Good video. Very informative. I’m a pro deck builder and we do all these steps as well. It’s very satisfying to see a deck after a rainfall and all the water is evenly distributed. No pooling due to low/high spots. That’s the mark of a pro deck builder who pays attention to levelling the deck. Thanks for sharing.
Love your videos do you have a video on cutting your own stair stringers? I have a top 4x4 landing off the right side by the house stairs coming approximately 7’ down to another 4x4 landing then turning in front of the deck for the remaining stairs to ground
Gidday mate, I have a deck to build after Xmas. It's for a friend of ours and I want it to look good. I'll definitely be doing this. A little extra time now lasts for years. Cheers Calum
Do you buy number 1 or number 2 usually? Man, after fighting my ledger and just all the variances of PT Hemlock joists, I am going to spend the money on pressure treated LVL from Pacific Woodtech on my next deck. I see so much time savings with the product.
I was just going to comment to see if Dr. Decks has evaluated these yet. I'm thinking about rebuilding the deck on my house to test them out before using them at customers. (My deck was built before I owned the house, so it definitely needs rebuilding!
Just a master carpenter! Thk u for the video! Could you please go over from beginning to end the deck building process? So I am a finish carpenter but would love to file away a video from you for when I build a deck at my place!
Seems like you could tape the top of the beams if shaving was required. Which is exactly my situation, lol! I tried leveling the beams as best I could, but the lumber wasn't dimensionally similar, so some shaving was required to get the tops level.
Joist HANGERS were not mentioned. As you showed in other videos, they should NOT all be installed at the same level. Each hanger should be adjusted so that the top of the joist is at the same level as all the others. But that only makes the ENDS of the joists level with the ledger board and the rim joist. Crown or sag in the center can be handled as you described. If too low flip it. Then plane it flat.
this video is for joist on beam construction, hangers are simpler from that perspective, but yeah, doesn't solve problems of significant deviations midspan
Would you ever use a moisture meter and check the moisture content of the joists? I've received loads where one joist is obviously waterlogged and therefore is going to shrink a lot more than the dryer joists once they've dried out to the equilibrium water content. I find myself at times leaving the waterlogged joists higher by an 1/8" or so with the idea being that when the water content evens out they'll be at relatively the same height.
Relates to deck joist heights - when you're switching from 1.5" boards to 1" boards I see two possible solutions - rip a bunch of marine plywood furring strips for the tops of joists, OR, just rip a bunch of strips of Timbertech fascia board which is 9/16". I worry that the plywood will not last in the long run. Not many choices in 1.5" PVC or composite decking and you pay for the extra thickness so every option has a dollar value attached to it. Thoughts? Could probably be its own little episode too... this dilemma comes up every time someone switches from 1.5" to something thinner.
The leveling issue is one of the most difficult part of decking, and even more difficult on an overhead deck. For all the DIY home owners out there, knowledge and effort associated with these kinds of issues is why deck projects are extremely expensive. Framing a deck square, leveled and to code is not easy even for the pros. Thanks Dr. Deck for the tips. Learned mine the hard way, and almost had high blood pressure from going back and forth to exchange joists hoping to get them as similar in dimensions as possible. At the end, I failed and ended up still having to engineer and machine them. Very time consuming and frustrating venture.
We've used deck tape products in the past. Going to try Sherwin Williams fluid flashing tape on our next one. It'll stick to anything and UV protection. Ever tried it doc? :)
We have SYP here in VT. I track saw all my joists before installing them. I determine the smallest width then I crown them and at the contact points (Ledger and beam) I measure up from the bottom of the joists to the number I determined was the smallest width. Snap a line from point to point and lay the track on that line.
Great vids. Try this sometime..... Joists attach flush at house. No need for grading. (Crowning yes) Find measurement of smallest joist. Set combo square to that height and mark all joists at the beam. Use your oscillating trick to trim them. They all fall level with the smallest joist
Pressure treated wood preservative. You normally put it on the cut ends of pressure treated boards that you cut to maintain the treated barrier on the outside of the board. In this case when you plane off some of the top or bottom of the board to bring the board level with the adjacent boards, it’s good to apply the solution to the planed areas where untreated wood might be exposed to make sure the whole exterior of the board has preservative applied and you’re not creating an untreated area for rot to take hold.
