How To Finish Your Deck Like A Pro

all right today's video we are gonna teach you how to finish your deck we're talking beautiful handrails with drink ledges tight skirt board good sexy look and some strong stairs stay tuned we'll teach you all the tips and tricks very important when it comes time to do your skirting let's know which kind you want to go with here we're gonna go with more of a solid skirt we're looking for animal control because we don't get direct Sun in this area we're not so concerned about air passing through if you do get direct Sun I would suggest going with like a privacy lattice so you get a little bit of large animal control and wind but since we don't need that here we're gonna go for a nice clean look and what to two recommendations right off the bat a lot of times when you buy this kind of skirt board the end boards I've got an angle on them so not cut square out of the factory and I don't know why so when you're gonna do your measuring and cutting for your skirt always make sure you trim your first edge before you get started and then after that you should be good now if you remember the demo demolition video the very beginning the wood that was on this deck was cedar just like we're using now but it was buried in the dirt and so I'm very important you don't want your cedar in the organics so when you're measuring off leave an airspace and when you come to finish this if you want to finish garden and you don't want to have an airspace there go and get some clear stone pebbles or River stone and use that to build up behind your gardens up against your deck if you want to close off that animal trap don't ever push your dirt back up against this you're gonna promote rot and then you're just gonna shorten the lamps lifespan of your deck that works they've got a nice gap under here I get my pan underneath the other thing you want to think about is decoratively speaking you don't want to have them meeting up like that you want one covering the other and I would always suggest that the place that you want it to be the prettiest is the one you want to put on in the last so this is our street view so we'll put that on last we're gonna start here with this one just line things up make sure you're happy with the way it finishes set your knee on there for some pressure grab a couple of screws and set this board if it's at all possible to inches away from the edge is a really good place to go it'll help promote not splitting it and this entire row of boards you want to have the same height from the top so if you need to you can mark it but I just like to have a steady line I'll go across not just eyeball it one to the next now the bottom board same rule applies take a look at the entire length of the skirt your your board that you're attaching to should be somewhat level take the highest reference about a half inch down from that nice and easy here again putting this screw flush with the wood you don't want to bury it okay this is the screw that you want to be able to pull out if you ever need to get access underneath your deck so if you bury it there's a little swell and then when you try to take it out you'll destroy your wood so this is a great way to start and then you'll be fine to access underneath the deck if you ever want to get under there for any reason the reason we're starting at the outside corner with a full board is so that it's pretty pretty is important which leads me to the next point when you cut your board you'll have one clean side from your saw blade and you'll have one rough side install the clean side out we're looking for that consistency about two inches down so just the last couple of finishing touches here start on your corner measure off to both the middle and try to try to adjust the ground to be consistent so the boards are all the same height you don't want to have to cut every board up and down just take a shovel and clean a trough put this in consistently when you get near the middle stop start at the other end with a full board and come towards the middle again I'll show you why if when you get to the middle you're left with a gap like this you don't want to cut a board to fit that hole that's that nasty what you do is you take the total amount of width of all of this these two boards plus the gap divide it by three and then cut three boards the same width it's still all three of those here and that'll make that gap just take a probably three-quarters of an inch off of this board this board on this board and then you won't even notice that the boards are a different size and you won't get stuck with a little sliver one of the ends and don't forget finish your entire skirt before you start building your stairs one because it's really hard to work behind the staircase and two if you put your skirt up to this area up to where the stairs are you have to close the side of the stairs right to the ground or you lose the ability to maintain your critters so finish the entire skirt and then it'll be stare time all right so now it comes time for the stairs and you've got a couple of options out there whenever you're dealing with black metal is for your finishing work you can always go to the building store and they'll have pre-made black metal stair risers for you and you just screw the deck boards from underneath into that that's a doable system but only if you've got the same sort of height requirements as a traditional eight inch rise step so if it's a little bit different you gotta do something custom then that's not gonna be any good for you you can always buy the wooden ones that come pre-made as well and you can shave the top and bottom a little bit but remember code in most places and what people are used to is that every step is the same height rise and run length so if you start making modifications like that you get up with really