One thing I've learned with concrete recently is that the drum mixer is less efficient than the mud mixer. For the drum mixer you prepare batches, the consistency between batches may not be very good. The batch of concrete is pretty heavy too. The mud mixer has a steady dribble of concrete coming out of the tip, you can be doing other things while it comes out. It's not as heavy to reposition either. The consistency of the concrete is better too.
If a concrete truck can reach the spot, that's the easiest.
This video shows a mud mixer in action around the 25 minute mark.
The water source is also a factor if you're using a portable drum mixer. One batch from a well can be quite different from another batch from a treated water system or a running creek.
EDIT: kids, don't pour fuel into a generator right along a creekside without a funnel or care for the enviroment (~25 minute mark of that video)
Overall you did a great job on this. Impressive if you haven’t done it before. Your retrospective is solid. Using post saddles is the move so the wood doesn’t touch the concrete. Generally easiest and most forgiving to set the concrete pour height with a transit, chalk lines, and use sleeve anchors with saddles (which it seems like you did) so you align things perfectly once the concrete has cured enough to load.
For anyone else reading this considering taking on a deck and digging footings, the best approach with the holes if you don’t have access to a skid steer or excavator with an auger attachment, is to rent a towable earth auger like this:
You only need 1 person to operate and it’s much easier than 2 person because it doesn’t transfer any horizontal load / leverage into the operator so you can just focus on lowering the auger and raising it up. Much safer if you hit a root or rock too.
If you’re brave though you can just dig it by hand though. Everyone should dig some 4’ deck footings or shovel 3/4” clear stone all day at least once (good for drainage and preventing mud under the deck) so its easier to see and appreciate how great working on a computer daily really is.
Lovely to see the entire process of planning all the way through building, and it's a nice change from the usual type of project shown on HN, and even a change from the way in which woodwork projects are normally presented
Really nice. I build a deck this year too. I would have loved to have a nice blog post like this beforehand.
I love his page. Inspires to write. Simple, clean, blog has 2 years break here and there, but writing!
Before doing myself, I did not know just how much work it is. It looked so simple. But it took me many weekends over a few months. Digging holes for concrete feet. Mixing concrete (I found its easy to do in a wheelbarrow) and pouring. Measuring (buy a laser level!). Cutting the posts. Then beams and joists. Noticing the wood I bought was not the same thickness everywhere (I thought my post height was off, but the laser level and my cut was perfect, the beams were not). Lastly just the decking was almost 1000 screws.
Awesome, glad to hear you also had a similar experience. Yeah, I definitely underestimated the work required, and you just have to persist through till the end.
Thank you for the heads up, this might be a problem in the future that I hadn't realized.
The trees are a flowering pear and a flowering cherry, so I'm hoping not too much stuff falls on the deck. We had a crab apple tree before which is dying now, which is why we planted these trees 2 years ago. They're each supposed to grow up to 20 to 25 foot tall, with a 20 foot spread ...
I might have to figure out if I cut them down now and restart, or do it later when it becomes a problem and restart then ... I might just let them grow and figure out how to deal with the problems later ...
there must be an ai tool that takes the tedium out of making these drawings. Imagine being able to say 'place footings 4 feet apart to a depth of 42" over a 10 x 10 foot area' and have the ting generate a drawing. Then say 'change footing spacing equally so it fits in a 10 x 10 foot area;
In places like North America where strict building codes are enforced, there are three important factors that should concern everyone who is thinking of not properly consulting and building to those specifications:
1. Inspectors and authorities will act against your non-codeworthy plans and builds; maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe after a few years. Perhaps they'll level a fine, perhaps they'll order the complete demolition of it by their own appointed workers or contractors, at your own expense.
2. Insurers will never pay out for damages caused to or by your non-codeworthy builds. It is the perfect excuse for them to not pay out. It doesn't matter whether your design has qualities that you can demonstrate are equal or superior to officially recognized standards, you lose.
3. If someone is injured or dies on your non-codeworthy project, you'll fail a ton of personal injury and other legal challenges at your own expense.
Our village (here in the USA) is pretty strict about the inspections. Each deck has to have 3 inspections (holes, framing, final).
If you build without a permit, the village will not allow you to sell the house (each sale has to have a village inspection) until you _tear down_ and redo the work with a permit.
So it's a lot more controlled than other places and they can enforce it by tying up the sale.
Similarly, I've lived in low-lying, high moisture land areas where local authorities were extremely strict about people needing to use only approved footing plans. I've also lived in forested areas with strict codes and rules on fire mitigation and prevention, so tree and scrub proximity was a very serious concern.
One thing I've learned with concrete recently is that the drum mixer is less efficient than the mud mixer. For the drum mixer you prepare batches, the consistency between batches may not be very good. The batch of concrete is pretty heavy too. The mud mixer has a steady dribble of concrete coming out of the tip, you can be doing other things while it comes out. It's not as heavy to reposition either. The consistency of the concrete is better too.
If a concrete truck can reach the spot, that's the easiest.
