Fact: Portland, Oregon resides smack in the middle of the world’s largest temperate rain forest.
Fact: John Economaki, your favorite Tool Potentate lives in the Portland area.
Fact: John Economaki’s deck was eaten by carpenter ants.
The winter of 2008 dumped a freak 21″ snowfall on my back deck (everywhere else too)–and when it all melted, I noticed the deck not only dropped 6″ (not good considering parts of it are seventeen feet above the ground), but it also liberated itself from the house and this is where the story begins…
The lot of Casa Economaki is part of the Tryon Creek watershed, one of five in the Portland area that annually funnels five months of rain back to the Pacific Ocean. What this really means is we have no yard–our house is just enough to the side of a ravine that it stays put–except for the aforementioned rear deck which now too was on its way to the Pacific Ocean. Basically this is a residential lot where one can pee in the yard anytime–something I have been meaning to try.
There was no laborious, gut wrenching decision to make, the deck had to go. Fortunately, while at the Portland Home and Garden Show, I saw a deck guy who was wearing the hat of my favorite college football team, you know, the only team in 2008 to beat USC. I knew right there this was an omen, and Patrick at Northwest Deckscapes made me an offer I couldn’t refuse–yank, and dispose of 750 sq. ft of rotten deck for $1K. Isn’t college football great?
Patrick, who has built hundreds of decks informed me this deck made his top five MOST ROTTEN DECKS. Why? All of the structural beams were HOLLOW because of carpenter ants. And if this sounds bad, IT IS only because carpenter ants have their own freakin’ website!
Determined to foil the ants, I perused the internet for options. It seems Ipe, a hardwood from Brazil is the wood de jour for a somewhat maintainable deck. However, the more I learned, the more it became apparent this is a terrible choice–it IS NOT a sustainable yield product, and it is, like many tropical hardwoods brought into this country under less than credible circumstances. What to do…
I researched fake wood (not me), concrete, concrete pavers and slate as I was convinced that a wood deck in the world’s largest temperate rain forest was a poor choice. The problem is that the deck is elevated. Alot. So, what does this have to do with Arnold Palmer you ask?
Years ago I attended a golf tournament and while relieving myself in the woods, a golf ball trickled by–struck by none only than Arnie himself. He had two options, punch out to the fairway or hit the ball between two trees about twenty yards away–through a twenty inch gap…
He took a club out of the bag and lined up for the shot between the trees. At the last minute he put the club back in his bag, grabbed another and turned to punch his ball back into the fairway.
“That’s the way Arnie! That’s what I would do!” screamed a fan.
Arnie slammed the club back in his bag, reached for his first choice and without hesitation, dialed an incredible shot between the two trees that landed on the green and as you might expect, the crowd went wild–which was awesome because nobody saw me pulling up my zipper.
When you consider stone or anything heavy for an elevated deck, the internet is rich with definitive suggestions–all free of course.
“Don’t do it.” Or, my favorite, “Only an idiot would put stone on an elevated deck.” And thanks to Arnie I knew what to do.
After more research, I discovered a brand new product called Silca Grate from SilcaSystems. Made from ABS, this stuff is fantastic–the contractors price was $2.50/sq.ft. Leg one done.
Next, I was exploring concrete pavers at the local Home Depot and discovered a pallet of 6″x12″ slate (petrified mud if you need to know) pavers from Turkey. I was able to order five pallets and the cost was $2/sq.ft.
Tallied up the dead sq. ft. weight (13,000 pounds of slate) and Patrick did all the load calculations and frame design work. (this deck will hold 300 people which is about how many people I owe money…) We agreed upon a price for the pressure treated deck framing and all new footings. Leg two done.
I don’t know squat about pavers, mortar or masonry but in my internet travels I discovered polymeric sand and it seemed too good to be true. It is not sold in box stores (yet) but I did find some organic polymeric sand in town–about $12/55lb bag and I needed 12 bags. Leg three done.
I really liked the stainless steel cable railings however at $90 per lineal foot and with eighty feet of railing, I had to explore other options. The cheapest metal railing I could find, which was so ugly I couldn’t imagine living with it, ran about $40/ft. So I decided to design my own railing out of extruded aluminum and 1/2″ conduit. Leg four done.