long odd kind of shape steps and the natural function of people going up and down stairs is a is abruptly changed so you can be coming down stairs engaged in conversation not paying attention and almost fall all over yourself just because the heights wrong so what you want to do is you want to make sure every step is exactly the same give or take about a quarter inch on exterior applications I would even go give or take a half an inch just to make life simple okay now our total height including the deck itself is around eighteen and a half okay so we're gonna make our stairs based on eighteen as our measurement just because there's a lot of unevenness going on here and we do have the ability to shim a little bit in order to get the height we want so 18 divided by three right is six I hope up and cut on my math before so we want a six inch rise now a two by six is a five and a half inch and the deck board is one that gives me six and a half and that is pretty close to what I want considering this is actually 18 and a half and I did the math on 18 so if I just made a box which I've pre-cut here and then put deck boards on top of it I end up with a six and a half inch rise times two all right that's thirteen and off eight that's another six and a half under the step that will actually end up being perfect it's just lucky we got it that way and one of the reasons why it is so is because the house had the original stairs built there for two steps and so that was set up to be similar rise and run and so what we've done by building a level deck is extended that same math to a different part of the entranceway and so since the ground is pretty much level we end up with a similar result now if you have a situation in your house where you have two perfectly good steps up to your house and you want to add a deck finish your deck at the same height your last step is and you'll be fine too now I am thinking of the street when you're looking at my stair because I'm making all of this out of cedar I'm not going to finish it with any other surface boards other than the top so what I've done is I've created a little bit of blocking I'm just gonna map this out so it makes some sense okay we can visualize this together and the back actually sits inside the two of the outsides okay so the only time you can see the joint is from the side of the building not from the front and you only see one joint and it closed off that side basically what's gonna happen after that is we're gonna put five quarter-inch board on that gives me a nice 10 inch step with a little bit of a lip and then I'll have another box Hill right here you start to see what's happening here okay and I've got the little blocks here for that box as well so to build both boxes independently put down the first one level it drop the second box on we'll throw a couple screws into the skirt to hold it all together and then we'll finish it all together give it a quick sand and we'll be able to take our last post put it inside the framework right to the ground and attach it from all three pieces of the framework plus the handrail and that'll really make this stairs part of the deck and support the upper rails here with that triangle effect we're looking for remember when you're building something outside just see the end from the beginning take some time to pencil it out think it out and you'll be fine too this is not that difficult building box stairs is the easiest way to do it it also takes a little bit more material so if you wanted to cut stringers we've got a video in our our video series on our last egg product to show you how to do that but this is quick and simple the math is easy and it's one of my favorite ways to throw a quick set of stairs together so I try to keep the homeowners in mind when I'm designing these things and doing videos I try to use the same sort of building materials and tools you're gonna have access to there are faster ways to build framing air tools and all that sort of thing with the proper rear exterior fasteners but to be totally honest I know most people don't have access to those kinds of tools and why would you how often your life are you gonna be framing a deck [Music] now when you're put in your box in before you finish your frame we put in your post you want to just make sure you mark off your level all right so before we get going we have frame working behind that we've attached our skirt so we're using three inch screws to tie in we're gonna fall five or six in there just for safety make sure we've got at least four or five hundred pounds with this sheer strength on those screws and then we're gonna take this level off and we also want to make sure that we're not just level left to right but front to back we don't want to be level here we want to have our stairs just the back just a little bit down remember it's always a lot more comfortable if you're going up stairs if you're being leaning forward a little bit more cuz that's the direction you're heading the back is too high in you're off level you feel thrown off the stairs and it's dangerous so it's always better to have just a 1 degree slope back towards the building that's my land that's my level line okay so now what I'm looking for is square so by putting my level up against both these posts there's no way that it's gonna be contact with the whole side of the post on both posts unless it's relatively square and that position is actually really perfect again very nice and because it's all closed up even if it's out a little bit it's not gonna matter I just want to make sure that when I put my rail in all my woods gonna line up and it's not gonna be opening up or in case I gotta shift my box remember if it dries a little bit twisted while you're building putting your stairs a little bit off square may actually help you to solve the problem with