Building A Ground Level Deck with LED Lights l Composite Deck (part 2)

Thank you for tuning in to this video on the previous one. I created a frame for this and I'll link to it in the video description, so if you watch the first

part

and left a comment, thank you for your feedback. I recognize that some things could have been built better and so I want to address some of them before moving on to

part

2. Using beam supports is the best way to connect beams. They are easy to install and you can install them with nails or screws, which I prefer. Shorter screws were used to secure two beam supports to the beam frame and a longer screw was driven at an angle through the beam and into the beam frame to reinforce the corners.

Galvanized ankles were added and I screwed them into place. I also reinforced the connection to the post by adding galvanized carriage bolts after drilling the holes. I then use a non-rotating washer under the carriage bolt before placing them in the hole. I will then secure the boat using a lock washer and nut while tightening the nut. The anti-Turner washer bites into the wood and prevents the bolt from turning even when the

deck

is finished at this point. I can still reach under the

deck

to each location and still improve the build quality. All wood used in this project is

ground

contact pressure. treated southern yellow pine wood, this is the same wood I used for my fence post when I installed the fence eight years ago and of course it is easier to do it before adding all the deck boards and going through this problem, better late than never now. are the most concerning improvements, but it's time to get this deck up and running in this video, we'll pick up where we left off and finish the deck.

The deck substructure is made of pressure-treated 2-by-8 lumber and for the deck. I'm going to use a trick

composite

material for several reasons, unlike real wood you don't have to spend days trying to maintain it and also bring it back to life. It requires very little maintenance. You can get the platform in a few. different lengths so I designed the deck to be 16 feet and also chose the 16 foot deck this way. I didn't have to have meetings. The first row of the platform is the most important rope. Trek makes these universal starter clips and these will allow you to secure the outside edge of the first deck board.

I'm going for a super clean look, so I want hidden bras now. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are not going to use hidden bras, then you shouldn't need them. An Eclipse universal starter, the hidden fasteners have these little wings that sit inside the groove of the deck boards and, using the included drill bit, you can drive the screws into the joists. One thing I learned along the way is that it was best to drive the screws into the joists. screw in about halfway and leave it high enough so you can fit the next deck board into the clip, at that point you can go back and tighten them.

Hidden fasteners will be placed on each joist. This would be a repetitive process during this process. row by row until you reach the end, one thing I find useful is to place a stopper block at the beginning of each row while laying out the deck boards as I approached the anklet section, I approached it the same way I I did previously. On the platform, I kept working towards that and wherever the board hangs is where it will be cut with the bulk of the angled piece attached and then I drew a chalk line. I ended up cutting off the line this way I can play.

It's safe and I can always use a sander to sand it down to the face board. A jig saw worked well at first, but a circular saw works much better with trimmed deck boards. I tried using a router, but it didn't work. a little difficult because I had to keep applying the clamp, removing it and adjusting it along the way, so I decided to use a hand saw which I felt a little more comfortable with and felt like I had more control when securing the final board I saw . In the cheat book, you can use a piece of wood underneath and secure it from below by driving a screw at an angle up and into the deck board.

That's an option that I can keep in my back pocket and I can do it at any time, even. Once the decking is completed, this

composite

decking has been proven to be quite strong and durable. In reality, it is putting up more of a fight than wood using the sander. Now this option was a little more tedious, but I felt that using a belt sander was the best way. To go here and it worked pretty well, I used thirty grit sandpaper on this and I'm very happy with the results. Cutting the large boards on top of the deck was pretty easy compared to what I have to do in this step now.

This was a little more challenging for me. I'm going to take a different route. I'll take a large piece of cardboard and cut out the shape of this section of this step. This was the only precise solution I could come up with. at the time and I think it worked pretty well. It just so happened that I received a shipment that arrived right around this time, so even if you don't have a piece of cardboard that big, you can always glue a few together to I came up with the same shape. I used the cardboard to determine how many pieces of platform four would be needed to complete the step.

I laid each platform forward with the hidden fasteners to make it an exact replica and then attached the cardboard. on it just so it overlaps those areas and then I took a marker and marked along the cardboard this way I can mark all the big boards. I need it for this section. I then use the circular saw to cut along the line that was drawn. and although you can use a guide to cut directly on the line, being perfect, the line is not that important because this cut will be covered by the fascia. Now, with all the parts cut out, you can check again and see how it looks from the beginning.

In closing, I didn't spend a full day working on this rig, it rained constantly on and off, so even tackling the smallest thing on this rig was a challenge due to the weather. I didn't have a good opportunity to install eclipse on the platform. first row of the deck, so let's take a look here at what I did with the clips that I attached to a piece of scrap wood here, which allowed me to attach the edge by placing the clip against them and screwing them in. I lined up each clip with the joists and once I have completed the entire row I can begin putting the deck boards into place and now I can begin installing the hidden fasteners on the inside of the deck board.

I left the hidden fasteners loose so I can slide the second deck board into place and if it looks good you can go ahead and screw the fasteners in. Our purpose was to leave the deck boards this way. If I had any problems with the angled cut, I can push it down or adjust it any way I want. I need to do it before making a cut. I repeated the same process for the third deck board, since the third deck board had an acute angle. I couldn't reach both ends at once, so I used a piece of wood I had lying around. to hold the other end while hammering from the side and my attention was drawn to the small piece that fits into its corner.