It’s been a fun summer project and perhaps the following pics will inspire others. (The links provided are for educational purposes only and represent my experiences and my solution–in other words I am sharing without payola.) It is my hope that I will croak long before the deck succumbs to slate worms.
Louie Dog before his favorite napping place was ripped out–
The new deck frame and the beginning the Silca Grate installation–
Silca Grate is made from ABS–just about indestructible. It was easily cut on my table saw using a triple chip blade. It took me two days to put in the 2700 stainless steel square drive screws purchased from McFeely’s–
After three days (could of finished in two without beer), the Silca Grate is fully installed–the bucket was my installation seat and knee saver…
Here’s the view the coyotes see–
Although I tried to minimize cutting the slate, I found it to be remarkably easy with the masonry saw (diamond blade) I rented for the week. The cutting was all done in my driveway–did I mention this is really easy?
Prior to laying down the slate, I rolled out a strip of landscaping cloth to prevent the polymeric sand from leaking to the ground below–
The tile spacers available at the box stores were too little to be of use so I cut up three sheets of 1/8″ Masonite into 1″ square spacers visible below. This was laborious but tolerable once the stereo was loud enough to bother my neighbors–
The shortest distance from my driveway to the back deck deck was through the house. All 13,000 pounds of slate were hand trucked through the kitchen. It’s no wonder I am such a popular guy around the house…
Almost done, sorta–
Once all the slate pavers were in place, I broomed a layer of polymeric sand over the top surface of the pavers. Then, in what was the most boring part of the entire job, I sat in the sand and pulled out the spacers with a pair of pliers/vice grips. A second layer of polymeric sand was broomed in to fill all the seams.
This deck is in the woods and I decided that any kind of “pattern” would be incongruous with the surroundings. I opted for random placement of the pavers without ever exceeding five in row or column. And now when I think about it, this is indeed a pattern but it fits in better with surrounding trees.
Using an electric leaf blower with the nozzle almost parallel to the surface and only a few inches away, the sand was blown off the deck creating a 1/8″ reveal between the pavers. To make the polymeric sand turn to concrete, I lightly misted the entire deck surface–this is crucial because too much water will wash the polymers away. This is the deck prior to misting;
After the polymeric sand dried the surface was sealed with a low luster masonry sealer. I tried several brands on test pieces and liked the product from Behr the best–here’s the finished deck;
The deck rail which came in at half the price of the cheapest metal railing I could find was made from aluminum “I” beam, 1/2″ electrical conduit (EMT) and 1″ x 4″ extruded aluminum. The aluminum was delivered in 22 foot lengths and all cuts were done on my table saw using a triple chip blade (for non-ferrous metals and composites). I also became quite adept a drilling holes.
The top cap miters were much easier than I thought. I clamped each long rail section to the top of the table saw at 45 degrees with strap clamps and raised the blade up and through the extrusion to complete the cut–this worked perfect for a one-man operation on long, heavy stock–it was a reverse chop saw move.
What saved my bacon, and what always saves my bacon is McMaster Carr. I love this company. Through them I discovered tube connector nuts (they are at the bottom of the page). These nuts allowed me to fasten the ends of the EMT to each other with threaded studs and to the rail posts. This is so cool you have to try it!
All of the parts were powder coated (including the heads of the lag bolts) and were installed to the fascia boards with the lag bolts and an impact wrench. Too keep the threads of the lag bolts from showing, I cut small sections of conduit to fit between the flanges of the “I” beam. It was a lot of cutting (used a De Walt 18v reciprocating saw, which is also one of the best garden trimming tools ever invented) but the results are professional–unlike this blog.
I made plenty of mistakes along the way. One of the pavers was put in upside down and I thought I could chisel away the polymeric sand…dumb me. I think I will leave it.
The lesson here is that Ipe was about $6 a square foot and it is now possible to entertain much more durable options for around that same range.
I hope I have the last deck I will ever need. It was a long project (I have a full time job you know…) and I really haven’t had as much time to enjoy the space as much as Louie and Jitter.
–John
