Build A Deck

[HAULN-SS]

This is going to be a how-to on building a deck. I am digging the post foundations today, and will have some pictures up later on. I'm doing a 12 x 32' deck on the back of the house. I'll try to take a lot of pictures, which maybe will help some of you later on. I went and got the permits on thursday. It was like 70$, but, if you build a deck to code, and later want to close it in or use it as the floor for an addition on to the house, it'll be legal.



Stay tuned...

[HAULN-SS]

Set your corners. Use your favorite pythagorean triple anywhere there is going to be a right angle. This will ensure your corners are square, and your deck is square with the house.



I used 3, 4 and 5. That is, 3 feet down one side, and 4 feet down the other will leave me with exactly 5 feet between the marks on my string, if i am square.



Use these to dig foundation holes for the posts. 2 square feet x 30" deep (depth depends on location)



Two hours of digging through solid shale got me this:


Fuck that. Bringing in the big guns.



After a couple hours, i end up with 5 holes, eight feet apart. The basic design I am going with is 32' x 12'. The holes are 10' out from the house, so that I can do a 2' cantalever for the final width.

[white_2kgt]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

[WRXtranceformed]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

[HAULN-SS]

yeah..and i could already tell the ground had never been dug in because it was so fucking hard. I did get into one of my drain pipes coming from the sump in the basement, but that's like a 5$ fix.

[white_2kgt]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

[Mike]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

+1; he's really not that intelligent.

[ViPER1313]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

+1; he's really not that intelligent.

Figured out how to get the bitch pin out?

[HAULN-SS]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

+1; he's really not that intelligent.

because clearly the intelligent thing would be for the utility companies to route shit all over the yard, cris crossing, and using extra materials instead of moving in straight lines and right angles from the source? I had a pretty clear idea of where everything was. As previously mentioned, the ground would not have been so hard if there had ever been any trenches dug for anything running back there.

[Mike]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

+1; he's really not that intelligent.

Figured out how to get the bitch pin out?

hardly an intelligence thing. you want to come try, genius?

[Mike]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

+1; he's really not that intelligent.

because clearly the intelligent thing would be for the utility companies to route shit all over the yard, cris crossing, and using extra materials instead of moving in straight lines and right angles from the source? I had a pretty clear idea of where everything was. As previously mentioned, the ground would not have been so hard if there had ever been any trenches dug for anything running back there.

i don't have faith in the work of others, which is why it would be intelligent to have someone come check their work. guessing on something that simple to check out, and that painful to fuck up, is just plain stupid. i'd go so far as to cal it deersty-like... oh wait.

[WRXtranceformed]

Yeah man I'm with Mike on this one... you always should call Miss-U before you dig up anything in your backyard. If you hit natural gas / propane or electrical lines you could potentially kill yourself.

[white_2kgt]

I don't see marks from 1-800-MISS-UTILITY!!!

You wouldn't see them if his utilities came in on the side or front of his house :wink:

I doubt he called

+1; he's really not that intelligent.

because clearly the intelligent thing would be for the utility companies to route shit all over the yard, cris crossing, and using extra materials instead of moving in straight lines and right angles from the source? I had a pretty clear idea of where everything was. As previously mentioned, the ground would not have been so hard if there had ever been any trenches dug for anything running back there.

Just when you think you have figured out all the different utilities and their various ways of doing screwy things, BAM that's when it bits you in the ass. You were fine w/ the shovel (still should call though) but right when that skid steer came out there should have been a call, no matter what you 'think'. How long have you lived there? Utilities have been around for almost 100 years, even if the lines were only 3 yrs old you wouldn't be able to tell where they dug.

[HAULN-SS]

That's not true. Once the ground has been broken once, it will stay soft for years. We put in a addition to a house once a few years ago, and the utility lines had been in 15 years and the ground was still soft. Regardless what you guys think, I am no amateur when it comes to building things. Two years ago my house was in the middle of a cow field. I have copies of the plat, and know where everything is. There's three things that say I'm right, what are you going on other than assuming the people were incompetent and ran the lines in some fucked up manner?

[Mike]

what are you going on other than assuming the people were incompetent and ran the lines in some fucked up manner?

it is a pretty strong point. maybe things are different out in bumfuck, but 4/5 times i deal with a contractor of some sort, things are not done satisfactorily. examples in my 4 months in this new house:

1. verizon guy told us to reuse our old cable boxes... he forgot to reactivate them with hte new house so when our contract at the old house expired, we were without tv.
2. verizon guy installed the fios box IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BASEMENT (this is a big, ugly beige/white box). huge eyesore that could have been moved over about five feet to be with the breaker box.
3. i have NEVER been able to get verizon to get their multi-room DVR working correct. this is two houses now.
4. our basement was built just before us moving in...
a. one of the toilets didn't flush. when they came out to fix it, they dropped it, broke it, had to replace it.
b. they forgot to caulk the shower. they came out and did that...
c. they did a shitty caulking job, water got in to the wall, they still have yet to rip the wall out and fix it.
d. the sump pump was installed incorrectly and smells like sewage.
e. our a/c unit was broken from day 1. it took six visits for them to finally get it working. each time they'd replace something, think it worked since even the fan blows some cold air from the basement, and we'd have to wait another week for them to come back out.

[WRXtranceformed]

Dude just because you have plats of the land doesn't mean that you couldn't potentially hit something. The engineers at NOVEC that I used to work with were constantly revising branch line plans, distribution boxes, etc even up to the last minute....and then of course with the nature of construction sometimes changes had to be made out in the field due to unexpected problems.

I don't think it costs you anything to get them marked, just call them next time. I was digging around on their site and check out the fines if you hit an underground line!

"Penalties for Violating the Miss Utility Laws: Actual repair costs, and civil penalties up to $2,500 per violation as well as up to three times the actual repair cost of the damaged utilities, plus punitive damages up to $10,000 per incident."

[HAULN-SS]

Well, when you guys have a project, you can waste your time all you want. I'll dig my holes the same day I decide to dig the holes. Obviously if I were digging in the front yard, or somewhere closer to the street, I'd call to have them marked. Being that I have a little common sense and experience, it was not necessary for this project. On the off chance that I had hit something, at most it would have been a non-critical drainage line that is 30 feet away. Appreciate the concern. The next step is pouring concrete, but i'm waiting on my building permit to come in the mail so I can get the holes inspected first.

[WRXtranceformed]

Why waste time to wait on inspections? When you decide to pour concrete, you should pour it the same day............

[BLINGMW]

holy crap guys, he's trying to share his project with us. The holes are there, it's done, get over it.

[Mike]

holy crap guys, he's trying to share his project with us. The holes are there, it's done, get over it.

just trying to inject some wisdom/reason. it takes a lot for it to sink in for some.