toe nailed to that piece of wood supporting it. It was just sitting on top! Also, see the top right side next to the post? Those pieces of 2by12 nailed to the wall? I can't figure out what the heck they where for. They where not structural at all...I think they were just put there to fill up space...and they nailed the heck outta them...

This piece of wood gave me the most trouble. This is the 'dropped rim joist' and a 2by6 nailer behind it. I'll have to use a dropped rim joist also as the last riser will be this framing but I'm thinking that I can figure out a better way to do this.

Anywho I wrestled with this and it finally swung free...

But it got away from me slightly and smacked the bottle of 'blood vodka' off the top of the bar...man that stuff stinks and the red dye is probably going to stain the patio...

Here's a shot of the demo complete and cleaned up with the wood stacked. It only took me 2 hrs to do which I think is pretty good for a chubby-hubby non-pro with a bad back.

the wood. Most of it looks like all-heart redwood. I'm hoping I can get a Craig's List scavenger to take it away for me.

Next up, I have to lay out and cut the stringers....hope I don't screw up as I didn't buy any extras....