it’s really going slow. “it” being “everything.”
the deck is coming out very nice… but it’s taking forever. finished installing the decking surface on the upper deck, got maybe 1/3 of the lower deck’s on.

trimming the boards to go around the 4×4 posts as tight as possible took some time. ’specially with a pretty broken jigsaw. ended up doing most of it with a japanese trim saw and a chisel.
trimmed the end of the boards just before nightfall, so i at least feel like there was some accomplishment today.

each board has at least eight hot dipped galvanized decking nails in it. not using deck screws, which probably would be faster… i just can’t stand the way they look on an old house. looked for suitable flat-head (i’m not putting visible phillips on this house) hot dipped galvanized decking/surface screws…. but the only ones i found were outrageously expensive @ 48 cents each! the nails are good enough for me.

going with nails instead of screws was one of the reasons i opted for not using pressure treated lumber for the framing of the deck. if so, in a few years when the pressure treated stuff starts to dry out, it would twist and warp… pulling away from the nails, buckling decking boards and overall reminding me why pressure treated lumber sucks for anything over a couple feet in length. don’t like it when the decking surface is what’s keeping the deck framing straight. won’t have to worry about it, this way.

tomorrow i should be able to knock out the lower deck’s surface, at least. if i can get the stringers done, i’ll be amazed.

~

while the deck isn’t getting done at any alarming rate, i’ve become quite adept at mashing fingers. same thumb i tore up a couple weeks ago, i hit on something today. no idea what, but it was bleeding real good, again.
taped it up, and did some electrical in the carriage house for a little bit…

100A panel; (1) 15A circuit feeding (5) 4′ dual T12 bulb shop lights; (1) 15A circuit feeding (4) 60W incandescent fixtures; (2) 20A circuits for plugs which will be placed every 4′ or so.
just do a little here and there when i get frustrated with other stuff. figure eventually, it’ll be done. no hurry, though.

replaced another circuit in the basement, too… pretty soon, there will be no more knob and tube left, and not much of the old cloth covered romex left.

also ran a network cable into the back bedroom. had to reach elbow deep into the dark, through spider webs, between floor joists over a basement/foundation wall, while balancing with one foot on a shelf and the other attempting to get traction on the wall. guess it’s a good time to mention that i really, really, really don’t like spiders. network cable fished, strung temporary-ish through the floor joists and connected. guess that’s one more accomplishment, right?

…. and i actually used to do this stuff for a living?????

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 9:27 pm and is filed under deck, electrical, carriage house / shop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.