Deck (or lack thereof)

We're replacing the roof deck that is off of our bedroom.  It's about 15 years old and most the cedar was starting to rot away.  This blog entry is mostly to show that I'm sometimes busy with something that isn't a bicycle.

This is what it looked like when we bought the house:

Removing the deck might end up being almost as much work as putting the new one in.  You can't see them too well, but there are 3 planters on the left.  The middle one was about 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 2 feet high.  It was full of golden bamboo which had become incredibly root bound.  I cut (with a Sawzall) the soil up into cubic foot chunks with the bamboo still intact.  The roots were so intertwined that this wore out 3 or 4 Sawzall blades.  That took hours.  We sidewalk recycled the bamboo and kept the plants from the other two planters.

Once we got those planters off and the built in seating that went 1/2 way around the deck we were able to get the decking itself off.  That went reasonably quickly.  Many of the sleepers were rotten through and you could just pry the boards apart and have the screws pop out.

This is what the remains looked like down below in the back yard.  We had to be careful not to take out our neighbor's cable when dropping lumber.

And here is our clean roof:

We're talking to a roofer to make sure that our roof is in good shape before building the new deck.  We'll be building the new deck in 4 sections so that it can be removed if we do need to work on the roof later.  The decking itself is ordered, we went with Tigerwood from the Environmental Home Center.

We love our roof deck.  It doesn't get too much shade and is great for container gardening.  The cats liked it too.

 

Published 10 June 2008 05:11 AM by AlexWetmore
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Comments

# Cam said on 09 June, 2008 10:10 PM

Wow! Christine looks extremely serious, like a generalissima of deck removal. No deck can hope to resist her!

I'd given some thought to planting a pot or two of bamboo, but now I'm not so sure about that idea. That sounds like a long, frustrating afternoon of Sawzall work.

# AlexWetmore said on 10 June, 2008 08:20 AM

If you pot bamboo I'd just make sure that you don't ever want to get it out of that pot again.  It's nuts!  There are still 4 bamboo plants (not the pick of the litter) in front of our house if you want them.  They do make great screening from the neighbors.  

Christine was laughing before and after that photo, but wanted to mock a classic painting of a serious looking farmer.

# Jimmy Livengood said on 10 June, 2008 10:49 AM

Yeah, dirt will dull a blade pretty quick! No chainsaw? Will the new deck feature a fireman pole for quick descents to the backyard?

# AlexWetmore said on 10 June, 2008 01:22 PM

No chainsaw.  I had an offer to borrow one, but I didn't want to damage it by running it through dirt and bamboo roots.  At least the sawzall blades weren't too expensive.

Fireman pole is a good idea.  I've been wanting to grow hops up the back wall of our house instead (between the deck and back yard), but haven't had any luck convincing Christine.

# Bujiatang said on 10 June, 2008 05:26 PM

you must grow your own hops!  

# Rory said on 12 June, 2008 11:28 AM

1- demolition rocks!

2- there are varieties of bamboo that dont grow 10' tall, and that dont spread all over tarnations.  the bamboo that i was hoping to take over a small planter in front of my house hasn't.

3-hops are easy to grow, and about as invasive as bamboo.

side note-why am i saying this to someone who has a wife that works at a nursery? (derrr)

4-i still need to bring your tool back.

# Jim G said on 12 June, 2008 04:36 PM

Hi Alex -- does the deck just sit on the roof, or is it attached somehow?  Just wondering.  I have a similar set up on a small light-well off of our condo, with redwood decking in 3 pallet-sized panels sitting on top of the roofing material.

# AlexWetmore said on 13 June, 2008 02:50 PM

Jim -- the existing one wasn't attached, it just floated.  We're doing the same with the new one, but it is going to be in 4 sections so that we can remove it if we need to do future roof work.  The sections will bolt together somehow.

Rory -- Yeah, clumping vs running bamboo.  Our house mostly has Golden Bamboo which is the running stuff.  It actually grows about 25-30' tall (as tall as the house) along the side yard.  That's going to be fun to dig out...