At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Good thinking, my wife always worries about the bugs that would come in under the deck, i say, who cares it cant be that many??

The only problem i see is that with to much dirt/debris it will fill up the cracks between the boards. Dirt will wash through but they eventually will fill up with pet hair and debris that you track in and or what blows though the open door?

I think Obed can always use an air compressor or blower to blow any debris up and out as long as it is not allowed to accumulate and compact..but good point and something to watch out for.

Yes, dirt and debris will be an issue. We'll have to see how bad it will be. We might be able to us a shop vac to periodically suck stuff out of the cracks. Eventually, the screen may droop a little with junk sitting on it. I'll be interested in seeing how the dirt/debris issue plays out. However, I'd rather deal with dirt/debris than mosquitoes.

This spring the mosquitoes are worse than this time last year. My wife suspects that the new grass around the house is providing a place for the mosquitoes to hang out. I'm not sure about that but have noticed the mosquitoes have gotten worse. However, they are still nowhere nearly as bad as they were at some other places I've lived. I can sit on the front porch without being bothered much during the day but don't want to be out there at dusk.

It will be nice to be able to sit on the back porch at/after dusk in the cool of the evening once we get the porch screened in.

Obed

 

[Obed]

For two years ina row I`v had the tomatoes fall over later in the season...Make sure the post is well driven into the ground...Once they fall over , the tomato vines break, and that`s it.

Tony,
The T-posts are solidly in the ground. We do plan on installing one more post for additional strength. I don't think we'll have a problem. I could put all of my weight against one of the posts without knocking it down.

Everything is sure looking good, and the view from the porch is a nice one Tony

Thanks. I really think the back porch and deck will be one of my favorite features of the house. I already told my wife when were were building the house that I'm going to get a meat smoker once we finish the deck. I'm looking forward to grilling and smoking pork on the deck ... eventually.
Obed

 

[Obed]

Pretty sure the screen was suggested earlier in the thread (though it may well have been last year or sometime long ago), as I think I suggested it along with a couple others. I've done it before and heard of others doing it. But no matter, it is a good trick to use. The downside is that it will collect crap, but if the porch is screened in, that gets reduced significantly. Oh yeah, and it makes installing deck boards a royal PITA as you have to be careful not to poke through it (or step through it...). But well worth it in the end, IMHO.

dstig1, thanks for the suggestion. I obviously took it into consideration. It's been so long since that discussion that I didn't remember where I got the idea. And of course, after a long enough time, I'm capable of claiming credit for any good idea someone else made!

I might also suggest that you allow a bit more of a deck board gap around your twisting posts, as they may not be done twisting yet and if they do more, it could buckle your deck boards. Wood movement is basically The Unstoppable Force of the world, so it is best to allow for it rather than fight it...

I've allowed for a 1/4" gap. The posts have been sitting in our garage for over a year and a half so I'm hoping most of the twisting has already occurred. Certainly a 1/4" gap will be enough at this stage.

BTW, did I mention how much I dislike working with pressure treated wood? PT wood bows and twists terribly and puts splinters in tender computer geek office conditioned hands like mine. And the PT chemicals don't even resist carpenter bees.

Obed

 

[clemsonfor]

Yes, dirt and debris will be an issue. We'll have to see how bad it will be. We might be able to us a shop vac to periodically suck stuff out of the cracks. Eventually, the screen may droop a little with junk sitting on it. I'll be interested in seeing how the dirt/debris issue plays out. However, I'd rather deal with dirt/debris than mosquitoes.

This spring the mosquitoes are worse than this time last year. My wife suspects that the new grass around the house is providing a place for the mosquitoes to hang out. I'm not sure about that but have noticed the mosquitoes have gotten worse. However, they are still nowhere nearly as bad as they were at some other places I've lived. I can sit on the front porch without being bothered much during the day but don't want to be out there at dusk.

It will be nice to be able to sit on the back porch at/after dusk in the cool of the evening once we get the porch screened in.

Obed

nothing to do with grass, its the mild winter we had, it did not kill off as many insects as a normal one would, so there back with a vengence this summer!

 

[brin]

nothing to do with grass, its the mild winter we had, it did not kill off as many insects as a normal one would, so there back with a vengence this summer!

Also any standing water...like in old tires or puddles , gutters ....anywhere water stands is a breeding ground for mosquitoes...

 

[Ranger Rick]

Brin,

Maybe, if the carpenter bees don't destroy it. I keep finding sawdust under some of the holes and it's quite annoying. After we get the deck boards installed, we'll puddy up the holes when it's easy to move a ladder around.
Obed

Obed I read that carpenter bees to not like to dig their holes through paint so maybe you should paint the bottom side also if they are a real problem.
Rick

 

[Obed]

Obed I read that carpenter bees to not like to dig their holes through paint so maybe you should paint the bottom side also if they are a real problem.
Rick

Rick,
That is something we have considered and might do. Yes, it has been my observation that they don't eat into painted wood.
Obed

 

[Obed]

We finally started installing the deck boards. Yay! The first board down was the picture frame board beside the posts. We then used that board to line up the ends of the other boards that run parallel to the brick wall. We have found that the published dimensions of the Trex boards cannot be relied upon. The boards were narrower than advertised so we are one board width shy of what we need.

The published lenth of these boards is 16'. I measured a half dozen of the 16' boards just to get an idea whether or not they would all be the same length. Since they all measured the same, I figured the whole lot of 16' boards would be 16' and 3/8" and accordingly calculated the cuts of the picture frame boards that lie perpendicular to the brick wall at both ends of the 16' boards.

It turns out that only half of the 16' boards are 16' 3/8". The rest are varied lengths up to 1 1/4" longer than the 16' 3/8" boards. I'm fortunate that I planned the layout of the boards using the shorter boards. If I had assumed all boards were the same length and happened to measure one of the long ones for planning the layout, then I would have had a mess when installing boards that were over an inch shorter. You can always shorten long boards but I haven't done this type of work long enough to figure out how stretch short boards.

The only board that has been screwed down so far in the pictures is the picture frame board by the posts. The rest are just lying on the joists.

 

[tony Cecil]

I am not sure where I read this, but wanted to share it...Both of us have been stung in the past......Today I was in the woods and stepped on a yellow jacket nest...got stung multiple times before I could make a hasty retreat-----I read just recently that a `kind` poster somewhere said to blast the stung areas with a `hair dryer`....Two of the stings were the very painful ones--a nerve--and it took the hurt right out by the time the hair dryer got hot..The swelling continued and I took a `demeral pill`a couple of hours later,and within an hour the swelling was gone......The hair dryer was amazing....Tony

 

[Obed]

I am not sure where I read this, but wanted to share it...Both of us have been stung in the past......Today I was in the woods and stepped on a yellow jacket nest...got stung multiple times before I could make a hasty retreat-----I read just recently that a `kind` poster somewhere said to blast the stung areas with a `hair dryer`....Two of the stings were the very painful ones--a nerve--and it took the hurt right out by the time the hair dryer got hot..The swelling continued and I took a `demeral pill`a couple of hours later,and within an hour the swelling was gone......The hair dryer was amazing....Tony

Tony,
That's interesting. I have had great success putting a piece of ice on the sting, something that would seem to have the opposite effect of using heat. Also, when I get a mosquito bite I will often put a piece of ice on the bite and the area will permanently stop itching.
Obed