The pitch is created with strapping across the joists, like hanging drywall on a ceiling. Difference is, the strapping thinner near the house (none right at the wall) and thicker as it approaches the gutter. If you want it perfectly flat along the pitch, use more strapping.
Mine isn?t perfect, probably could use one more strap, but there?s enough pitch that it never backs up or leaks. It's a storage area, not a formal dining room.
I've got a piece under the stairs up to the deck also. Great place to keep the 2 wheeled garden cart.
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K
krw
Right, but the stuff is designed to lay on top of purlins and is just screwed down to keep from blowing to OZ. In this case the screws hold the weight. Where gravity is your friend on one case, holding the panels straight against the purlins, it's the enemy in the other as it pulls it away from the joists.
When you say "strap", do you mean a board under the panel, across the whole distance? This strap holds the weight?
No stairs. No ground access from the deck. :-(
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DerbyDad03
If I didn't know better, I think that you are trying to tell me that what has worked under my deck for years couldn't possibly be working. ;-)
Stolen without permission from:
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"What is Ceiling Strapping? Strapping a ceiling is the process of installing wood perpendicular to the joists. The strapping serves as the nailing surface for the drywall."
...or for Tuftex panels.
In my case, 2 straps hold most of it. BTW, each 8' panel only weighs 4.3 lbs.
At the house, the ends of the panels are screwed to the underside of the deck's ledger board. Then a few feet out there is a single piece of 1.5" PT wood running perpendicular to the joists (a strap). Then a few feet further out there is a double strap (3"). Then, finally, the end of the panels rest on the gutter. That is what establishes the pitch. The panels are screws to the straps with Tuftex Deck Drain screws. (the ones with the rubber washers)
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Like I said earlier, it's not perfectly flat, but you can really only tell when looking at it from the side like in that picture. Again, it's not a formal dining room.
Here's is why I don't think you want to use clear panels. This is the top of the end that rests on the gutter. Sure, if I had pitched it more maybe there wouldn't be as much debris, but it has never been a problem. Nothing has ever backed up and caused a leak. The debris does not show through the white panels, but it sure would show through clear ones.
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The stairs were the egg that came before the chicken, so to speak. IOW, they were the reason for the deck.
When we first toured the house before purchasing it, I walked into the addition at the back of the house, up to the side-by-side double hung windows and looked down into back yard. After spending a few more minutes in the house, I realized that the only ways to get to the backyard was to either go out the front door and walk around the house, down the dirt slope, into the yard, or walk down the basement stairs, again all the way to the front of the house and then make a U turn, go across the basement and out the back door.
We moved in in mid-July. By mid-August, the windows had been replaced by a sliding door and the deck and stairs to the yard were complete. It was my first major project and it's still standing strong 35 years later.
The following spring I built a small deck and set of stairs one side of the house to ease the slope to the backyard and put a block walkway down the other side.
What I found amazing was that the family that owned the house before me lived here for 30 years and raised 4 kids - with no easy access to the backyard. It took me less than 15 minutes to realize what a huge improvement a deck and set of stairs would be.
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krw
Not at all. I'm trying to understand so I can copy it. I'm not sure I'm getting it. We haven't quite gotten to a thousand words. ;-)
OK, that's the thousand words I was looking for. It makes even more sense because the drainage will be parallel to the joists; perpendicular to the scrapping. Varying the thickness of the strapping will give me the pitch. I'm not going to be able to give it much pitch but as long as it doesn't go the wrong way, I should be good
That's *exactly* what I want.
Ah, point taken. Clear probably isn't the best idea. I hadn't considered the grunge from the deck. It'll be Trex, but still.
The deck is original but no access to the back yard, rather like yours. The stairs have two lefts, then a zig-zag through the basement to double doors, under one side of the deck.
I'd really like to at least triple the size of the deck but SWMBO hasn't decided whether we're staying put. We live a little further from civilization than she'd like (10-15mi) and would like to move closer to her friends. My only requirement is an unfinished basement but the pickings are slim. I'm not willing to borrow money, limiting things more. Once she decides that we're staying, there are a lot of things I want to do. It's on her.
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DerbyDad03
Glad I could help. Even went out in the pitch black to take those pictures.
I was scared. You owe me.
I have to deal with a gorgeous red maple that extends over the deck, so my grunge is pretty serious but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Just slap one of these on the side of the deck for the time being. It wouldn't take up much room and wouldn't really impact an expansion later on. Leave it where it is or move it, adjusting for any grade difference.
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K
krw
I understand. I heard a coyote last night (first one in a couple of years). I was *really* scareded. The dumb cats didn't even perk there ears up.
SWMBO would kill me. She's terrified of ladders. That would be the end of 50 years.
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