Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Deck Building !!! Final Part!!


In earlier posts, I have given warnings pertaining to applications to avoid and not to cheat or stretch the limits. Well, back sometime in the 80's we built many decks, and as I have mentioned, many still stand to this day; others may have been removed for various reasons, but never due to lack of structure.

Well, one day, along comes the new guy on the block who proclaimed himself to be the Deck King. His prices where drastically lower than ours and, therefore, naturally received much attention. My partner at the time was quite upset with this new fellow and his unbelievable prices. I assured him that our prices were derived fairly and justly, all things being considered, and it would be just a matter of time till the reasons for this vast difference in price would surface. Well, needless to say our new competition managed to pull in quite a few projects we had quoted , which only further irritated my partner. I never changed my practices or lowered my standards to try to meet his.

Some time later, there was a very shocking article in the daily newspaper. It was about a family that was having some kind of celebration on their new deck, when suddenly the party moved from the air to the ground. Yes, there where some injuries; thankfully, none serious. This is a true story, and I'm telling you because you don't want you to fall prey to something similar.

Now that you know what a good job should be like, make sure you get your project done right the first time. Rule Number 1 is don't cheat; Number 2, don't stretch the limits of your components. In other words, use the timbers for the purposes they where designed to perform. And finally, maintain your investment. Nothing takes care of itself. It's up to you.

Happy Decking.

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