Dumb question, but do these transformers just plug into your normal outdoor outlet on your house?
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Deck pricing and materials questions (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter The Big Guy
- Start date
Dumb question, but do these transformers just plug into your normal outdoor outlet on your house?
Fat Nick
Footballguy
Yeah. The transformer plugs into an outlet. All it does is convert 120V AC into 12V DC, then they have hook-ups for wiring that the landscape lighting uses. 12V is much easier to work with...it won't shock the #### out of you, and thus there isn't much in the way of code for using it. You can just staple the wires to the underside of your joists, directly bury it, etc.
doowain
Footballguy
Started the deck this past week. All footers dug and concrete poured. Passed inspection.
Next up is the ledger board and setting the posts. The backbreaking part of the job is done now. It sucked but the beer tasted that much better at the end of the day.
Fat Nick
Footballguy
100% right about that. Footers and concrete was by far the worst part. I live in NJ, which is basically where the glaciers ended during the last ice age...so basically, our yard is 50% clay, 50% microwave-sized rocks. Digging holes SUCKS. Even with an 18" diesel auger, it took us all day to dig 11 holes.
jwb
Footballguy
One of the hardest days I ever worked was digging and pouring concrete for the 6 footers of my first deck. I had a cement mixer, but had to transport the bags via handtruck (4 at a time) about 50 feet from where they were dropped off. My landscaping made this the only way. 80 bags total. Man, what a job that was.
doowain
Footballguy
Question for you Nick. I was looking at your pics. I'm also doing angled corners. What's the reason you chose to run the corner it's own support beam off the outer support beam? I'm cantilevering 2 feet in on the outside support beam which gives me a post right in center of the angled run.
My angle is only 4 feet wide (yours might be bigger).
ETA: I just clicked on the next pic and see you angle out from the house as well, so that definitely changes my question. Would you still have done that extra support beam if you went straight off the house out to the angled corner?
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Fat Nick
Footballguy
I think you're asking why I did the small support beam (2 posts/footers supporting it) that is farthest from the house, right? The one in the lower left in THIS PIC?
Basically, I was stretching the code limits for spans. My old deck was cantilevered, but there wasn't a way to make it big enough and still cantilever it...at least not an easy way without using engineered beams or some other way of getting it up to code. Because of this, I knew I was going to have to put 2 main beams (the ones that run parallel to the house) in anyway, so I didn't cantilever at all really (1' overhang for the joists over the beams) once I knew I had to do that. The small beam was needed to support that outer section (the one that's basically half of a hexagon) because it's essentially devoid of a ledger board.
My original plan was to essentially extend the ledger out past the edge of the house (with a footer for support at the end), and the deck would be essentially a 25x20 rectangle with the corner cut off of one corner, but the more I looked at it, it looked dumb to do that, so I angled both corners. I think you're saying you are "cutting" one corner off, right?
doowain
Footballguy
Yeah that's what I was asking, but it made more sense once I saw you angled off the house AND at the corner (half hexagon).
I'm going straight out from the house (25 x 20) and basically lopping off the corners. That angled edge is 4' wide so I did a support beam at 9 and another at 18 (2 foot cantilever all around. By doing that I have 4 posts per beam and the 1st and 4th posts end up basically smack in the middle of the angled corner (hope I'm making sense), eliminating the need for it's own support beam.
Fat Nick
Footballguy
Yep. I understand completely, and I think that's probably the best way to do it.doowain said:
For clean lines, I'd recommend cutting the end of the beam back at an angle when you're all done. Not sure what you're doing for fascia around it. I used 10" joists. The nice thing about that is most fascia is 12", so I had 2" of overlap. Where I had a beam come up flush with the fascia, I could back-cut it 45 degrees with a sawzall so I didn't have a big beam face staring at me from under my fascia.
It's hard to explain, but look at THIS picture. See the angled beam on the right side? You can see how I cut it back at the end. Basically, from where the bottom of the fascia comes in, back 45 degrees. Otherwise, the bottom edge of that beam would really stick out. I'm not even sure if that's code-worthy...I just did it after the fact because the beam was bugging me the way it stuck out.
gianmarco
Footballguy
So, our patio/deck was just finished and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with this exposed foundation. As we initially didn't know the plan and the ground was graded down, the foundation was done this way. Now, after having to go with the patio and bringing the level down, there's a lot more foundation exposed than initially thought.
Any ideas on how to make it look better without bringing more attention to it/making it worse? Something that isn't going to cost a huge chunk of $$, ideally.
Foundation
Any ideas on how to make it look better without bringing more attention to it/making it worse? Something that isn't going to cost a huge chunk of $$, ideally.
Foundation
Fat Nick
Footballguy
Assuming you can't find that same brick/faux brick (can't tell from the picture) to extend the brick down, I'd just get some concrete stain and try and stain it a less objectionable color.
