Springtime monsoons and settling into the "cabin" at the Lake - Building a Deck

Updated October 15, 2018:  Added a photo of the stained and completed deck

Original Post, May 19, 2018:
Spring has sprung, sort of. It was late this year and we didn't get back until April 30, choosing to stay in the warmth. Upon return it was cool and buds were just popping out on the trees. So we hadn't missed spring at all!

We unpacked, did laundry, some shopping for groceries and basically got re-oriented. We then re-packed and went to the "cabin" at the lake on May 3 and opened it up and freshened it up. Our "cabin" is a 30 ft travel trailer. It is one of our "lily pads" and it is more or less permanently parked at a campground; we pay a seasonal rate and winter storage to maintain it there. The Roadtrek will be parked nearby for a while. We'll be planning our next grand adventure, but if time permits we'll be taking some shorter treks.

Frequent readers will know that we have several "lily pads" we've set up and for all practical purposes we are "full timers" but we live in or at the lily pads for much of the year, using these as bases as we take the Roadtrek for adventures of a week or several months, hopping from lily pad to lily pad.

Currently we're prepping the cabin for summer. Some projects this year include building a deck, which is a major improvement.  We'd discussed this possibility since we began using that campground in 2014 with longer stays commencing 2015.

However, the project has been delayed by rain. For more than a week rain has been nearly continuous, with only short breaks. Back at Mondo Condo there was a microburst a few houses away which felled a healthy spruce.  This unfortunate tree was planted in shallow soil on top of clay:

As of yesterday even the campground with the cabin had not yet dried out. It's currently overcast, but dry as in "drying out."   Here's a short video taken over several days at the condo, nearly a week of daily storms:

Now to build the deck at the cabin. Last year an annual resident vacated his site but left his deck behind. The new tenant decided he didn't want it and I got permission from all parties including the owner of the campground to dismantle it. So at the end of October 2017 I did:

Disassembly prior to moving the deck, October 29, 2017

I consider myself fortunate to get the deck for the cabin. The only problem was it needed to be deconstructed and relocated to my site. It measured 10 ft x 16 ft and the deck boards were fastened with more than 500 nails. It was an arduous job to deconstruct it last fall. Of course it rained.

I worked on it for a day with a hammer and wonder bar and removed all of the nails. Whew! Then I cut the frame into three sections, each about 10 ft x 5 ft. 4 inches. With help I was able to carry and transport the boards to our site. It was cool, raining and damp most of the time, which made the work more difficult.  On the final morning with the decking on the site the sun came out.

I don't think we had the opportunity for a final campfire on our last night. On the final day we got up early and loaded the bikes onto the Roadtrek's bike rack, did the final winterizing of the cabin and winter prep of the deck components, including tie downs "just in case."  We then made a brief stop before heading to the winter lily pad in Arizona.

Ready to cover for winter. 

Reconstructing the relocated deck - May 2018
The reconstruction of the deck was somewhat easier than building one from scratch. I purchased about $75 in materials including nails, deck screws, (14) 4 x 8 x 16 inch concrete blocks, (2) 8 ft 2 x 4s (suitable for direct contact with earth) and a gallon of Cabot semi-transparent oil based stain.

We decided to relocate the fire ring, and will put in a larger one 36 inches in diameter, on concrete base.

G and I discussed options for where to put the deck. The awning is about 16 ft wide and we decided to put the deck parallel to the cabin and from rear door forward, roughly under the awning. I put it about 16 inches from the vertical side of the cabin. Using a string line I placed concrete blocks at the corners and decided it looked good.

The deck frame will rest on concrete blocks and will be above the soil, but on one end the top of the block will be only about 1/2 inch above the soil. That is the end farthest from the pond. At the other end, the top of one corner block will be about 3-1/2 inches above the soil. This is very sandy soil with a good slope to the pond. That's a good thing for drainage.

The blocks were positioned so that there is a slight slope to the top of the deck away from the cabin. I'd like the water to drain away from the cabin. This took a bit of juggling. The positioning of the blocks, digging holes to get the top surfaces level, assembling and straightening the three frame sections, adding 2 x 4 joiners and placing the deck planks on the frame took about 8 hours. A string line was used to check straightness and a 4 ft torpedo level was used to check just how level the frame is, in all directions of length, width and diagonal.

In all the deck frame rests on 14 blocks. The blocks are arranged under the framing so that there are three across the 10 ft. width. One at each outside frame and another in the center. For the 16 ft length there are also blocks, one at the ends and two in the middle. Because of the seam of the frame I used two blocks at each seam to be certain that both ends of the joint will be supported.

In this manner the frame will be supported by concrete blocks about every 5 feet in all directions.

Corner on three blocks

Based upon measurements, only 12 support blocks would be required. But there are joints where disassembly cuts were made. I wanted both sides of the joint to rest on a block. That required two additional blocks. Note the string line on the ground. That's how I got the sections to be "straight" before nailing together and adding additional 2x4 supports.

Two of the sections had a seam at a corner. To provide additional support and prevent the load being entirely on nailed sections I used 2 blocks side by side at both ends of that seam. 

Here's the entire frame assembled, resting on (14) concrete blocks, and with 2x4s added to brace the sections at the joints. I added two pieces in the very center at the seams for additional stability. Only (1) 8 ft 2x4 was used for this.

Entire frame re-assembled and on (14) blocks 

Satisfied with the frame and supports I put all of the deck boards on top of the framing. These are pressure treated pine deck board suitable for above ground use. (Common: 5/4-in x 4-in x 16-ft; Actual: 1-in x 3.5-in x 16-ft).

Deck boards resting on frame

Next Steps:
With the return of monsoons the screwing down of the planking will have to wait. Also need to do some work on the wooden stairs (lying on their side in the photo above). And, the firepit needs to be positioned at the end of the deck.

I'll light sand the top of the decking to smooth any splinters and with dry weather I'll stain the deck and the stairs. [Note: I used Cabot's "Semi solid deck and siding stain". I've used this particular product family for years and have always been pleased with the result. We chose "Beechwood Gray" as a neutral color.]

Stained deck and stairs. Photo October 2018

Original material:  https://roadtrek210.blogspot.com/