@@smplyizzy Any big box store like Home Depot or Lowes carry a brand like, "Copper Brown Wood Preservative" Careful it smells strong and outdoor use only. Also, the G tape doesn't stick well on the preservative applied wet area, so either wait until it dry up or just apply G tape after shave/plane the joist without applying the solution. Definitely apply wood preservative whereever you cut wood and not applying G tape.
How about Owens Corning 'Lumber' ? I'm looking into this material for my deck rebuild but not sure about spans, strength etcetera. Please and Thank you for your amazing videos. God bless.
Good video. Very informative. I’m a pro deck builder and we do all these steps as well. It’s very satisfying to see a deck after a rainfall and all the water is evenly distributed. No pooling due to low/high spots. That’s the mark of a pro deck builder who pays attention to levelling the deck. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed!
Great video! Very helpful tips. Thank you for sharing.
That’s great information thanks
Keeping it classy. 🤙🏼
Love your videos do you have a video on cutting your own stair stringers? I have a top 4x4 landing off the right side by the house stairs coming approximately 7’ down to another 4x4 landing then turning in front of the deck for the remaining stairs to ground
thank you!
There’s 3 decks in our area. They got them because they promised them they would be done in a week. They got Scarey decks. Ours is GORGEOUS. and safe
Yeah, Carpentry done fast, doesn’t last. Carpentry done fine takes time! 😁👍🏻 34 year carpenter here!
Great tips, is it recommended or worth taking the time to rip each board to a uniform width which means every board is the same width and straight?
I do that.
What type of shims do you use? Can you make shims out of left over pressure treated wood?
This is Art. He is an Artist.
Gidday mate,
I have a deck to build after Xmas. It's for a friend of ours and I want it to look good. I'll definitely be doing this. A little extra time now lasts for years. Cheers Calum
First I heard about levelling joist....Interesting info
Do you buy number 1 or number 2 usually? Man, after fighting my ledger and just all the variances of PT Hemlock joists, I am going to spend the money on pressure treated LVL from Pacific Woodtech on my next deck. I see so much time savings with the product.
I was just going to comment to see if Dr. Decks has evaluated these yet. I'm thinking about rebuilding the deck on my house to test them out before using them at customers. (My deck was built before I owned the house, so it definitely needs rebuilding!
Just a master carpenter! Thk u for the video! Could you please go over from beginning to end the deck building process? So I am a finish carpenter but would love to file away a video from you for when I build a deck at my place!
Seems like you could tape the top of the beams if shaving was required. Which is exactly my situation, lol!
I tried leveling the beams as best I could, but the lumber wasn't dimensionally similar, so some shaving was required to get the tops level.
@drdecks do you have a video should how you temporarily prop a deck while framing?
What is an acceptable variance in joist size difference if you can’t seem to get them perfect. I’m killing myself over here. 😅
I have been looking for this type of information on levelling joists.
Thanks
Gregg
You say level, but really you mean flat. The deck will be flat across the joist, not necessarily level. 😁👍🏻
Joist HANGERS were not mentioned. As you showed in other videos, they should NOT all be installed at the same level. Each hanger should be adjusted so that the top of the joist is at the same level as all the others. But that only makes the ENDS of the joists level with the ledger board and the rim joist. Crown or sag in the center can be handled as you described. If too low flip it. Then plane it flat.
this video is for joist on beam construction, hangers are simpler from that perspective, but yeah, doesn't solve problems of significant deviations midspan
You install hangers tight to the bottom of the joists after the joists are installed
Great tips as always. 👍🏼 Dear camera person - no need to zoom in and out.
