What I did with my big pile of Ipe'

[John TenEyck]

I bought a whole bunch of Ipe' for my new deck project, over 1200 lin feet of 5/4 x 6". I bought another 400 ft. of Cumaru which I used for the skirt boards and planter box vertical pieces.

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I turned it into this:

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Still not completely done, but done for this year. It was a long, sweaty project, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

John

[Mike Henderson]

Looks great. That's a lot of work with some tough wood.

Mike

[George Bokros]

You deck is very nice.

[Chris Padilla]

Looks like I need to make some serious progress to catch up!!! :)

Looks great!

[Bill Adamsen]

John:

That deck is gorgeous! Love to hear more about the construction techniques you used.

[Von Bickley]

That is one GREAT looking deck. Would not pass inspection where I live without a handrail at the steps.

[Lori Kleinberg]

That is one beautiful looking deck.

[John TenEyck]

Here's a link to the photos I took during tear down of the old deck and build of the new one. There are no captions with the photos, but you should be able to follow along with how I built it. If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to try and answer them.

John

https://picasaweb.google.com/110467763477797452963/Deck2015?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNqcgYnIuJOxIQ&feat=directlink (https://picasaweb.google.com/110467763477797452963/Deck2015?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNqcgYnIuJOxIQ&feat=directlink)

[John TenEyck]

I'm not really done with the deck yet. I have another set of stairs to build but have to fix the patio next to it on that side before I can do that. When those steps are done I may install handrails on both sets of stairs. It's not required by code but I may do so anyway. I built the stairs using box construction with a 4 x 4 beam set into concrete below the frost line at both front corners of the lower step. That will give me a solid anchor point should I decide to add handrails.

John

[Patrick McCarthy]

John, very nice. The 173 photos really show the amount of work you put into this project.

Were the varying geometric shapes of the planters dictated by the outside edge angles?

Feel sorry for the poor guy that ever has to go under it to get to the waste pipe clean-out. I assume there must be other approaches to that line since you didn't put a trap door over the clean-out, and I know from following your other posts you put a lot of forethought into your work .

Very nice indeed. Best regards, Patrick

Chris, thank you. Patrick

[Mel Fulks]

I'm sure the details are done well....but most importantly, that is a well thought out design for the house. Adds a lot.

[Gene Takae]

A project to be proud of-very nice design and execution. Let us know when the deck warming BBQ is !!!

[Paul Wunder]

Beautiful work and a wonderful design. The deck flows from and looks part of the house. Enjoy yourself

[Paul McGaha]

Beautiful deck. Really nicely done John.

PHM

[Kent A Bathurst]

If you were to rummage around at "the other place", you will find a blow-by-blow photo commentary of J10's deck build. Pretty interesting - the issues he ran into - basically he created them - and how they were addressed.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the kind words, all.

The shape of this deck was a compromise to use the existing piers of the prior deck, which was round. You ain't gonna bend Ipe' so I came up with the angular shape, mostly 30 and 60 degree angles. So, yes, the planter box shapes were designed to fit the those edge angles of the deck below.

Sorry, but what waste pipe are you referring to? The gutter downspout perhaps? If so, that goes into a drain hose that goes around the deck, across the yard, and drains into a swale on the other side of the property. It's part of the drainage I had put in a couple of years ago to deal with some water issues and has worked out very well. There's not much reason to ever have to go under the deck, but if I do I'll remove the trim board on the side furthest from the house and then remove a few of the skirt boards for access. Everything is just screwed to the rim joist so it really won't take a lot of effort. I did have to go under the deck once already. I forgot to fasten the gas line going to the grill up under the joists. So I managed to shimmy under the beam on the patio side enough to get that done. The grill is just hooked up temporarily until I get the other set of steps built and decide it's final position. There will be one more planter box, too, between the grill and the deck. That will make it impossible to fall off the deck. I may also either buy a new, built in grill, or cut the frame up on this in order to make it a built-in. Then there will be some lighting and a retractable awning - but that's all next year. For now, I'm happy to be back working in my shop making furniture again.

Thanks again.

John

[Patrick McCarthy]

Photo 45 of 173 looks like a clean-out access, or at least that is what they look like on the left coast.

in foundation / stem wall under the glass block window.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Beautiful Deck. I've made some decks of Ipe also.
Insects will leave this stuff alone. The smell of it is awful. I don't look forward to my next deck project.

[John TenEyck]

Photo 45 of 173 looks like a clean-out access, or at least that is what they look like on the left coast.

in foundation / stem wall under the glass block window.


Wow, you have good eyes. That port goes through the foundation into the basement below. It was there when I bought the house; I have no clue what it was used for or what the plan for it might have been. In any case, it's completely non functional.

I thought about replacing those two basement windows with glass block panels before building the new deck but ended up just cleaning them up and repainting the metal frames. They've been there for 60 years so I think they will last as long as I'm around.

John

[glenn bradley]

Beautifully done.

[Chris Cohick]

I like the crane you built to pull the old footings out.

[Rick Johnston]

John the UBC (building code) would require a handrail on one side and both sides if commercial. If- that is the applicable code for your area.

[Vince Shriver]

You say you're pleased with the way it turned out. YOU SHOULD BE! Great design and craftsmanship.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks, that was a rig I used to use to pick up logs and it worked amazingly well for this task, too. I have no clue how I would have gotten those beams out otherwise.

John