Last weekend I made another trip back to Kasson, MN, to help my son Chad with his deck project. If you check back a couple weeks ago on the blog where we were putting in the post, this is a continuation of that project. When I arrived on Thursday evening, I discovered that he had the bulk of the joist [any number of small, parallel beams of timber for supporting floors] already installed. I hadn't totally missed out on the installation of those heavy boards. There was an area where the steps were to go that still needed to be completed. Plus the edging or the wraparound of the deck base had to be done. Friday morning Chad goes off to work (some of us still have to go to work) and his wife Danae, the kids, and I proceeded to mount the sides onto the joist. 
This is the far end of the deck. This is where the stairway going to the deck will ultimately end up. The deck itself is about 32 feet long and 31 feet wide which will be a nice sized deck once it is all completed. Our goal for this weekend was to finish anything that had to do with the framing and to get a good start on laying the deck floor boards. One of the things that Danae and I did was to draw on the deck edge where all the post for the railings will ultimately be placed. This gave us an idea as to how to balance out the posts when that time comes. (While there is a deck plan, there are some things that have a little bit of the "DAG plan-as-you-go" feature. An inherited trait I'm afraid.)
We had completed the framing of the deck and so far all the lumber used was pressure treated 2 x 10's. The next step was to line the pool side of the deck using cedar boards. Chad was home from work at this time (which now meant there was the usual dispute as to who is really in charge - he or me). He chose to stand in the cool water to do this task while the rest of us talked about how high the humidity was that day. I seemed to find my spot at the saw table. It works well as one calls out the size of the board they need and I buzz off a cedar chunk to the measurement given. (That position tends to make me feel like I have the power to boss a little bit anyway.)
Once we finished with the pool side wraparound, we started to lay the deck floor. The picture to the left gives you an idea as to how wide this deck is going to be. Once again, I found my spot which was running the skill saw and keeping deck boards in front of the crew as they screwed them down to the joist. It was exciting for the kids to see the deck start to come together. For us the process was moving right along, but for the kids it seemed like it was slow going. Once in awhile, swim suits were put on and the idea of one jumping off the pool side edge of the deck was put to the test. (It worked. Who needs screws? Let's just lay some boards around the deck and we'll have fun.)
Well, as the day progressed the cedar boards inched their way towards the west side of the pool. While running the saw, I couldn't help but eye the little scrap pile of cedar boards as it started to grow. I was wondering if some of those would fit in the trunk of my car. (An addition to my famous wood scrap pile... Hmmm. Visions of cedar deck chairs were coming to mind. I should run that idea by the boss. Wait, who really is the boss anyway?) As you can see by the right, Carter the youngest (6 years old) was drilling in screws with his dad. He was eager to learn and he was a big help. All the kids were.
Well, it was getting to be time for grandpa to pack up and head back to Iowa. We had accomplished what we had set for a goal that weekend. We finished a lot of the tasks that required a few extra hands and we got the deck floor off to a good start. The picture to the left does not show it very well, but Carter and I are holding our power drills in our hands and I am teaching him how to boast as to which drill has the most power. (It's kind of a guy thing about tools that one must learn at an early age.) He caught on quickly. While I collapsed into the seat of my car worn out from the past two day's labor, Carter was riding his bike up and down the lane with energy to spare. (Where did my youth go?)
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