Hello All, looking to finish up a deck request and ran across a problem with adding some post and panels for one side. The deck I built is 24 x 24 which sits about 24″ off the ground. The homeowner would like 10 foot 4 x 4’s with 4 x 8 sheets of cedar lattice in between the post. My question or questions is what is the best way to attach these to the deck — would you notch out the 4×4 and attach it to the 2 x 12 of the frame or would you cut from the top and leave the 4 x 4 in tact and then run screws to it? I guess I am worried that the 4 x 4s being 10ft in the air will probably be very wobbly even if I run some type of cedar board tie at the top. Please let me know if you have run into this situation or have any suggestions
Thanks
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I'm not sure I'm following you here....couple questions first....
You're talking about building a 10' high privacy wall instead of a handrail, correct?
Is this to run the entire perimeter of the deck?
If I'm picturing correctly, the posts should be through-bolted to the joists (notched where necessary) and connected at the top with a continuous member...i.e. 4 x 4 or 2 x 4.
FREE SPONGE BOB,SANCHO PANTS!
Yes, it will be like a privacy area where she can grow vines up so they can hide her deck. Essentially it will be 3 panels of cedar lattice with 4 4x4 10 or 12 foot post and some type of continious member at the top to tie everything together. She may want some type of short cedar board cut out in a pattern and screwed to the top member as well, right now she is digging thru magazines to give me a idea of what she wants
OK....I'll add, as others have mentioned....dropping the bottoms down to the ground atop a peir wouldn't be a bad idea.
FREE SPONGE BOB,SANCHO PANTS!
My experience and opinion, having done just this, is to extend the posts down into a wet-set post anchor and lag or through bolt the posts to the 2x12 skirt. Obviously this will require longer posts (~12'). Admittedly it's not as stiff as I'd like, but it's heaps better than terminating @ the skirt.
I would definitely run the new posts to the ground, preferably to cement footings, otherwise they will be top heavy and wobbly to say the least.
To minimize water collection points I route grooves in the inside of the posts and 'slide' the lattice work into these grooves.I always add a top and bottom rail, similarly grooved to accept the lattice, making sure to drill a lot of holes down through the bottom rail groove for drainage.
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
Hey thats a great idea -- you wouldnt happen to have a picture you could attach or send me would you? I would like to show this to the lady because she wanted me to use 2 x 4s for the frame because she saw it at a Pumpkin patch that way --
Thanks for the ideas -- its great when you have others to bounce questions off of!!!!!!!!!!!!1
No pics handy as we just moved. There is a picture of such a lattice set up on my web site. You can do to http://www.gdcarpenterinc.com and click on "Decks & Porches", the top right photo shows lattice in grooves. If you click on the photo you can bring it up much larger.Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
Pumpkin patches are not fine homes, except for Jacl'O'Lanterns and spooky charachters.
The way I would do this is to have designed it that way in the beginning so the supports fo rthe deck are also the 4x4 supports framing the lattice walls. Without the extend below, loicking it to th eground and the stabilizing nature of the deck diaphraghm, this setup is likely to be falling over after the first high wind.
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Piffin
thanks for your input as well, if i was doing this for myself i would of done a lot of things different. Unfortunately this person has gone thru some tough times and she wants her house to look the way she wants it to look. As for trying to do a quality job, please the customer, make recommendations and collect a paycheck thats all I can do. She has changed her mind 3 times in the last 2 weeks so fortunately for me I have another inside job in the area to keep me busy
People whoi have tough times get my sympathy as a human being, abd sometimes I do free work for the aged and infirm with no family to help.But I do not help them have fancy ideas incorporated into their homes when the have hard times and are incapable of thinking ahead. It is immoral to let them drive my business into the ground or make demands that I do lower quality work to satisfy their flincky ideas. You may be able to find a way to do this and stabilize it, but make her understand that she is hurting herself with her way of making decisions.I'm not tryiong to beat you up. She is the one with troubles, maybe even brought onto herself by her own actions. Don't let her dump her troubles on you. I've heard too many little old ladies cry poor me when they are ten times as well off as I. Some make a game of it just to see how far they can take you and wind you up.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!