“Can’t we just lay some decking already?!” That line echoes a post from last December about the tedious prep that comes before the fun stuff—painting cabinets, in that case—and it perfectly describes where we are with this deck. We’ve set all the joists and were eager to start decking, until I remembered several small but important tasks that needed doing first. Womp womp. The good news: you’ll see decking going down by the end of this article, so we’re definitely moving forward.
The first item on the list was an inspection. Voluntary, thankfully. Our county’s next required inspection was the final one after completion, and finishing everything only to discover a mistake would have been a nightmare. So Sherry called the county and arranged an optional framing inspection to confirm we were on the right track. Yes, please.
Spoiler: we passed. I did make a small error by notching my 4×4 posts; our county’s guidelines allow notching only on 6×6 posts. For 4x4s they expect a bracket at the top instead. The inspector—different from the first two we’d seen—was sympathetic and noted the guidance wasn’t crystal clear. Since our deck is low to the ground and only eight feet wide, he wasn’t concerned. My favorite quote from him: “This thing’ll hold up five elephants and about 500 of those” (he pointed to Clara through the window). In short: unless we’re hosting a circus or a 499-child birthday party, we were cleared to proceed. Maybe the next inspector will bring cookies.
With the all-clear, I moved on to finishing the framing around the joists by installing two band boards to clean up the exposed, uneven joist edges.
This area is the angled portion of the deck where the stairs will descend, so it required several miter cuts. I trimmed the excess from two joists so a 2×8 band board could be attached. To mark my 45-degree angle, I stretched a nylon string and transferred that line for cutting.
I used a pivot ruler to mark the joists for angled cuts. My circular saw can handle bevel cuts by adjusting its base, so I cut the joists in place. (Note: the way I’m photographed holding the saw is a staged shot—I wasn’t actually cutting with my hand positioned like that.)
Here are the two joists cut at the angle and ready for the band board.
I trimmed the 2×8 band board to fit, including an angled cut to meet the house, then balanced it into place and temporarily nailed it before securing with screws.
That finished one edge, but the open end still needed a matching board. I cut another 2×8 with a mitered end to sit flush against the existing band board and temporarily rested it in place.
I then trimmed the girders that stuck out beyond the edge. I had left them long intentionally, knowing I could cut them back later; trimming them now was easier than trying to add material back later. I used a circular saw to cut most of the way through and finished with a reciprocating saw where needed.
With the girders trimmed I secured the final band board to the rim board against the brick and to the angled band board, then trimmed any excess for a clean edge.
Next up was counter flashing. One of the conditions after failing my first inspection was adding this extra flashing over the ledger boards to better protect the house from moisture.
On the siding side I slid flashing under the bottom piece of siding and nailed it in place. On the brick side I folded a small section and tucked it into a groove I cut in the mortar—the same groove the original flashing used.
I trimmed the vinyl to fit around the joists and bent a small drip edge at the bottom to ensure water sheds away from the brick. To hold the flashing in the mortar groove I ran a bead of clear silicone caulk, which both secures it and prevents moisture intrusion.
Flashing was tedious but not hard, and now it’s one less thing between us and the deck boards.
Before starting the decking, I paused to plan the stairs and railing. If rail posts or stair attachments required reinforcements, it would be far easier to add them now with the structure exposed.
I used two spare 2x10s as stair placeholders based on the positions of pre-dug stair post holes. That helped me mark where the rail posts on the deck would go. I’m placing the stair railing inside the stair stringers so the steps will wrap around the posts slightly.
Determining how to attach the 4×4 posts was a chore—the county sheet wasn’t clear and the suggested products were hard to locate. After a few trips to Home Depot we found deck tension ties, which modern code favors over bolting guard posts to the outside edge. These ties provide more secure anchoring for guard posts.
I attached a tension tie to the rim board against the house, drilled corresponding holes in a 4×4 (cut to meet our county’s 36″ railing height), and bolted the post through the tie with 1/2″ bolts. It felt solid and inspection-ready.
Other posts that aren’t adjacent to the rim board required blocking between joists. I installed scrap 2×8 blocking, secured it with screws, and bolted tension ties on each side. I left the posts off for now to avoid interference while installing deck boards, but the hardware is in place.
By the end of this phase I’d also added joist hangers where joists met the angled band board—maybe overkill, but it makes me feel better about the structure. Perhaps now the deck could hold six elephants?
This whole guard-rail preparation took two days. Tight spaces meant many fasteners had to be installed by hand, and pop-up thunderstorms cut a few afternoons short. Plus, Sherry has book deadlines, so she was only able to help during breaks between blogging and child care. Still, progress kept happening.
Finally, actual deck boards are going down. We’re doing a mitered perimeter frame around the entire deck and adding a few zipper-like seams for visual interest—an idea we mentioned before—and so far we love how it’s shaping up. Here’s a peek at the first boards installed.
All this prep is finally paying off. It’s taken patience and a fair bit of small, tedious work, but we’re getting somewhere at last.
What unglamorous tasks have you scratched off your list recently—paint touch-ups, smoke detector batteries, pulled weeds, or new air filters? Somehow this reads like my own to-do list…