Rear Deck part two

We started early Sun morning as we knew it would be another long day and it was going to be toasty warm too.  Started by building a jig to place two hangers at a time and keep everything in line.

Dad working on finishing up the joist hangers

The joists that were specd were 2x10x16 and while they can technically span that far, I didn't feel comfortable and decided to upgraded to 2x12x16s.  Definitely a lot  more sturdy but dang those are heavy.  We got about 1/2 of them set before C and the kids showed up.  She was able to help lift each side as we carried up the ladder which was another big help.

For the size of joists, the hangers called for 10d (3") nails and they had to be galvanized because of the pressure treated lumber.  Each hanger took 12 nails that had to be hammered in - my nail gun doesn't have the attachment to locate the hanger holes nor does it accept galvanized nails.  Ended up driving over 600 nails and was using two hands toward the end as my forearms were on 'fire'.

In between helping with the joists, C was busy with the Dingo leveling out the area and getting rid of piles of rock.  Looks so much better and can easily walk around without tripping all the time.

We finished up as it was starting to get dark but the main section was complete.  At least now, the framers have a platform to work on for the upper roof now.  Dad and I were both completely drained and glad Monday wasn't a construction day :-)  I was more sore the next day than the Ironman 70.3s I did.

The framers have to finish nailing the OSB joints so we couldn't put the ledger up for this part of the deck (outside master bedroom).  We will finish this up next weekend.