I have one, but sometimes don't spot an alligator getting into it and eating my Tilapia - - - GGGRRRR. Oh well, great target practice and some nice gator steaks. Anyone need a hide????

Bob

 

Wanna hear something funny, regarding that bitchethane? This story proves that these young uns that work at the local Home Depot have some old school “schooling” that’s needs to be brought upon them, in the form of a drilled out paddle!

I find the Tane ( I’m gonna call it that since it’s a pain to type) down by the lumber end cap. I see that it’s packed appropriately- 8 roles to a box, four at bottom, four at top, with a wax paper sheet in between the layers. I grab six, 6”x75’ rolls, leaving two on top of the bottom four, still with the wax paper separating them.

When at the register, the young chick grabs the two and stacks one on top of the other on the check out counter. I yell “NOOOOOoooooo...”, but too late. She says “ whaaattt??” I say, “ those two rolls are useless to me now. Take them apart!”

I ended up having to help her, and when it finally came apart there was a gooey string of tane in between the roles, all over the checkout counter. She said” I’ll call someone to bring up two more roles, and discount all 6 for your troubles”.

I tell her that’ll work. I watch her give instruction to the Home Depot associate to grab two more roles. She give all the pertinent info, but doesn’t tell the guy it’s the 6” wide roles. That Tane comes in two widths, 6” and 9”.

So here comes this punk kid, with four roles, 2 of the 9” and 2 of the 6”, and guess how he’s carrying them......all four roles stacked on top of each other.

He then says “ here ya go”. I say “ useless to me. I don’t want those”. He asks(with attitude)”why not!?” I say “ pull them apart, go ahead, and you’ll see. There’s a reason they don’t stack them one on top of another”

He gives ME, the customer, smack, by snipping” that’s how they came, if you noticed!” And I said “no, sir, they came stacked with wax paper separating them. Go ahead, take them apart, lol”

He proceeded to slam the four stuck roles on the counter, hoping to break them apart, in front of the cashier chick. He failed, and I looked at him and said” I’ll need two more of the 6”, separated, please”

Punk kid was peeed off, lol

 

Son finished off the final framing this evening, wrapped everything up by slapping a few heavy gage splice plates on the splice joints of the main beams, and ran some lags thru the main beams and into the 4x12 intermediate beams.

That bridge does not creak or budge. Solid. Built to last his grandkids kids one day. Nothing was nailed together. Only lag bolts, screws, nuts and bolts. Every joist is supported by a heavy gage Simpson Z -Max hanger. All pressure treated, with cut ends soaked in copper green.

Tomorrow, the framing of the dock starts. I have the use of his help till July 5th. My goal is to have the dock framed up, and both the dock and bridge bitchethane’d out. Then I have a great friend coming from the Bay Area to help me deck it out.

 

Thank you, Mad Hat and Oliver. It’s been on my bucket list for awhile now. Nice to see it truly happening. It’s tough watching someone else do the work. My son and I have bashed heads during the build, as he gets mad at me if I have to bend over to pick up, say a can of spray paint. He truly is concerned about my trashed body, lol. He keeps yelling at me and saying, “just tell me what to do!!!”

 

Dock build started today. Stopped after the front cross beam got anchored in, as it got too hot. This evening we will set the fourth beam at bank side, and my son will add two concrete footings in between the two 4x12’s heading out to the pond, to meet span requirements.

 

Finally, at end of day all the heavy work that my son has endured is done. The last of the 4x12 beams and cement footings are in, main beams all strongly anchored together, all fasteners shot coated with paint. Tomorrow all that left is the 2x12 joists at 16”” on center, and the dock is completed. Not bad, at about 20 hours from start to finished frame.

Ahh, yes, the power of youth. Oh, had to get my favorite female shepherd in there, Leila. That girl is a hunter, and has gotten her fair share of rodents, moles, gophers, and if lucky enough, the tree squirrel. Great dog.

 

Dang! Was short 7 Simpson joist hanger brackets, or we would have gotten it done. Will pick those up tomorrow, and probably have an hour left as the woods are already precut and marked.

All in all, from start to finish frame, about 25 hours into the dock. Not bad for a 21 year old, who had never done anything like this. His momma raised him well, lol!

To boot, his buddies were all up at South Lake Tahoe for a July 4th party which started yesterday on the 3rd. He called them up and cancelled, and told them he had promised to help his mom and dad out with this bridge and dock, and that amazed me.

 

The dock looks great and that sounds like a good kid!
Nice work mom!

 

Thanks, Oliver. I knew of all people you’d appreciate it, with your background in carpentry. Hope you and the others heading to that Mopar show have a great time!! Make sure and post pics of it all!!

 

All Done!


Next, comes the decking!

 

 

Looking good Augie...Mark

 

 

I worked on my first deck using that PVC decking about 13 years or so ago. It was a massive 6000 Sq Ft deck with bump outs, level changes and all sorts of weird angles.
It took a while to figure out why the gaps grew from the boards we installed the previous morning to the boards we install later in the day. The next morning when it all settled into the same temp. it looked like butt. Every gap grew almost a 1/32. We actually had to pull up several boards and re group.
We learned to leave the boards covered in the shade and change the gap as the temp changed. It was some weirds stuff to deal with at first.

Looking great though Augie.