I loved it, really informative and on point!👌🙌
Would you ever use a moisture meter and check the moisture content of the joists? I've received loads where one joist is obviously waterlogged and therefore is going to shrink a lot more than the dryer joists once they've dried out to the equilibrium water content. I find myself at times leaving the waterlogged joists higher by an 1/8" or so with the idea being that when the water content evens out they'll be at relatively the same height.
Agree but eventually it’s a prediction
How important do you think adding treatment to the top of the joist that you planned down is if your using joist tape?
I think it’s still relevant
Relates to deck joist heights - when you're switching from 1.5" boards to 1" boards I see two possible solutions - rip a bunch of marine plywood furring strips for the tops of joists, OR, just rip a bunch of strips of Timbertech fascia board which is 9/16". I worry that the plywood will not last in the long run. Not many choices in 1.5" PVC or composite decking and you pay for the extra thickness so every option has a dollar value attached to it. Thoughts? Could probably be its own little episode too... this dilemma comes up every time someone switches from 1.5" to something thinner.
The leveling issue is one of the most difficult part of decking, and even more difficult on an overhead deck. For all the DIY home owners out there, knowledge and effort associated with these kinds of issues is why deck projects are extremely expensive. Framing a deck square, leveled and to code is not easy even for the pros. Thanks Dr. Deck for the tips. Learned mine the hard way, and almost had high blood pressure from going back and forth to exchange joists hoping to get them as similar in dimensions as possible. At the end, I failed and ended up still having to engineer and machine them. Very time consuming and frustrating venture.
We've used deck tape products in the past. Going to try Sherwin Williams fluid flashing tape on our next one. It'll stick to anything and UV protection. Ever tried it doc?
:)
We have SYP here in VT. I track saw all my joists before installing them. I determine the smallest width then I crown them and at the contact points (Ledger and beam) I measure up from the bottom of the joists to the number I determined was the smallest width. Snap a line from point to point and lay the track on that line.
Your Amazing! I would love to work with you to learn all these little tricks first hand,But I probably would get yelled at a lot lol.
Great vids.
Try this sometime.....
Joists attach flush at house.
No need for grading. (Crowning yes)
Find measurement of smallest joist.
Set combo square to that height and mark all joists at the beam.
Use your oscillating trick to trim them. They all fall level with the smallest joist
good info m8
You are a bit confusing referring to thickness of a joist versus depth.
Have you seen truss joist for decks?
I have.
What about boards continuing to shrink after the fact. Wil they shrink at different rates?
very helpful
“End grain solution” ?.
Pressure treated wood preservative. You normally put it on the cut ends of pressure treated boards that you cut to maintain the treated barrier on the outside of the board. In this case when you plane off some of the top or bottom of the board to bring the board level with the adjacent boards, it’s good to apply the solution to the planed areas where untreated wood might be exposed to make sure the whole exterior of the board has preservative applied and you’re not creating an untreated area for rot to take hold.
@@sparklu thank you for responding. Do you have an exact product you can point me to? Thank you in advance.
@@smplyizzy Any big box store like Home Depot or Lowes carry a brand like, "Copper Brown Wood Preservative" Careful it smells strong and outdoor use only.
Also, the G tape doesn't stick well on the preservative applied wet area, so either wait until it dry up or just apply G tape after shave/plane the joist without applying the solution.
Definitely apply wood preservative whereever you cut wood and not applying G tape.
@@sung3d thank you for responding
I just use undercoating
Super helpful!!!! Great job!
Oh! The joists are supposed to be level. My bad.
How about Owens Corning 'Lumber' ? I'm looking into this material for my deck rebuild but not sure about spans, strength etcetera. Please and Thank you for your amazing videos. God bless.
Do your research.
Not convinced of allowable spans either
It won't matter when they dry up
Yes! Thank you Very much 👍
Awesome tips
Awesome
Thanks doc
We can use a caliper instead of the tape measure. But won't the lumber shrink once they dry? Then i will have small variation again.
It will try but if you’ve blocked everything and decked it usually it will hold straight
@@CMCraftsman Blocks only help to keep joists parallel. If they could help with leveling, we could have forced it using blocks.