cedar planks – Photography, aviation and flight simulation

To screw the 2X6 boards I use the CAMO system with screws that do not show, being screwed obliquely to the side of the boards: this improves the overall appearance without compromising on strength. When it comes to tools, I belong to the dinosaurs: only wire equipment, nothing with a battery.

The original plans called for an opening in the patio floor on the first level to allow light to pass through to a basement window. It is also in this opening that I work in the photo above. The plan messed up, with the final aesthetic and positive family comments missing. Project management also involves unforeseen events… I had to apply plan B, that is to say improvise.

The red cedar planks are used in the construction of the railing, the flower box, the handrail and the siding under the terrace. Some are knotless, for the more visible places, and others are with knots. There is naturally a good price difference between the two categories.

Each red cedar plank has a very pale beige color. To give it a darker tone, it must be sanded and stained with two coats of a special oil. It is important to wait a day between layers. In the photo above, six boards that have received the proper treatment are quietly drying outside. This is a process that requires time and proper weather if you don’t have a garage to let it dry out.

Above, the second staircase has just been completed. It has only two steps, because I wanted to rise the terrain a bit and I thought it would eventually reach the threshold of the stairs. Unfortunately, it was a step in the planning that was reviewed the following summer and this two-step staircase was eventually destroyed and redone to contain three steps. I miscalculated the optimal ground elevation and the wrong estimates have consequences. To add to the problem, the winter frost that followed the 2019 construction proved to me that the base of the stairs needed to be redesigned. I should have made a deeper hole in the ground to build a more stable base for the steps. Renovation also means learning and having to correct mistakes …

Above is the two-tiered flower box, made of knotless red cedar. You can see that the patio floor is not stained yet. Once dyed, it will never look exactly the same color as the flower box, as the floor is made of spruce (the good old regular 2X6) while the rest of the construction is usually red cedar. But the colors will be sufficiently alike.

Above, a general view of the work in progress. Everything is still far from over.

Another general view of the first part of the terrace. The floor looks darker than in the previous photo, but this is only due to the effect of the rain.

Continued in the next article: “Building a patio (4 of 7)”.

The following series of seven articles discuss patio building. This new patio was necessary because the old one was over thirty years old and showing obvious signs of fatigue, in addition to greatly hampering the digging work along the foundation to change the French drain and insulate the foundation.

Above, the old wooden patio is demolished with a mechanical shovel. Where the machine cannot go, I finish the demolition by hand. Subsequently, digging begins to reach the foundation.

Once the trench has been dug, the employees of the Garco company install the French drain and prepare the concrete surface that will receive the new insulation (blown urethane).

When the drain is complete and the urethane has been blown out, an employee reseals the hole, adding soil, rock and sand, the latter only required for less stable terrain.

One of the pages of the construction plan.

Now we have to think about rebuilding a patio. The savings are significant when you do the work yourself. It has been reported to me that generally the cost of labor is 2.7 times the cost of materials. In the case of a large patio made up mainly of cedar planks, each plank of which will be sanded and stained by hand, the savings amount to several tens of thousands of dollars.

At 62, I unfortunately have no experience in the field. Risk management (especially financial) is necessary and, since the work will be carried out without assistance, I prefer to work from plans designed by a company. A specialist in the construction industry offered me his advice before the project started, because there was no question of starting the patio again.

Positioning of wooden posts with the laser

On the proposed plan, there must be eleven adjustable metal piles anchored in the ground to receive the patio. We must therefore measure where the eleven metal poles from Techno-Pieux will go, because they are not responsible for doing the calculations for me.

I am using a laser pointer for the first time. It is not easy to work with this device outdoors, the red dot of the laser being difficult to see in bright light (the base model I got myself certainly did not make the job easy). Eventually, I got through it. Luckily, I wasn’t doing the job for a client.

The Techno-Pieux technician places his screwed piles at the locations of the wooden posts.

The Techno-Pieux technician gets to work. He relies on the wooden posts to drive his stakes and then checks with his laser (much better) if his posts are perfectly aligned. The problem that sometimes occurs is that he meets a rock and has to start over and reposition his stakes slightly off the ideal line. A slight slope is also necessary to facilitate the flow of water onto the patio. The piles therefore must not be perfectly level from the house to the end of the patio.

Installation of the first piece of wood which will receive the patio.

A rented hammer drill is sufficient to make the holes in the concrete that will be used to fix the first piece of wood in the foundation of the house. The screws are laid alternately to avoid creating weaknesses in the wood. It is on this piece of wood that a small part of the patio will rest. Special waterproof insulating tape is applied to the wood to protect it from rotting that could occur after several years when water gets under the patio boards.

Continued in the next article: “Building a patio (2 of 7)”.