making your sure your lumber on your railings is all nice and tight [Music] this post has already set at the base we know it's really nice spot put one screw in the bottom corner now what I want to do is I would just want to use my line of sight and line up this post with the other one her plumb I don't want to rely on anything other than my eyes here because this post will be judged to that post and if that one's out a little bit after everything we've done here if this one's out the same amount it'll be totally invisible show you why I'm doing this the same reason we did it in the deck with our post all right won't attach this to the body so now I'm not relying on the screws if someone is pulling on the rail this way I've actually got blocking so I'm multiplying the amount of points of contact that the screws have and making it very very difficult for that wood to be pulled apart I daresay you won't find anybody who's able to just walk over and rip this apart you're gonna need some serious tools so now this post is built into the frame the frame is attached to the frame of the deck and that is really really solid when I get the handrail on there it's gonna be invincible testimony to the guy that put these papers down originally not too often you see this but I built my stare directly on these pavers and I have these two posts cut exactly the same length and they're sitting on the paver inside the box screwed them together check that out folks if you start level you build level so once I've cut my trace piece out I'm gonna bring it over here line up my holes I'm gonna eyeball that just for posterity I'm gonna bring that mark across no this is my bottom coming from the rail okay I'm gonna line that up like that and I'm going to extend that trace line and you can see that it'll actually make some sense so that's where it goes okay you see how my line is perpendicular if I was a lift that's straight up in the air that hole will be directly above that hole the gap remains constant now that makes a little bit more sense than that so we'll cut it on the same angle yes yes I believe we have something we're talking about now so now we got our box in place put my second box on and I'm just covering it with a five quarter board just a thought here real quick the framework on the second box isn't lined up from the same place to the first box so when I'm putting my screws in all my screws are gonna follow all the way up just a thought because people see the screw heads so it's got to be considered as part of the design element or it'll be really noticeable and of course like with any softwood lumber when you get near the edges boards not closing nicely so we just lift this end up and then start screwing on an angle and now it's contact the wood with a gap and watch it close there we go so I made all my box is the same size I cut all my floor boards first I'm lining up so when I'm building this and I have to work my way around I got to do a little jigsaw where I can set my 2x4 here and make sure that all my boards are flush before I make my Mars right we just get this over here what we're gonna do right now is demonstrate a simple railing system that is attractive and forgiving which is important it's also incredibly strong so what we have is our 4x4 post I remember our rule as long as we're installing things really strong in the base and relatively plumb we can manipulate the tops to close so we always cut the bottom on top of our rails the same even on the stairs don't get into that habit of trying to trace the top rail and cut it separately just cut the bottom invert the board follow the line trace it out just like this so what we do same thing right we dropped it on we trace it I got my measurement now I'm going nosing and nosing to get my measurement okay because that's a great angle to work with it's easy to work with and then I'm taking off that half-inch for the depth of our caps okay now I've got that board and you can see that my pieces are different I've lined up the holes I roll them over i trace that bottom line across the top Lordan and then I cut it now I've got my bottom on top you can double-check set them on there it should be pretty straight if they're not don't worry we still have that forgiving effect of the screwing it all together now what you want to do is this screw your end capsule now for the bottom rail I suggest going flush with the top and with the top rail make sure you're not sticking higher because you're still gonna put a 2x4 cap across this so make sure you're no more than flush all right once you get all those screwed together we can assemble the really is that you can see this cap is very forgiving for putting a screw in an angle it'll still sink flush so you weren't going to have any problems with that [Music] the ideas they're trying to make that screw long enough to operate even 40 years from now when the deck is completely rotted out these screws are still gonna be holding onto something it's a little bit overkill but overkill isn't all that bad of a concept so for assembly your bottom rail although we use the the noses to rest it on in order to set the angle lift it up about an inch get it off less would would contact your having your deck the longer it will last drive that cap screw in there set this and get rid of the twist these are awesome now listen we are gonna go through this again these comes set for a traditional 42 inch railing system which is great if you're building something to code so somebody doesn't fall off your stairs and plunge to their ultimate demise but what we're doing is just creating a safety railing for Grandma to come home to visit and she's not all that tall so what we did is we took the top off and I ran it through the saw this is just aluminum and this powder-coated so boom we cut it down so that when grandmas climbing