Hey all,
Around the end of March we began a large deck extension project. I live in Rockland County NY, and it's not called Rockland for no reason. Our property is jagged, wet, sloped, and it took 2 months to hammer out the foundation for the house. Lots and lots of rock. So, since I don't have a flat yard, I figured I'd deck it all. Our existing deck was 30x16. Last October we installed the pool, and once the snow was done we got rolling on the footings. All 40 of them. Luckily I only had to go 3 feet deep to meet code, but it was a painful task. No contractor would touch the job, being there was almost a guarantee of hitting solid bedrock.
So, I took it upon myself with the help of my Dad and my Deck Builder (who also refused to do the job alone) to start getting the footings dug out. I rented a skid steer with an 18" auger bit, picked up some 12" corrugated black pipe (sonotubes would have fallen apart due to wet ground), and got to drilling holes. The first day we knocked out 21 footings, it went VERY smooth. Day 2 we started the footings closer to the pool which were a nightmare. Almost every footing encountered a problem, mostly rock. 10 of them were bedrock. Luckily the architect added the plan for hitting bedrock to the drawings, which the town approved. Drill 4 holes into the bedrock and epoxy rebar, pour footing over top. After a couple of week we had the footings all finished and poured.
Posts and girders went up next, fairly quickly. I demo'd the existing deck and kept the framing, which will be married to the new deck. Joists have been placed, and that's pretty much where we're at now!
I'll post more pics as they come! Thanks for checking it out!
Around the end of March we began a large deck extension project. I live in Rockland County NY, and it's not called Rockland for no reason. Our property is jagged, wet, sloped, and it took 2 months to hammer out the foundation for the house. Lots and lots of rock. So, since I don't have a flat yard, I figured I'd deck it all. Our existing deck was 30x16. Last October we installed the pool, and once the snow was done we got rolling on the footings. All 40 of them. Luckily I only had to go 3 feet deep to meet code, but it was a painful task. No contractor would touch the job, being there was almost a guarantee of hitting solid bedrock.
So, I took it upon myself with the help of my Dad and my Deck Builder (who also refused to do the job alone) to start getting the footings dug out. I rented a skid steer with an 18" auger bit, picked up some 12" corrugated black pipe (sonotubes would have fallen apart due to wet ground), and got to drilling holes. The first day we knocked out 21 footings, it went VERY smooth. Day 2 we started the footings closer to the pool which were a nightmare. Almost every footing encountered a problem, mostly rock. 10 of them were bedrock. Luckily the architect added the plan for hitting bedrock to the drawings, which the town approved. Drill 4 holes into the bedrock and epoxy rebar, pour footing over top. After a couple of week we had the footings all finished and poured.
Posts and girders went up next, fairly quickly. I demo'd the existing deck and kept the framing, which will be married to the new deck. Joists have been placed, and that's pretty much where we're at now!
I'll post more pics as they come! Thanks for checking it out!
WOW!
