After almost a year of woodhenge (six posts buried in concrete) progress has been made to align them with my feet rather than the stars.
It’s been a joy to build, and I’m getting quite a lot of satisfaction from using powertools, hammer and nails. It’s almost like the tools are heaving a sigh or relief at being used – finally, their life purpose is being realised.
That’s not really fair. The toolbox and it’s contents gets used frequently. Most of the time for odd jobs, little bits and pieces. Over the weekend they were used on a project. Perhaps that’s the difference.
The design of the deck was agonised over just a little. Receiving some good advice, the deck has been scaled down. The design of the foundations (joists, bearers, decking) was agonised over just a little – being an amateur deck builder can be somewhat fretful – but a reasonably straightforward plan is the result. Not to say there haven’t been any issues. For instance, concrete foundations don’t move.
There are some nice touches in the plans. The decking is 145x90mm H3.2 that has been plained down to about 135x90mm. This has the effect or removing the standard rounded edges that (planar gauge) timber normally has – it looks pretty sharp.
I’m a big fan of the golden ratio, so all dimensions are related proportionally in that way.
This weekend, weather permitting, should see the bottom steps complete. Stain the thing and I think we’ll be done.
Cheers to deck building.
Matt Dillon 