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| The final area to finish the lower deck framework on then it's ready to be decked. We did not take any pictures of decking the lower deck as they would be boring pictures and sort of redundant as the lower deck boards are very easy to attach. Just remember to keep all the deck boards right tight to each other if using treated lumber and it is at all wet. You will be amazed at how much shrinkage in the width there will be. | Still a lot of daylight left at 7:00 pm in the middle of summer. | |
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| OK we got a good start on the lower deck railing. We decided to go with Powder Coated Aluminum 3/4" spindles for 2 reasons. One is I do not like staining or painting and the thought of 400 wood spindles to stain at a later date did not sound like fun. The other reason is that the spindles fit the bill for safety with 4" center to center distances between them but you can see through them quite easily. | Another picture of the railings | |
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| Lots of fun angles to figure out. | Still trying ideas on how to cap the rail | |
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| A close-up of how the spindles fit in the wood rails. There is a clear plastic cap that needs to be put on the ends of each spindle when you use theses with treated lumber. If you don't the chemicals used for treating the lumber will corrode the spindles. They have a different way of mounting the spindles using pre-drilled lath and stapling or nailing the strips down to the rails but we didn’t like that system. We drilled holes with a drill press right into the upper and lower rails. It seemed nicer looking and stronger. Menards sells these rail spindles and on sale they were about a buck a piece. | A picture from inside looking out through the spindles. Notice how easy you can see through. | |
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| The spindles and rail on the lower deck are almost done. | Another spindle picture. This step was quite easy and makes a dramatic change in the decks appearance. | |
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