I don’t remember taking a whole week to lay decking on any project that we’ve built before. It’s nice to be able to walk on the deck surface at last…and I know the customer is excited about being able to walk on it now.  But we’re following our set process…which is what I’d to throw on a little light on while we’re in the middle of this-

We buy lumber directly through our lumber supplier which delivers it directly to our mill shop. I then have the lumber milled to our specifications, stacked with ¾” sticks between each layer about 4’ apart, and placed between each layer of decking. What this does is allow air to get between each layer of decking and dry the wood out slowly. This process takes about 4 to 6 weeks to dry out once the wood is treated. After the lumber is milled and bundled up I have the treatment plant pick up the lumber, treat the lumber to our specifications and then deliver to where we have it stored to dry out. Years of experience have disciplined us to make sure the decking it dried out before installation.

For this project, we had the cedar for the screened porch delivered on Friday…and we start the installation on Monday.  The first thing I’ll do on Monday is cover the screened porch floor with ½” plywood to prevent the porch flooring from mishaps. We’ll then tear off the existing overhang on the house to allow for the roof attachment of the screened porch. Next, we’ll get the porch walls up then start the roof and at least get the rafters up by the end of the day. After the rafters are in place we’ll start the roof decking. Planning is obviously of utmost importance here.  More pictures are coming..