My first bit of real work

Am an apprentice in nz, finished a deck and fence/retainer over the Christmas holidays let me know what you guys think?

I reckon you did a great job. I love the fence. Straight and even. Top stuff.:2tsup:

Cheers,
Dr - 307.

All looks great. If I could offer a constructive comment.The things that just kill external coated and uncoated timber with virtually un removable black staining is. Pot plants sitting down on a deck with or without a tray. I like pot plants on decks but I would suggest the three little feet that you can put under. They will leave three small marks but not a big black circle. Your photo doesnt show it but BBQ cylinders will leave a black circular ring. It is best to hang or place on a shelf on the BBQ. It looks like your metal umbrella stand is sitting on concrete, granite?. with this one you are damned if you do or don't. The concrete square will leave a large black square. You might be better off to just fix the umbrella stand directly to the deck as when you ever remove it you will have a black cross stripe as opposed to a much larger square. I also see a lot of grease stains from BBQs that have soaked into untreated timber. They are difficult if not impossible to totally remove. The other killer is furniture that is steel based or very heavy timber. With timber furniture a cheap and effective way is to buy some external boating carpet from say BCF and cut it with a stanley knife to the shape of the chair -table and use a good grade of like Sikaflex exterior adhesive. This will allow the furniture to be easily moved around and minimise scratching.

Hope this might be of some help

Jim J www.restore-a-deck.com.au

gday mate i see you've finished your upstairs deck - looks bloody good & a great extension to your lounging area!! any chance of some shots from the underside/sub-structure?

cheers brynk.

thanks guys, yeah am going to bunnings today and see what I can get for the pot plants and umbrella, will post some photos of the understructure tomorrow, still have the stairs on the far right leading down the back of the house. Do you think the precut stairs are the best bet, are they any cheaper than just buying two lengths of 290x45 and doing it yourself?

Thanks for all input

Definitley build the staris yourself. The precut 3 step 1200mm were priced at $199, and I built the exact same unit with the same brackets and bolts from a timberyard for $80. They even cut the three steps into exact 1200mm for me, so I could fit it in the car, and saved me even having to measure them up. Took about 2 hrs to measure, cut the grooves into the side stringers to make the steps properly, and to assemble and fit up.

Plus I was very satisfied that I made them myself.