It's been 3 years, but I just got the deck inspected and approved this morning!Last Sunday, I buckled down and got to finishing the trim pieces rather than going to the Grand Old Day parade with the family (yes I'm a bad father and husband). After breaking a few Dremel bits, I got into the groove; the final steps of attaching trim pieces to the deck wasn't as bad and painful as I first thought!
I hammered out about half the trim pieces before noon then took a nice beer break (because it was very hot of course). Once it cooled down and the sun wasn't out so much, I finished the rest before supper-time. The reason I was dreading this was because I had to use a Dremel tool and route/drill slotted holes through 2 layers of trim pieces. There's a reason for all this extra work but to make a long story short, my whole deck is made out of composite material (EON decking material) which expands and contracts depending on the temperature outside. I needed to calculate and plan for this throughout the whole build process; which included drilling/routing out slotted holes for nearly every screw I attached to the material.
Overall I am OK with the deck. I've definitely seen some nicer looking material since. And although I am not 100% satisfied with the material I chose (due to the gaps I had to leave due to the expansion/contraction thing as well as scratch-ability, staining and some fading), I am proud to have done with on my own with hard work from some family and friends along the way.
I am not sure what project I will take on by my own next; I was thinking of a tree house. Maybe something like this?
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