Israeli she isn't wholly railing above her head that's obviously 42 inches that's that's hard most older people don't have a lot of strength in their shoulders and they're using their bicep and tricep muscles when they're going up a railing and so when you're setting safety rails and bathrooms it's usually pretty low so they can have their arms straight to their body and they can grab something like this okay so if your handrail is up like this even if she's holding onto it and she slips she's gonna let go she doesn't have the strength to hold her body weight if she slips at that part angle so make sure when you've got a railing and you're thinking about older people cut it down if you got an opportunity if you don't make it extra wide and put on a second handrail for them we just drop this bad boy in here one at a time there's really no rhyme or reason to this feels really sloppy and stupid but when you get to a point where you happy just beat the crap out of it until it all fits nice and it all twist into place start at the top line it up in the middle set your screw and set it down get downward pressure on that top row there we go I'll help pull it nice and tight and then do the same to the bottom get it in position well I can't find that happy place here we go one more time deaf here we go downward on the angle [Music] so we have our entire railing system set up at 31 and 1/2 degrees so in order to do the top plate the first thing you want to do is cut one end of 31 and a half degrees so what you want to do is just get down here close one I got a weird look on your face line that up and then mark it when you get back line up with your 31 and 1/2 degrees because it'll be exactly the same all right and this point here and this point here should be the same as the bottom if you're a mark on the pencil is wrong go with the longest part of your mark and then we'll double check because if you cut it too long it won't fit into place and it won't but that's fine because I can cut it shorter I can't cut it even longer the second time make sense no daylight through there that is perfect loving it so I'm gonna do is I'm gonna just create flush to flush here and here relatively speaking I'm going to trace this oh that was really well done that was really good to see what how many why would I give four three hands all right I'll do the same on the other side flush the flush now in a perfect world there's supposed to be just a little bit taller but this is why the system is forgiving because we're using a five quarter board to cap all this so I got an inch over lang overhang and as you can see over here it extends so far past the post that there's no traditional line of sight where you can see if you have any minor gaps or anything around so it really is forgiving for junior carpenters such as myself this is the part of the job where I really piss off the safety trolls yes I'm using my saw without a pair of glasses cuz I like to be able to see what I'm doing when I'm doing crazy things like this now I'm gonna line up my cut I'm holding my my safety blade my guard out of the way when I line this up and I'm gonna go [Music] and [Music] much better and from the other side and the other angle oh you're looking auditioning for America's Got Talent look at that I get a golden buzzer there we go ladies and gentlemen of the jury remember I want to line this up so I'm not drilling into any of the hardware from the railing going down the middle three spots just so that it doesn't bow on me that battery starting to run a little bit low let's get this really perfect little torque I'm gonna take this one extra step I'm gonna put it right into the post help line it all up all right it's not really necessary but I usually put a screw on the side to tie to this post too but I'm noticing that my two by fours got a natural occurring crack go throw a screw in it it's just gonna make it split so I'm gonna leave it alone here's my top plate I need my 31 and a half degree angle if I measure up like this I'm actually gonna have something a lot longer so if you want to measure this one the way you do it is you roll it over and you put it up now you're measuring top side the top side okay there we go and now we put our 45 on quarters [Music] in a little bit where it comes to the rail district labor stoppage [Music] look mama without a map [Music] same thing now if it doesn't grab really good and close that gap the first time back up the screw and drive it again when the grandmas come you let them know this is all for them you can get out of it max well that's it folks we have just finished showing you all of the finished details for our basic deck system and it's not just that basic this is pretty cute so just a couple of finishing touches here that take it a step beyond the traditional and you can have a beautiful project like this too just remember when you're building something like this and before the beginning visualize it map it out if you need to take your time be happy with everything you screw down and you'll be fine listen if you like this kind of content don't forget to subscribe to the channel and by all means ask your questions below cuz there are a lot of different deck situations out there and materials and substrates and code so feel free pick my brain I answer those questions myself every day don't forget to check us out on Instagram we'll see you again next time you [Music]

Channel: Home RenoVision DIY

Views: 309,843

Rating: 4.9039259 out of 5

Keywords: home renovision, renovation, bathroom renovation, reality renovision, jeff thorman, construction, diy renovations, renovations, do it yourself, diy, instructional, hrv, how to build a deck, deck railings, deck stairs, stairs, how to build stairs

Id: NOngBc_bt34

Length: 27min 4sec (1624 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 30 2018