Finish for window sill

One more interlock operational point:

The blocker for the main breaker can also be slid to the left once raised so it stays in place once the main breaker is off. (note the little horizontal slot at the bottom of the vertical slot. That allows the user to remove the panel cover, assuming the generator breakers are not on.

That is a built-in safety feature of the device. One blocker or the other prevents the cover from being removed if its corresponding breaker is on. The panel has to be dead in order to take the cover off, although it can be re-energized once open. It then needs to be dead again in order to put the cover back on.

I can see that now. I thought the pieces interlocked with each other somehow. They're held in place by the breaker handles. They just can't occupy the same space so on the breakers has to be off.

That raises another question. My deck is ~8' high and the double doors to my basement are under it. Three sides of the basement/house surround most of the three sides of the (12x16') deck. I'd like to cover that area so it doesn't turn to mud under the deck (in a perfect world, a concrete pad would go there). I was thinking about hanging corrugated metal or fiberglass under the deck but could probably only pitch it about 1"/ft. What I'm afraid of is allowing critters, carpenter bees or hornets, in particular, from nesting between them. Any ideas?

Gas or oil heat only require power to smallish motors. Heat pumps require electricity to *large* motors. ;-)

BIG generators. Both the pump and resistive heaters.

I used this:

I have a double beam that supports the joists and the deck cantilevers about 2 feet past that. I mounted a gutter to the inside of the beam and the panels drain into that and then to a downspout.

For the floor, I laid landscape timbers perpendicular to the house 16" OC and topped them with 1/2" PT plywood. This is a storage area, with lattice panels along both sides and under the beam, so 1/2" PT is good enough for me.

Other than some blowing snow, the area stays completely dry. Not enough snow to be a problem. The most interesting part was how un-level the ground was under the deck. When I started to put the floor in I knew I would have to dig a little to get it level, but I think it was something like 8" off level over a 16' area. Much more digging than I expected. Luckily it's all sand.

The fun part was finding some small toys buried in the sand from when my kids would play under the deck. I found a bunch of pieces from plastic tea-party set. I sent pictures to the girls and I think they got all teary eyed. :-)

I need 12' to simplify things but that doesn't look like a problem. I was thinking about steel or fiberglass but PVC may be lighter. This looks like a possibility too. Clear would allow me to see the critters under there. We have squirrels making a nest in our gas grill (hasn't been used in years) now. I wouldn't want them under there.

I'm not so concerned about the floor. The biggest problem I have is the rain running off the deck and splashing the Georgia red clay on the house. Red on yellow isn't all that appealing. Concrete would be nice to get big tools in there but that's not an every day thing. I'm only planning on a couple more (until/unless we move), if I can get them past the budget committee.

Mine is all clay. It might just as well be concrete.

;-)

Pvc can be heavy, could try Polycarbonate Twinwall if you want some what clear.

Yikes! That's some expensive stuff! More than $4000 for the 12x16 deck.

The stuff I saw is here, not quite 4 grand either

That price at Lowes is ludicrous. That has to be for a case. Home Depot has the same product for $16.64

Note that it comes in other colors.

That's not twinwall though. HD has twinwall as well

Better, but still $800 ($500 shipping). How do the panels join with a watertight seal?

That's more like it - $250 plus whatever I need to hang it. Not sure how to do it under a deck, though. My advantage is that it'll never hold any weight. It'll be pretty protected from wind too.

If aesthetics are a concern, don't use clear. It'll get pretty ugly when the dirt and debris stains the troughs. The fiberglass I used prior to the white was opaque, but you could definitely see all the crap that fell through the deck boards.

This is the underside of the roof on SWMBO's garden shed, which is admittedly open to the sky, but when I had the same material under the deck, it looked similar.

We have squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, bugs, flyers, crawlers, slither-ers, etc. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a problem.

My extension ladder hangs on the wall of the house under the deck, right up next to the under-roof. The chipmunks use it to get from one side of the deck to the other - I hear them scurrying along the ladder when I go under the deck for something. Not once have I ever heard them inside the joist bays between the deck and the PVC.

I can't imagine a critter wanting to build a nest in a place where rivers randomly start flowing. ;-)

Maybe if some beavers take up residence in my yard, that could be an issue.

PVC *can* be heavy, but these panels aren't. The 2.2' x 8' panels I used were something like 4 lbs each.

The only reason I needed SWMBO's help mounting them was because they are so flexible, especially while trying to hold them up to underside of the joists.

Weight was definitely not an issue.

Relative to the size of each panel , that stuff is basically the same weight as the PVC panels that I used. My panels were half the width, so half the weight.

The corrugated panels are easy to edge seal - you just over lap them a row or two. Tuftex sells hex-head self-piercing screws with rubber washers that self-seal the holes.

They sell that stuff, basically a batten held down by screws with weather strip gasket. Getting on top to do the work might not be the easy though. Hiring a basket truck might increase cost a wee bit.

Basket truck? To attach the panels to the bottom of the joists of a deck?

I'm pretty sure his deck isn't that high off the ground.

I meant the other way (without capillary action sucking water up into and into the space). I found 12' panels so that wouldn't be a problem anyway.

Eight feet. Fastening to the bottom of the deck may not be the best idea. How does the panel get supported? Aren't these things pretty floppy? It says to keep them out of the sun/heat or they'll get limp. It's on the south side but, of course, the deck would shade it.

I was originally thinking about the fiberglass or steel panels. A few rows of screws in the middle of the panel should work.

There is a rubber membrane and gutter system designed to go under Trex but it's incredibly expensive.

They weren't too floppy to keep the pitch?