Deck Complete Except for Punch List

Well. We slowed down a lot at the end, and I was hoping for a more polished look from the cable rail, but I have to say that I'm quite satisfied with the results.

Punch List Items

• Clean off remaining tree sap
• Some deck boards are not screwed down everywhere; need to backfill screws
• Need a block under one of the lower deck boards--it comes to an acute angle that barely rests on the joist
• Tighten stair cable rail--make lines more parallel
• 2nd coat of black stain on understructure
• Final placement of patio lights, tuck in extra wire--lots o' cable ties
• Tension patio light support wires, cut off excess
• Hardware cloth critter barrier under both decks--2x2 frame?
• Handrail at house for upper deck

Rain Storm Strikes

We got a lot of rain Friday afternoon, September 25.

The deck and patio lights survived the rain storm quite well. The drainage swale at the street, however, filled with mud and plant debris and completely clogged the pipe under the driveway.

I filed an online report with the City of Seattle on Saturday (confirmation #20-00193731). They expect to respond with 5 days. In the photo, you can see that the street runoff created a river across the grass, down the driveway and through the backyard to the ravine. My property, by the way, starts at the brick post light thing.

The 118th Street River

We had some mist on Saturday, but it's been dry (sunny, at times), for days (I'm writing this on Wednesday).

Clearing the Front Yard

 The front yard was out of control, so Fidel and his guy worked from 9 to 3 yesterday to fix it. I paid $550 + $100 tip. All I know about Fidel is his phone number: (206) 476-3238.

In the street, looking at the drainage swale. Notice the house, cowering in the right rear.

What the Amazon delivery guy sees. Curb appeal, amiright?

Better, but I kinda knew it would be a two-stage process, if not more.

Before...

...and After.

Better this way...

Or like this?

That was a lot of work and a lot of hauling to get us this far, but it needs more. Maybe new planting, certainly more pruning (and more careful pruning). 

Before, looking east

After, looking west

Presentable. Bushes need pruning.

Hot water for the 3rd Bath

Casey finds that the hot water runs out when he tries to take a shower. Not a long shower, every shower. It's just a 12-gallon tank, so that's a 6-minute shower with a low-flow head, less at full strength. We discussed this last April and yada-yada-yada, now it's September.

Builder Matt Risinger just put out a video on tankless water heaters and he points out three drawbacks: 1) they don't work if the power goes out; 2) they encourage wastefulness; and 3) they need more maintenance than tanks. He left me with the impression that a tanked water heater is an anachronism for poor people.

In our case, if we install a unit on the outside (on the south or even the east side of BA3), we can run a gas line from the basement under the new upper deck and straight up to the tankless. This gets us six square feet free in the bathroom and allows us to replace the 36x36 shower with a 54x36 shower as phase 2. 

Something like a 155,000-BTU model with 6.5 GPM rating. Rinnai V65eN ($680 at Home Depot) for example. (They also sell a "value series" for $550 that's 122,000-BTU, 5.6 GPM.)

We need a plumber to extend the gas line and route the hot and cold water from the water heater closet outside. That's maybe 2 men, 2 days = 32 hours. (I've learned to be cautious with estimates.) So, maybe $3,500?

I can move the existing water heater power to an exterior receptacle. 

Among the positives that Matt Risinger lists is that if one goes away for a while (Casey sleeps at his Dad's, I don't rent the AirBnB), it costs nothing, unlike a tank.

Local plumbers include:

• Gene Johnson, who I don't trust
• Beacon Plumbing, who spend too much on advertising
• Washington Energy Services - their bid was too high for the furnace, but maybe. They sell Navien equipment, apparently
• 2 Sons
• Raymark Plumbing

HomeAdvisor is a waste of time.

Recommendations from NextDoor:

• Pioneer Plumbing (Ballard) - 2 reccs. pioneerplumbing.biz
• Kevin Halloway (206-854-3864) specializes in on-demand
• Archies Plumbing (Keith) - 2 reccs 206-339-0064
• 1st Response http://www.1stresponsehvac.com
• Rush Plumbing (Robert)

Handrail joints

 There are a lot of gaps in the Fiberon deck. Because it expands and contracts with the air temperature, the system requires large gaps between deck boards. Accordingly, I fitted the other joints with more of a gap than I might have. 

For the handrails, I thought that I would use Super Glue to fuse the miters so that the handrail would move as a single piece. That turned out to be basically impossible, so I left a gap at the miters.

Mockup of a typical miter joint

I wanted to test whether DAP Dynaflex Ultra black caulk ("advanced exterior sealant") would work to make these joints seem more finished.

I like the look; I think it works. It's waterproof and permanently flexible

The mockup looks bad, I think, because it got smeared on the surface of the Fiberon. I tried cleaning it up with Acetone; the packaging says it cleans up with "water," but it feels like tar. But, clearly, if I go ahead with this on all the miters (there are six), I'll use painter's tape to protect the finish.

Looking for opinions here.

Pre-cleanup. The stuff was born to smear.

Steady progress

 It's Sunday, so...here's a progress report. It's going. 

Second coat of black stain really helps. The Fiberon handrail/cap is in place everywhere. Moved the patio light connect at the SW corner.

Quiet Week

Well, it's Sunday night again. I feel like I've been hardly working on the backyard. It started raining Wednesday night, persisted (sort of) on Thursday and a bit on Friday. I could have done lots of work in the dry times, or when it was just misting, but I just didn't feel like it. The lights dangled for a few days.

On Saturday, I hung the rest of the lights on the wire supports: 12 on the first (west-most) line, 11 on the middle, and 11 on the east-most line. I'm thinking I'll make that 11-12-11 by moving a light at the southern-most (spindly pine) tree.

I wonder where I got the idea that I could string the lights without wire supports? Could it be the sales material? Well, anyway, the $35 kit worked out just great--vinyl-coated, stainless steel cable with beautiful stainless steel fittings and turnbuckles. The connector at the southwest corner has to change, though--the wire is rubbing against the house, because I foolishly mounted it out of sight around the corner.

Sunday, I cut the remaining handrail pieces for the lower deck, including the sloping stair handrail. Making and fitting a template handrail out of salvaged lumber was a master stroke. The miters were wrong when I first cut them, and some had to be re-done twice. But when they were right, I had the precise angles and lengths so cutting the Fiberon handrails was easy. Also, I cut the end returns a couple of weeks ago--that was very tricky, because they come to a knife edge on two sides. So I super glued the returns on the cut boards and we're good to go on the handrails.

What that means is that this week I'll paint the undersides and ends (two coats) and I'll glue them down when I'm ready. One issue with the upper handrails is that the miters must stay in the same plane. I bought some metal corner angles to install on the underside and we'll see how that works.

This project is nearing completion.

• Give the railings a second coat of black stain (may need more black stain)
• Install the angled cable rail on the lower stairs; it will be tricky
• Glue the handrail on the angled stair railing
• Glue the handrail on the other 5 sections
• Buy parts and install electrical for the lights
• Misc fixup--add blocking under unsupported deck end; add deck screws where needed; cut sharp corner of upper tread
• Install the remaining cable rail (7 panels x 8 rows)--112 pilot holes, 112 holes, 112 lag screws
• Move the wood piles to the front (side) yard
• Solve the basement stairs (a project in itself--to the drawing board!)

Twilight; that's why you can still see everything