Rear Additions - Part I

17 July 2009

Things are proceeding at a faster rate than what I had in mind. We have stopped with the frontal additions and have developed to the rear area.

More decking

D has braced up a base frame the day before. It is of a similar structure as the front deck, 450 crs joists, spanning 3.6m wide and 3.6m long. He has prepared two of those. Also, a couple of 90 x 90 treated pine posts and beams were purchased from a second hand timber warehouse. They were of sound quality, albeit being slightly defective and therefore, cheaper.

The rear deck design will consist of a couple of portals & awnings (later stage). That is what the posts and beams are for.

the Stained and the Un-stained

The wood was stained to achieve an aesthetic that is close to a merbau finish. Apart from being weather-proof, it also acts as a moisture barrier.

Merbau stain

Close-to-finish products

After a couple of hours, we managed to get it all stained without being too delirious from solvent-sniffing. They were left to dry overnight. To achieve optimum results with the staining, you should really wait for 8 hours before applying the second coat. For us, the second coat will be applied when the deck is complete.

For our 3m high timber portals, D has custom-designed a metal holding plate prototype and had it fabricated from the local ironmonger. The plate shall be slotted in between a pre-cut in the posts and acts as a joining element between post and beam.

D's L-plates

They are of galvanised metal, holes in the required places and costs $12.90 each.

The pre-cuts

Well, I do not know what does one calls them anyway, so 'pre-cut' it is. D made an incision with the circular saw and I widen the cuts manually. The L-plates were then wedged into the cuts by using a hammer.

This is what I meant ...

Finally, just bolt through

And what happened next, is anyone's guess ...