Winner: Jim Shugart - June 2005

Overview

Deckman,

Thanks for all your help and guidance with our special conversion project. The project we took on was a collapsed existing deck, attached to the house. The deck was 13 years old, and had just collapsed prior to us buying our house a year ago. It was built from 2 x 12's and it measured 16' x 24'.
The reason it collapsed is due to the fact that the wood had rotted away at the connection to the house, because the deck's flashing was installed incorrectly. Also the deck had a few 4 x 4 posts that went into the ground, but none of them were cemented in the ground. We in Pennsylvania and the deck should have had a lot more support than it did.
I ripped off all of the decking, side rails, and detached it from the house, and removed all 4 x 4 support posts to prepare for the new Floating Deck System. I also had to replace most of the wood that was up against the house from the original deck. One by one using a jack and short 4x4's, I cut the new posts, and installed the blocks. All the while I had to level the entire deck, which was in a bad way due to the collapse. We decided on the conversion because the 2 x 12's were in good condition, and already in place.
After I placed all of the blocks, I installed the decking, the railings, the two corner benches, and we decided to custom build an arbor.
It was about a two week project all in all.
Hope you enjoy the photos, and thanks again for all the help.

Jim Shugarts