I'm not sure if your furniture layout is adjustable or not, but you could also just put some planters with plants in front of that section and it'd probably help cover it up too...but you might need to keep chairs up against the wall...I just can't tell from the pic.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Furniture just came in and we can definitely try and adjust, although the dining table we picked up (at Macy's!!) is next to it, so it will limit it just a bit. Here's a different angle view
Assuming we can get the same brick, how would it be attached since it won't end up being flush with the current brick?
As for the stain, what color do you think might work best there? I see something like this and think there's no way I'm doing anything like that.
Caesar
Footballguy
I'm ten minutes from you. I wish I had the time and a contractors license. I would enjoy building a deck like you described.
There are clubs in the area that you can join and you go and work on DIY projects for each other's houses. It is pretty much expected you will contribute at least as much work as you are getting back, but it helps your projects go faster, and you have some real experts to get you past the difficult stuff. I am thinking about checking one out.
Currently pricing out the basement finish job adding a full bathroom. My next project will be putting a cover on the upper tier of my existing deck and screening it in.
I love this stuff.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
How far is the existing brick sticking out over the masonry. Hard to tell from the pics. Is it like 1/2"?
Fat Nick
Footballguy
Yeah - That's kind of what I meant re. the brick. I couldn't tell if your existing brick was REAL brick, or veneer brick (like Uruk-Hai linked to) over block. If it's the veneer brick over block, and you can find the same brick, you can just fill it in. Should look nearly perfect.
As for color, if you were going to stain it, I wouldn't even try and make it look like brick. It won't turn out right. I'd just pick a muted brownish tone, more like you have on the patio surface, and try and just bring the color scheme into the otherwise grey wall. Nothing too drastic.
doowain
Footballguy
Very cool. Shuke is 5 minutes from me too. Maybe we can all get together and braid each other's hair.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Yes, it's real brick. And I think I'm going to try painting first and see how it looks. I played around on the Sherwin WIlliams site and think this color would work:
Fat Nick
Footballguy
Caesar
Footballguy
Wow. The infamous (that's more than famous) Shuke. I had no idea I was moving so close to an FFA legend.
I feel so small.
NutterButter
Footballguy
Absolutely. Looks very nice. I think you're fine like that. Any idea why they did the brick like that in the first place? Did there used to be a mound there up to that part of the house where there's no brick?
gianmarco
Footballguy
Yes, the initial grading of the back was higher and sloped from left to right and we initially wanted to do a deck. Due to setbacks and other stuff, we changed to a patio and had to lower the grade which exposed much more foundation.NutterButter said:
Eta--Posted about it here last year
https://forums.footballguys.com/forum/topic/729680-composite-deck-or-paver-patio/?do=findComment&comment=18222489
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Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Looks good - especially since your fix doesn't preclude you from adjusting if you want to do something else. If you find the transition lines between the brick and the masonry wall is too abrupt, there's all kind of stuff you can do: cover the masonry with the aforementioned faux brick, cover the joint with planter boxes, create some kind of exterior chair rail, etc....The portion of wall under the deck has natural breaks (the deck itself and the stairs), so that may never be an aesthetic issue for you.
Nice compromise you came up with and the patio looks great. Enjoy!
Nice compromise you came up with and the patio looks great. Enjoy!
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
gianmarco
Footballguy
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
That's what we're saying. It's not actual bricks laid on top of each other. You can buy some additional veneer and fill in the empty spots.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Well, it is bricks laid on top of each other. Look to the left of the picture and you can see that as well as the thickness of the bricks. Here's another picture before the brick was even added where you can see the foundation with step-offs where the brick was later laid on and why it's almost flush with the foundation that you saw earlier (not because the brick is thin). That step-wise grading of the brick was done because the foundation was initially poured that way.shuke said:
However, according to this site, unless the wall is made entirely of brick (and not wood framing) and it's not the brick that is supporting the structure, then it's considered brick veneer. Almost all homes are done this way now, so technically it's brick veneer but until I looked that up, I never thought that was considered veneer. That said, it's not what I think most think of when they think of brick veneer. Those bricks are full sized bricks that are sitting directly on the edge of the foundation and sitting on top of each other, not just simply attached to the wall for decoration.
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Fat Nick
Footballguy
If by property you mean just the land, as opposed to "property" meaning land plus house, I'd say no. It does/can increase the value of your house though. I'm clarifying because most tax assessments separate out the value of the underlying property, and the value of the structure(s) on the land, and the aggregate drives your property taxes.
matttyl
Footballguy
VA703
Footballguy
matttyl
Footballguy
Well of course it does. Or are you asking for tax reasons (meaning your tax assessment will be higher after deck)?
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doowain
Footballguy
VA703
Footballguy
looking at adding one to our house and was curious for resale a few years later. just wasn't sure how much return you have on the total cost of the deck.
say the deck is composite and costs 15k im guesstimating it would increase your house value by what 3-5k?
matttyl
Footballguy
Depends. I'm putting $15k into mine (getting deal on material from contractor buddy, and doing much of the labor myself) and hoping it would help my house sell for between 15-20k more if I were to sell. I've got a "2 tier" deck and I'm installing a rain collection system between the two so that I can "finish" the lower deck with a ceiling and light and fans and such. Kinda a 3 season living room.
