I’ve used a few sticks of ipe before for a bench-seat-thing, but this is my first time screwing down a bunch of decking. If you’re about to do your first ipe deck, recheck that bid–it’s incredibly time consuming compared to the way we used to nail down redwood 2x6s. I’m getting about 30 LF per hour down, and I’m only putting in about 2/3 of the screws on the first pass.
Anyway, I chose straight sticks for the first several courses, to get a good start, but then started weaving in the inevitable bananas. After strugging with the first one, I decided that some serious leverage was in order and the attached pic is the direction I’m going in. I think tomorrow I’ll be making a jig to hang the jack from the joist with a couple of clamps attached to it, so I can just throw the thing in there and start cranking.
So far about 10 courses in 32, to go. Man, my back hurts.
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interesting solution, There is a tool that goes by different names, but basically hooks over the top of the joist.Using the leverage you are able to pull the boards straight. The two brand names that I can think of off hand are the "bo wrench" and the "boardbender". Without a doubt worth every penny! If I remember correctly the cost is under $50.
There are much easier ways to work with Ipe. Screw selection and predrill size are very important. A Bo Wrench is essential. Go to the following web site for a wealth of information:
http://www.homeressources.com/forum/list.php?f=7
Look for all the posts by contractor John Hyatt. He has more Ipe experience than anyone out there. He shares his experience freely on this site. It made my life very easy doing a screen porch floor and adjacent deck using Ipe. John's advice works.
Well it's obvious what the problem is ... you're using a yellow driver.
:)
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
David, nice to see someone else who uses my trick of blacking in the joist tops.
What I use for straightening hockey sticks and bananas is a small hachet. I drive it between a fully screwed down board and the new one once I've partially screwed it in place (where it's straight, of course). The deeper I drive the hachet, the more it moves the new board out.
If I have a board that's bowed the 'wrong' way and I have to push it toward the completed portion, I leave the bowed part unscrewed until I set the next board beyond it, then drive the hatchet in on the other side.
This is a pretty fast method once you get used to it.
In your pic it looks like you're setting the boards fairly tight. What are you using as a spacer, a 20d nail?
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
I'm not going to buy a tool for this job, I've got about three days worth of installing to do and it'll be done, then the tool would gather dust. The screws and predrilling aren't the problem at all... got that covered and the Dewalt stuff is perfectly adequate... the main thing that impresses me is how much force it takes to bend a piece of 5/4 x 6. The last time I built a deck was more than 10 years ago, and it had con heart redwood decking that you could bend with your knee. For a guy that usually runs interior trim this is a workout.
Tomorrow I'll either come up with a nice hanger for the jack, or I'll leave out a course every now and then so that I can use a pipe clamp to muscle the boards into line.
We get plenty of rain up here and flashing the tops of the joists seemed like an obvious choice. I assume that the Vycor will degrade slowly due to UV exposure... in fact the Grace rep at JLC Live admitted that... but it's better than nothing. I also used 3 quarts of Termin-8 coating all the cut ends of the PT framing... stainless bolts and screws... ipe plugs... it goes on and on. This deck has a curve in it that was time-consuming to frame, and will have a curved rail. I think that for a client it would be in the $60-75/SF range, but this one's on our house.
edit: the gaps are about 3/16... any larger and the vycor is readable.
Edited 4/19/2005 10:31 pm ET by davidmeiland
David,What I did on my ipe deck in 1999 was to insert a small scrap of 3/16" steel between already fastened boards, and I used a pipe clamp with the heads rotated at 90? to one another, to pull the boards in. Flat bar to pry out,Bill