Dad worked hard to build this. We're using regular nails. It would be better to use screws. Take them all out (the nails). The request this time is to repair the DIY-built balcony deck. Wouldn't it be faster to build it from scratch? They asked us to repair it "partially" to keep costs down, but honestly, there's not much salvageable. Are the nails causing water to seep in from above into the base for water drainage? Now, there's no base left. We can't recreate it the same way. Orders like "just fix it, it doesn't have to be fancy" are often challenging for craftsmen. But Dad put a lot of effort into it. He hammered nails into the gutter. We want to accommodate the client's budget as much as possible. But we can't operate at a loss either. Insert a 2-inch block in between. Fasten it from the side. Nail down the support. Joists... Is extending it not an option? (Budget-wise) It's common for us to get requests from families who are upset because the person who built it can't maintain it. Explaining the difficulty of partial repairs, we decided to rebuild it. We'll use 3.5 x 1-inch cedar posts as floor supports. It's clean cedar wood with hardly any knots. We'll plane and smooth the surface. It took a day for wood preparation alone. We won't set up scaffolding, so we'll enter and exit using this ladder during construction. I wonder how many trips I'll make on this ladder today... Working conditions where one person can't handle the job alone. Let's start with the continued demolition. Something like a string connects the balcony railing and deck boards. Seems like reinforcement to prevent the handrail from falling. Doesn't seem necessary. Well, it's fine. Now, the issue is this outdoor unit. I thought it was still new. We considered temporarily placing it on blocks and such. However, it would be in the way when building the deck, so we'd prefer to lift it. We're making adjustments for that. We've added diagonal reinforcement by placing wood on the sash to prevent shifting. Taking this extra step before starting the construction will make the subsequent work smoother. Hang in there for a bit. We're replacing the rotten base for water drainage. It's rotten already. Even the wood deeper inside than the cedar boards has rotted. We prepared materials to change to an independent floor, foreseeing this situation. But we can't leave it like this. We'll attach cedar posts of the same thickness as the existing ones. Is there no base? If there's no base here (in this 6-foot area), we're in trouble. We predict the position of the pillar deeper into the base for water drainage and drive screws. This house has pillars every 910 mm, with intermediate posts at half that, 455 mm apart. Will it catch (the screw)? It's not catching! There's no base where it should be. We've made unnecessary holes in three places. Can't see it, so it's hard to know. We'll secure it with diagonal screws aimed at the corner post. Repairs for the "base" needed for installing the deck boards are complete. We've lost a significant amount of time due to lifting the outdoor unit and repairing the base. We'll apply wood preservative to the floor supports. A cloth would've been better. Not rolling it. Then what? Sliding. Irrelevant conversation. We'll use a laser to check the level and adjust the height of the floor supports. Lower it by 2 mm. We've decided to create a 2 mm slope over 800 mm on the shorter side of the balcony. Is it breaking (the screw)? What's that? Thinking of adding a gasket. It's not necessarily the correct solution. Just doing it as a precaution. What about this gasket? Rain collects here, forming puddles. Prone to leaks. The wood here stays wet for a long time. Right, it would rot. To avoid that, we're using this gasket. Between the water drainage base and the support? Creating a gap so water can drain. There's a pillar here. This is a good place for screws to catch. Water could get in from the screw holes too. It'd be fine if it were a regular exterior wall, but this goes to the "inside" of the house. For balconies, if we don't do this much, it'll definitely leak later! Now, the level is set. Let's remove it once. I want to do it before installing the support to ensure we determine the "level" precisely. A little mistake there. We'll do it properly next time. I'm sure many craftsmen are secretly coming up with various ideas that clients don't know about. Once professionals take on a job, we must make it strong and durable! We'll attach floor supports to the house side. On this side, there were no problems, and screws worked everywhere. The balcony is narrow, and there's no workspace indoors.
Going up and down the ladder multiple times also takes time. For repair work, you need skills to work in any position. In this area, the base is rotten, and screws didn't hold well, so we're reinforcing it with pillars. Is that for waterproofing the wood edges? It could be wood preservative, but we're closing the wood edges to begin with. Impressive, right? Nail holes! That's why we're nailing from the top. With this many holes, it could leak. So, we shouldn't nail into the top? Absolutely not. We're making a jig for drilling pilot holes in the floorboards. We've cut the floorboards to approximate length and will trim them precisely on-site. We're sorting the floorboards, separating ones with strong red tones from the white ones. This time, due to the budget, we're not painting them. We'll drill pilot holes on one side of the floorboards only. We're attaching the floorboards. We're using a laser to mark the wall side and check for levelness. Because the wall is uneven, we're deciding whether to align the floorboards to the curve or keep them straight. This time, we're using a reference line and spacing based on "sashimaku" to align them. We calculate based on layout and diagonal lines to ensure a beautiful fit. Depending on the location on the house side, we may need to screw diagonally, so we didn't pre-drill pilot holes. We're placing boards with knots near the edges and below the door boxes. This time, we didn't lay floorboards longitudinally and instead used joists because it's an exposed area, and we wanted to keep the structure simple (without using too much material) and prioritize maintenance. If something happens, they can be easily replaced. We've reached the area under the outdoor unit. It might not be clear to clients why something is difficult or why a quick fix isn't possible. It's understandable. There are many things you won't understand until you're in that position. That's why, for Kazu-san, the most important thing in a job is to be satisfied with it first. We've finally removed the outdoor unit. They seem relieved. We've come this far. Even if we achieved the client's initial request for something "simple" with quick work, It would quickly deteriorate, and in the end, it would need to be redone. Of course, depending on the situation, we may intentionally choose that path. I hope the client is pleased with our choice this time. Please subscribe to the channel. Thank you for watching!
