An Honest-to-Hillbilly Deck

In preparation for the annual Independence Day celebration, last week was a regular beehive of energetic engineering to finish the deck in time for the fireworks. I of course appointed myself straw boss for the project, and imported day labor …er, an old friend… to do the actual work. My observations confirmed the efficacy of “hillbilly engineering” to the point that it loses a bit of its epithet-like undertones, and makes me confident enough to go ahead and advise that you don’t have to be a licensed general contractor to get things done around the homestead!

There was a deck there previously, installed by visitors from Florida a decade ago while we were out. We’d already sunk the support poles (a few salvaged 4x4s and some sturdy tree limbs) in concrete and installed the joists – salvaged 2×8′s left over from when we had to replace the foundation beams (another saga…). We’d scarfed some thick tongue-and-groove planking for the deck surface from the Children’s Home where hubby worked as a fundraiser at the time, left over from some projects there. We had planned to put those visitors to work, but we’d also planned to make a real deck with spaces between the boards so the water could drain off, and those visitors just went ahead and grooved the tongues anyway. Which of course meant that the deck was doomed to rot in record time, which of course it did.

As it rotted and people started falling through on occasion, we patched by laying random pieces of plywood and siding over the weak spots. But not only did that make for a seriously ugly deck, it wasn’t very much safer than the rotten underdeck either. It was time to start over, so my dear friend Chad came with his children while hubby was at work and took the whole darned thing apart. Once the foundation was exposed I was amazed at how much the joists had rotted, given that the deck timber had never been allowed to drain water!

We installed a few more supports, the old ones having rotted in their concrete, then shored up the joists – there was still lots of good timber, it just wasn’t level or clean for nailing anymore. I figured we could shim the uneven parts. Hubby collected the boards from our neighbor with the sawmill, untreated heart pine 1x4s that really measure 1×4 (commercial timber cheats on its measurements). By the time we got all the slats shimmed and screwed it became quite obvious that the joists which were ample for serious 2″ thick tongue-and-groove planking were not numerous enough to keep those 1x4s from dipping dangerously in high-traffic areas.

So I had hubby crawl underneath and add a few cross-beams in the gaps using hangers from the hardware store. That at least made it so you didn’t feel like you’re walking on water, and when the pine does actually dry out it should be stiff enough to take some weight. Then Chad built us some nice steps, we re-attached the picket fencing we’d salvaged from friends when they moved from a rental house and didn’t want to leave it behind, moved the furniture and grill back to the deck from the yard, and jury-rigged a tarp so we’d have a place to sit when it’s raining (which it did, all weekend!). A lovely time was had by all!

This deck should last at least the decade the last one lasted. The boards are thinner but there’s space in between them, and we’re not shy of Thompson’s Water-Seal. It may be certifiable Hillbilly Engineering, but we are actual hillbillies so that’s no big deal. The whole thing came free save for the hangers and screws, and it will serve us very well until the next time it needs replacing.

Now we get to do the same thing for the front porch deck, which Chad jury-rigged last Thanksgiving so nobody would fall through and break their legs. We’ve plenty of wood from the pallet our neighbor donated in exchange for my hubby’s clowning at his daughter’s birthday party, and what we don’t use for decks we’ll probably use to frame in the front porch so I can have a winter greenhouse (and summer screened porch). I figure that with good plastic on the screen on that south side of the house, I should be able to grow salad and kale and scallions all winter long while still getting the solar heat-gain we rely on during cold winter months.

If my readers have any cool tales of hillbilly engineering to share, I’m sure we could all use the advice!

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