Sunday

26 January 2014

In the end we have demolished all of the old decks, except for the temporary "new deck". We still need some area to use for a braai. Now we are working on new joists and bearers. It is amazing how much timber is needed.  The back and buttocks don't last, and progress is slow. I must say, I spent some time assisting friends on their projects as well during this week.

We have started to install Fibreboard to seal off the cold wintry wind that we are familiar with. It is intended to seal off the whole hose.

We have also learnt that rainwater is running under the house from the down pipes (spouting), instead of away from it. That will need some drainage pipes installed, but I want to get the framing finished first.

We have been in contact with the Totara decking supplier, and we did manage to buy the remainder to finish the eastern side. That should arrive about Wednesday. Looking at the cost of good timber from other suppliers, I think we will be using treated Pine on the other decks.



Since I have not much progress to report on, i thought to give you some pictures to look at!



19 January 2014

In the end we demolished the whole of the old deck and fitted 125 * 125 mm bearers, with 100 *100 joists. Looking good. We had to cut the piles to get a proper slope on the deck. As it were, the water was running toward the house in one end. Everything is crooked, the house itself slopes 45 mm over the width of the deck.

We cut the Totara timber we have, and contacted the supplier for 160 lengths more. Turns out he had a large order and sold most of the stock. We are hoping to get enough to finish the deck on the eastern side.
We will need to run them all through a thicknesser, as there is some variation in thickness.

We also demolished the last of the old deck on the street side. Once again, all timber will have to be replaced.

That was our week  in brief, not to mention sore backs and buttocks, but we got there in the end. Elna contributed a lot.

12 January 2014

Well, and did we have a roaring time! The two daughters came for a visit over Christmas, and we chilled out, built puzzles, had huge meals and did all of those nice things. It took a while to get up to steam again, with all the other happenings happening.

I had some time on my hands and built a carport from curved iron I had, and steel framing which I have bought a while back. Now the car can fit in there, and will not get marked by the birds.



We have applied for another grant to rebuild the decks. In the meanwhile, I discovered some Totara boards, 150 *25, that is the closest to the original we can hope to get. (The original deck was built with Totara) I ordered 20 to see if it is right, with the idea to order a further 140 if it shapes up. Guess where these boards ended up? Yes, under the carport!

We started demolishing the old deck by the current entrance. It turns out none of the original timber is salvageable. I bought some house piles, 125 * 125 mm to replace the bearers. The joists will be replaced by fence posts. 100*100. I am limited by the height of the original deck and the little storage room on the corner. The piles are still in a good condition.


Thinking of  it, I might just cut the timber piles 50 mm shorter, and remove and re position the concrete piles. That would allow me to use 150 mm joists. Nah.