This video shows a mud mixer in action around the 25 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/CbrZX6n3F-g
The water source is also a factor if you're using a portable drum mixer. One batch from a well can be quite different from another batch from a treated water system or a running creek.
EDIT: kids, don't pour fuel into a generator right along a creekside without a funnel or care for the enviroment (~25 minute mark of that video)
Overall you did a great job on this. Impressive if you haven’t done it before. Your retrospective is solid. Using post saddles is the move so the wood doesn’t touch the concrete. Generally easiest and most forgiving to set the concrete pour height with a transit, chalk lines, and use sleeve anchors with saddles (which it seems like you did) so you align things perfectly once the concrete has cured enough to load.
For anyone else reading this considering taking on a deck and digging footings, the best approach with the holes if you don’t have access to a skid steer or excavator with an auger attachment, is to rent a towable earth auger like this:
https://www.unitedrentals.com/marketplace/equipment/lawn-lan...
You only need 1 person to operate and it’s much easier than 2 person because it doesn’t transfer any horizontal load / leverage into the operator so you can just focus on lowering the auger and raising it up. Much safer if you hit a root or rock too.
If you’re brave though you can just dig it by hand though. Everyone should dig some 4’ deck footings or shovel 3/4” clear stone all day at least once (good for drainage and preventing mud under the deck) so its easier to see and appreciate how great working on a computer daily really is.
Lovely to see the entire process of planning all the way through building, and it's a nice change from the usual type of project shown on HN, and even a change from the way in which woodwork projects are normally presented
Good job
Drafting notes, from a childhood watching my mother and father interact over technical drawings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_drawing_tool
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_curve is one of my favorites - any complicated curve you like, essentially, as a template tool, or you can use a flat spline: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_spline (you might be familiar with splines as a concept from 3d rendering)
PS if you've ever wondered how they made such wonderfully perfect dotted lines... sometimes they "cheated", and similar versions exist with mechanical pencils: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dotted_Line_Tool_from_the...
Thanks for sharing! This looks like what we would have been doing in the second year of the class, if there had been one.
Really nice. I build a deck this year too. I would have loved to have a nice blog post like this beforehand. I love his page. Inspires to write. Simple, clean, blog has 2 years break here and there, but writing!
Before doing myself, I did not know just how much work it is. It looked so simple. But it took me many weekends over a few months. Digging holes for concrete feet. Mixing concrete (I found its easy to do in a wheelbarrow) and pouring. Measuring (buy a laser level!). Cutting the posts. Then beams and joists. Noticing the wood I bought was not the same thickness everywhere (I thought my post height was off, but the laser level and my cut was perfect, the beams were not). Lastly just the decking was almost 1000 screws.
Awesome, glad to hear you also had a similar experience. Yeah, I definitely underestimated the work required, and you just have to persist through till the end.
Trees are planted way to close to the deck. Looks nice now, sure, it'll be a regret later.
Thank you for the heads up, this might be a problem in the future that I hadn't realized.
The trees are a flowering pear and a flowering cherry, so I'm hoping not too much stuff falls on the deck. We had a crab apple tree before which is dying now, which is why we planted these trees 2 years ago. They're each supposed to grow up to 20 to 25 foot tall, with a 20 foot spread ...
I might have to figure out if I cut them down now and restart, or do it later when it becomes a problem and restart then ... I might just let them grow and figure out how to deal with the problems later ...
there must be an ai tool that takes the tedium out of making these drawings. Imagine being able to say 'place footings 4 feet apart to a depth of 42" over a 10 x 10 foot area' and have the ting generate a drawing. Then say 'change footing spacing equally so it fits in a 10 x 10 foot area;
there are many AI architectural plan/custom house startups, problem is generating items and ensuring they are up to code.
I'm surprised that an inspector was required at all much less for multiple visits.
I might be totally wrong but I think I'm the UK you'd be allowed to just build a deck. Unless it was high enough to overlook your neighbours.
In places like North America where strict building codes are enforced, there are three important factors that should concern everyone who is thinking of not properly consulting and building to those specifications:
1. Inspectors and authorities will act against your non-codeworthy plans and builds; maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe after a few years. Perhaps they'll level a fine, perhaps they'll order the complete demolition of it by their own appointed workers or contractors, at your own expense.
2. Insurers will never pay out for damages caused to or by your non-codeworthy builds. It is the perfect excuse for them to not pay out. It doesn't matter whether your design has qualities that you can demonstrate are equal or superior to officially recognized standards, you lose.
3. If someone is injured or dies on your non-codeworthy project, you'll fail a ton of personal injury and other legal challenges at your own expense.
Our village (here in the USA) is pretty strict about the inspections. Each deck has to have 3 inspections (holes, framing, final).
If you build without a permit, the village will not allow you to sell the house (each sale has to have a village inspection) until you _tear down_ and redo the work with a permit.
So it's a lot more controlled than other places and they can enforce it by tying up the sale.
Similarly, I've lived in low-lying, high moisture land areas where local authorities were extremely strict about people needing to use only approved footing plans. I've also lived in forested areas with strict codes and rules on fire mitigation and prevention, so tree and scrub proximity was a very serious concern.