Finally, I'm getting to the fun part! Today, I covered about 1/3 of the 12' x 12' section with decking. Since my last report, I did some of the fussy work, such as adding blocking where the rail posts are going to go, and framing for the hatch to access the dryer vent.
Also, note the photo showing one of the brackets for my bench/rail that will be on two sides. I have 14 of these brackets. I had to notch the outside board for each of them. I thought about drilling holes at the corners of the notches and cutting them out with my saber saw. On other projects, I have had a hard time getting neat cuts that way. So yesterday, I built a template and cut them with my router.. I got very uniform notches that way. It took a little while, but probably no longer than the other method. I'm pleased with the result.
Today, I had to alter my decking layout a bit from what I had planned. I had done the front porch a few years before with the same decking material and the same kind of hidden fasteners. I used that porch deck as a guide to compute the running width of each board. For whatever reason, my gaps between boards are coming out a bit wider. Enough so that I gained about an inch in 4 ft. Consequently, the corner between the two sections of deck (different widths) did not come out as I had carefully calculated. In order to deal with this, I ran a "divider" board transversely, as shown in the last photo. This will allow the joints to run differently on the 8 ft deck section.
In order to make the above change, I had to add to my framing. Every edge and end of the decking material has to be supported.
On Monday, the gutter installers come. I had hoped to have the deck covered by then, but I may not make that. It looks like I will have to work at least a half day tomorrow at my "part time" retirement job. I would rather work on the deck, but I do have some other responsibilities. Besides, It's good to get a pay check.