From what I've read, in general (when not doing all the labor yourself and such) you can estimate getting about 80% of the cost of installing a deck back in house sale price.
VA703
Footballguy
doowain
Footballguy
Posts all set and ledger attached this past weekend. Used a buddy's self-leveling rotary laser for marking the posts from the ledger. That saved a TON of time and was way more accurate than chalk string and a line level (I ran it out on every post to see the difference...all were about an inch off from the laser).
And if you have never used them, I highly recommend LedgerLoks for attaching the ledger board to the rim joist of the house. No pilot holes and testing has shown stronger than 1/2" lags. A box of 50 runs about $35-37, but it was well worth it.
Lumber being delivered tomorrow (I'm like a kid before Christmas). Will be ordering my TimberTech railing and lighting next week.
And if you have never used them, I highly recommend LedgerLoks for attaching the ledger board to the rim joist of the house. No pilot holes and testing has shown stronger than 1/2" lags. A box of 50 runs about $35-37, but it was well worth it.
Lumber being delivered tomorrow (I'm like a kid before Christmas). Will be ordering my TimberTech railing and lighting next week.
matttyl
Footballguy
Not yet, but I will. I'm not even sure how to "post pics" on the web other than via facebook.
ETA - These pics are most definitely NOT my house, but are at least similar. Here is something similar to what I have now. The "top deck" is right off the kitchen / living room area - 32' wide x 16' deep (last two feet are cantilevered) for just over 500 sq ft. Stairs on the side with landing very similar to that picture. It's all ~15 to 20 year old PT decking boards, and they look very rough (and with a a 9 month old not too far away from walking, I'd hate it if he got splinters and such). "Bottom deck" accessible from walkout finished basement, with exits from both short ends, as well as stairs off the "front" into the back yard.
Plan is to tear out all decking up top, as well as railings, and down the stairs but leave below unchanged (it still has PT decking, but in much better shape as it doesn't get the direct rain/snow/sun). Then install a rain catch system (Trex rain escape) with new composite over it (likely Trex transcend line) and new composite railings up top.
This will allow me to eventually "finish off" the lower part with a bead board ceiling. I'll wait till next year to do that to be sure there aren't leaks. When I install that ceiling, it will be with pot lights, likely a pair of ceiling fans, outdoor or wet rated speakers, and either a projector (still figuring that out) or a cheapo TV for outdoor family movie nights or sports viewing while BBQ'ing. While the colors won't be the same, I'm hoping the "after" will be something similar to this. While far more extravagant than anything I'll end up with, I'd like the lower deck ceiling to look similar to this. Makes it like a 3 season outdoor living room - a perfect playroom for the kid, a shady hangout for our three dogs (and gets them out of the rain if we aren't home and they are out), and a spot where I can hang out that's "out of the house".
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doowain
Footballguy
Laying the deck boards currently on my project. TimberTech railing will be delivered Monday. Went with square metal balusters and lights for each post and each riser on the steps. Will post pics when done.
For anyone that will be doing a wood floor, I HIGHLY recommend getting the Camo Pro X-1 tool for fastening the boards to the joists. No screws showing on the face of the boards and I can't even see the holes from the sides. Also it spaces your boards perfectly.
For anyone that will be doing a wood floor, I HIGHLY recommend getting the Camo Pro X-1 tool for fastening the boards to the joists. No screws showing on the face of the boards and I can't even see the holes from the sides. Also it spaces your boards perfectly.
matttyl
Footballguy
Just ordered a crap ton of stuff for my project. Was most impressed with Home Depot, though. Got 74 16' boards of Trex "Tiki torch" color Transcend (their top end stuff) for right at $50 a board. Always ask for discount pricing at the pro desk!
Went with their in stock brand "Veranda" for all white composite railings, but am starting to second guess that. They just seemed too good of a price to be true, and if I don't like them, I can redo all the railings later without having to do anything with the deck itself.
Also ordered the Trex "rain escape" stuff so that the lower deck will be pretty much waterproof - a huge bucked of hidden fasteners - and a sweet deck board puller tool for ripping the old deck up.
Went with their in stock brand "Veranda" for all white composite railings, but am starting to second guess that. They just seemed too good of a price to be true, and if I don't like them, I can redo all the railings later without having to do anything with the deck itself.
Also ordered the Trex "rain escape" stuff so that the lower deck will be pretty much waterproof - a huge bucked of hidden fasteners - and a sweet deck board puller tool for ripping the old deck up.
doowain
Footballguy
Have stain, stairs and fascia board left to do, but here is my 25x20 so far.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4 - Lighting
Pic 5 - Lighting
Pic 6 - Picture Frame
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