Building a Deck - Installing the Joists

I finished nailing up the joist holders on one side of each section of the deck making sure to keep the spacing to 450mm or less. I then measured up the length of each joist and created a numbered cutting list. Using a sliding compound saw I cut the 18 joists to length and numbered each item to match up with its position on the framework.

Problems

After putting up the last joist I had planned to tighten up all of the bolted joints one last time. To my surprise most of the bolted joints could be loosened with just my fingers! I made a phone call to a friend of mine who suggested why this might be the case. New CCA pressure treated timber is still quite damp, and the hot weather we'd had for the last few weeks will have lead to considerable shrinkage in the timber. This is most likely the reason for the movement in the timber and the bolted joints. The movement of the timber was most dissapointing. What had been a level sub frame was now low on the center bearer by about 10mm due to the center bearer warping. The only way to straighten it up (that I could think of) was to use a carjack to jack up the center of the bearer and then tighten off the joint when it was as level as I could get it. It duly did this, with limited success. The joint was rebolted and the whole frame left for a week to settle down. I again took the level and while it was still out a little there didn't appear to have been any more movement.

How Much Did I Get Done?

Everything I'd planned to. For once.