A month's work

[fishlux]

Haven't had any time to turn lately. Been re-doing the deck. The deck is 20 years old, and the decking itself was terrible. Splinters, cracks, splits, etc.

So I decided to re-deck it. I found a gent willing to supply me 1"x4" rough sawn Black Locust in 6'-12' lengths. I feel like I got a heck of a deal too, I ended up just under 400bf for $400. That was nearly twice what I needed, so I left room for bad boards.

I had to add joists, as my structure was 24" on center, so now it's 12" on center. I didn't expand the deck at all, the only change was to remove the rail. Not needed on a deck 14" above grade.

Here are some of the after pictures.

 

[1080Wayne]

200bf = 5600 pens for $200 = 3.6 cents/pen . A heck of a deal indeed !

 

[hewunch]

Did you plane the boards? The deck looks great. I guess BL is good wood for that? I know it is dense as all get out.

 

[fishlux]

I didn't plane it (I don't have a planer). But I probably should have. Not for the surface, it's fine as is, but some of the boards were 7/8" and some were 1 1/4" and the rest are in between.

I ended up with a thick one next to a thin one in several places. I bought a HF belt sander and eased the transitions. It's not level or flat, but there's no where you can stub your toe.