I needed some support underneath, so I added a piece of 2x4 here, added the trick deck tape, and screwed it into place. and with the 2x4 underneath pressure treated I was of course able to add a couple of hidden retaining clips to hold this little piece. I slid the little piece into place and then cut it out with the handsaw right now, I'm getting ready to finish. the fascia and I want to make sure I have all of these boards secured as much as possible now if I'm going to move forward with the fasteners I'm going to do my best to try to clean up the mitered corners.

I used the 12 inch fascia. that I ripped on the table, I saw a little larger than the total of the platform frame and the platform board. I sanded and cut both ends of the deck board to be even with the deck frame, so I made this really quick jig that allowed me to drill all the holes the same distance apart, the jig is set up to mark three holes a at a time and also keeping it 1 inch from the edge, if I mark the back with a pencil I can move the template and then drill the next set of holes now I'm not even all the way through the fascia board.

I just drew it down slightly so I could mark it and that was enough. Now I could have drawn all the fascia boards at once, but I only drilled the one I was planning to install at that particular time. I spoke to one of the trick reps and Mel gave me some really good tips for installing an aphasia, in addition to the screws he suggests adding a construction adhesive to the back of the fascia and also put me on this screw depth adjuster for deck and this allows you to set a perfect screw depth every time.

I tried this on a test piece and it worked well and although the screws are going to be exposed in the fascia, it is very difficult to even see them unless you get up close, depending on the deck material you choose, they have the correct screws to match, the The fascia board comes in a 12 foot section, so I couldn't span the entire length. of the 16 foot deck, so I had to extend them across the modern area where they met when I cut the fascia for the front side of the deck. I made sure the mitered end was away from the step.

My thinking here will be less busy and a miter joint will be absent and not as noticeable to put the finishing touches on this. I added a small piece of miter piece along the back of the step this way, when you see it from a distance it looks great, an interesting part of this platform. is to be able to use it at night, so of course adding lighting is a great way to improve visibility. I added masking tape to the approximate location to make it easier to make a mark. I could have gotten away with two

lights

per step, but since the step was so long I opted for four.

I measured the mark and location of each light on the bottom riser, since I had a laser it made my life a little easier so I used it to take the mark up to the top riser. The

lights

were spaced in the middle of the riser and also spaced equally after the markings were placed, then I drilled a one inch hole now that I have the one inch hole in the fascia. I need to drill a second hole. This car passed a cable. Through the back of the step and landing under the platform, the lighting setup here is pretty simple, but let's take a look at what I have.

This is the one inch platform recessed light. You can connect the light to an adapter or splitter like this one. Then you can use an extension cord to extend the length of the light. If you have a setup like this where the lights are close enough, you can use a six-way splitter, just make sure to keep the unused ports away, the six-way splitter. then connect it to the transformer wire from the light center and that wire would then connect a transformer and finally I connected the outlet to a timer outlet which should end in a GFCI outlet since this is an outdoor project.

Here's a closer look at the one-inch wire. recessed light to be installed during the day after running the cable over the step. I was able to grab Dawei from the back and then bring him closer to the connection point. Again, it's for the eight lights and then I pushed the lights in from the front with the bulb at the bottom now that I have all the wires in this location, I'm going to add two splitters to them and I'm going to mount the splitters under one of the boards of the terrace here to finish this. To extend the wires to the back of the deck and tie them underneath at the far end of the deck at the back, I added some pipes here years ago for future electricity and this is a project that would definitely need electricity to add electricity.

This is a huge task in itself for this phase of the project. I'm going to bring power up here via an extension cord so I can turn them on and make sure everything works now. I plan to have two different types of light on a terrace, obviously. lighting the deck, but I'm also going to take some LED strips, string them together to extend them around the perimeter of the deck. I also picked up these clips to provide additional support to the LED strip while they are installed. The LED strips are waterproof, but The controller is not my plan is to install the junction box on the back of the deck where I can place all these components that are not designed for direct contact with water.

This controller has an infrared receiver that allows you to control it via a remote but it also has built-in Wi-Fi so you can control it by phone. I installed the LED strip running along the entire platform not including the step and here is a picturequick of that along with the clip that is installed to hold the LED. Instead also if you are taking on this challenge for the first time and are new to LEDs, make sure to cut the LED strip at the copper location. This was my first time working with composite decking. In fact, this is my first time

building

. a deck before committing to the Trex deck, I did a lot of research on wood vs. composite, now you can compare the initial cost to the maintenance overtime and then decide which makes the most sense for you, for me it was a no brainer.

I knew right away that I didn't want maintenance and I just didn't personally want the maintenance and responsibility that comes with a wood deck. I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds with the realistic color of the wood and also the overall texture. I'm pretty happy with the way the platform turned out. It's always exciting when you can bring a design to life. I love the lights on the step, although I'm still trying to get familiar with the lights surrounding a platform or maybe I just haven't found a color I like. I don't have a landscape design yet, but when that time comes I'll be sure to share it with you along with an update on the platform in the meantime. working on a documentation, the material of the written article plans is the cost breakdown, so be sure to check back.

I have links in the video description or you can check out DIY Transcom, that's all for now. I'm Glenn on DIY makers and hope. to catch you in the next One like you