When you decide to build a pool, one thing leads to another. This album chronicles the installation of a DekDrain system (www.dekdrain.com) on the deck over our new sunken patio adjoining the pool deck. This project involved removing the old wooden 2x6 deck boards, modifying the joist layout slightly, laying down the DekDrain material, then laying down new, composite decking. We also moved the stairs from the front of the deck to the side (to open up the patio to the new pool). It was hard work, but well worth it.
Date(s): Summer 2005. Album by The Vierregger Family. Photos by The Vierregger's. 1 - 32 of 32 Total. 589 Visits.
1 Ready, set, go! First step of the process was to move the grill island out of the way (heavy!!) and install a new joist (the new joist was necessary to support a separator board that is used between each section of the deck). Notice the gas and electric in the foreground - that will have to go through the DekDrain.
2 A 2x6 deck board, running perpendicular to the house will lay on this section separator. One joist was moved and a new one added to create a space for the 2x6 deck board.
3 The deck will look like a disaster area for awhile, but in the end it's worth it. We decided to do the deck in 3 sections. This helped us to have room to move stuff around while we worked on each section.
4 A circular saw was used to cut the old decking into smaller pieces that could be pried up. In the left of the picture is an old drain system previously used to keep water out of the walk-up from the basement. This was removed too.
5 Friend Mike Fowler came up from Richmond to help out. Too bad he lived so far away.
6 Some progress. After lots of prep work, the first piece of material is applied. The black material is rubber, similar to a heavy duty innertube, and is stapled to the joists. A pocket is formed in the joist bay that directs water to the end of the deck where a gutter will take it away from the house.
7 Voila - one of 30 bays done. A journey of a thousand deck boards begins with a single, completed bay!
8 The rubber material is custom cut for each joist bay by DekDrain based on a detailed joist layout drawing I supplied them. DekDrain labeled each piece by bay number. The material weighed several hundred pounds in total.
9 The DekDrain installation for the first section is just about done.
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11 Notice the use of overlapping pieces, and the flashing that goes up behind the siding. This technique ensures a water tight installation.
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13 You can see that the DekDrain pockets get deeper at the end of the deck. This allows water to run downhill away from the house. The water runs out the end into a gutter that will be installed below.
14 Only a desperate man would strap 20ft boards to a minivan and drive home in rush hour traffic. The decking is a composite material and very heavy. Only about half a dozen 2x6x20 ft boards were required - the rest were 2x6x16 footers.
15 The first section is definitely starting to take shape. Notice the separator board in the lower left. This is the board installed on top of the new joist that was put in. The section separators break up the deck visually and are necessary because the boards aren't long enough to span the entire deck. The long piece on the far right is a 20 footer that barely reached.
Also notice the gas pipe and electrical for the grill that comes up through the DekDrain material. The material was cut very carefully around the pipe and sealed with a latex sealent.
Don't even try all these cuts without a good mitre saw. I treated myself to a new Dewalt 12 inch sliding compound mitre saw with a $100 blade to cut all these composite boards. The blade lasted the entire project.
16 The first section is complete. Time for a cold beer!
Elapsed time: About 4 weeks since the first boards were ripped up (delays due to weather, attending kid's sports, and that pesky work thing). Doing this yourself takes time to do a nice job.
17 Section 2 is underway. This is a long section. The DekDrain material can be challenging on long joists, especially if the joists aren't quite parallel.
Notice the new joist and 2x6 blocker installed on the far right. This will support the separator board between sections 2 and 3 of the deck.
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19 Notice that the grill island has been moved back onto the recently completed first section.
20 Section 3 of the deck becomes a temporary dump where the sawed up deck boards from section 2 are stored. These pieces have to be lugged to the front and hauled to the dump.
21 Section 2 is complete and Section 3 has been prepped.
Elapsed time: 2 weeks since section 1 was finished, about 6 weeks since the project was started.
22 Section 3 is a really long section - about 24 ft from the house to the end of the deck.
23 Section 3 required a good bit of prep but is showing signs of progress.
24 Notice the scallop pieces that reverse the water direction at the very end of the deck - this is necessary because the gutter is underneath, just about where the pieces overlap each other.
25 Section three deck boards are a bit more than half done.
Elapsed time to completion: About 8 weeks from start to finish. More than 3000 staples and about 1800 screws (each with a pilot hole drilled!) were used to secure the material and new composite decking.
26 This is a shot of the DekDrain material from below, and shows the installed gutter system.
Electrical work is in progress.
27 A shot looking toward the house. In the end you don't even notice the material. And it's completely dry on the patio now.
28 Another shot of the gutter system. Notice how the DekDry system isn't even visible.
29 The completed patio with firepit. The firepit is a natural gas appliance using piped-in gas. It really makes the patio. Speaker system for the patio is temporarily tacked up.
30 This is an early morning shot with the sun coming in from the east. During the day, the patio's dry roof system provides nice shade. Two 52 inch ceiling fans help cool things down further when necessary.
31 Notice the gutter system installed at the front of the patio to drain off the water from the deck above. The gutter goes to the pool deck which drains out underground to the woods behind the house.
32 The kids could care less about the new patio. Cannonball!
