Regardless of the length of time we decided it was time to complete this project. So we tore this deck apart and have now constructed the body of the new deck as you see it below.
The deck is framed entirely with pressure treated material. Their are three concrete footings that are 8" in diameter and 4-foot deep. The posts are fastened to the frost free footings with galvanized post bases to keep the entire deck from shifting off the footings.
The deck project has slowed a bit, the extremely hot weather makes working on the west side of the house a bit tough. All of the pressure treated plywood is now covered with 1/2" cement board. The deck surface cement board was laid in fresh thin set mortor before being nailed down. In the picture below you can see that all the deck surface seams have been taped and the thin set mortor layer is completed along the length of the deck against the house.
Instead of working on the deck as planned on September 5th we had to clean up storm damage on our place. As you can see above the cement board looks wet from the rain, the big story was the 75 MPH winds that hit us about midnight. There was only about a tenth of an inch of rain in the guage but when the rain comes in sideways the guage is not always that accurate. The wind ripped a mample tree in half, this hard maple was one of our favorite trees with great fall color. We will try to save it by covering the wound with roofing cement to seal out moisture and insects.
The other tree was a total loss. It was one of the hybird Poplar's that was 16" in diameter and over 60' tall. We had noticed rot at the base earlier in the summer so anticipated the tree would at some point come crashing down. When the wind hit this one it fell to the east without a break in the trunk from the base to the top. Luckily it fell between two other trees and the spruce without damaging the other trees.
We worked the entire day cutting up and hauling the trees to a place out back where we can burn them when the county lifts the burning ban. Before stopping for the day there was time to replace the shingles above the laundry room that blew off in the storm. Luckily we had enough spare shingles to patch them in.
