Joe,
Congratulations on completing what sounds to be a difficult deck project. I'd like to see pics when you get it together.

You say that you got alot of good info here while planning the deck, yet you went and used the clips. Most of the deck builders here shun hidden fasteners for reasons that have been covered many times in previous posts. I hope you never experience any problems, but I bet you will.

Using untreated lumber could also be a problem, especially if used on posts, buried in the ground. I don't know much about building in Utah, but there must be termites there.

I think that one of those palm nailers would wreak havoc on my carpal tunnel...but I don't need one, as I rarely use a nail on my decks...just for joist hangers. What did you nail?

anyway, you asked for comments.
Now go out and enjoy your deck.

steve

Joe,

Jon from Advantage here I know Im going to get yelled at by the guys who are on this forum, but anyway if you wouldnÂt mind I would love to see pictures of the finished deck and if you get a chance you can shoot them to my e-mail (jon@advantagelumber.com), also I would like to take this time to apologize for any inconvenience that we may have caused you as I see you said the customer service response time was a little slow if you wouldnÂt mind in that e-mail let me know what the issue was and I will see what I cant do to help rectify the situation on my end as one of the things we pride ourselves in is customer service. All in all IÂm very glad to hear that everything turned out just the way you and your wife had wanted. Take Care and if you dealing with weather like we are stay warm.

Thanks
Jon Fletcher
Sales Manager
www.advantagelumber.com
*FREE SHIPPING SPEICAL*

Steve Mon, Its time for you to be in the Ricka!!! ?? J

Hey John,

I'm leaving on new years day...good way to start out 2009.
Meantime, I'm out of work (don't want to be outside working anyway). I'm having some fun shop time making xmas presents instead.
Happy holidays,

steve

Its total bad here for biz as well. I am in the shop too but building benches,planter boxes, Riders Cab just to pay the bills. Good thing I never through anything away most everything is being put together with saved ipe/garapa/yellow cedar from years back.

Have a big ol Rum for me while your out in the Hammock

J.

Okay, so I'm putting a link to some photos I put on picasaweb, we'll see if you guys can see them.

To answer Steve:

- Ipe clips - the results I saw were were inconsistent and most seemed to have incorrect installation (i.e. screws not going 45 thru boards & into joists) so I rolled the dice becuase it looked like the best system available and it's what I wanted. If I have problems I'll pull it up and face-screw it all. Have you personally used the Ipe Clips with bad results?

- untreated lumber - I should have been more specific on this. Ccode here requires treated withing 6" of ground contact so all of the 4x4 posts are treated as are the stringers for the stairs down to the ground and the sleeper for those stringers. The posts are sitting on top of the concrete piers and are attached with bolts set in the piers and an adjustable base. As for termites or other wood-boring insects (heck insects in general really) there aren't many... way too dry. Utah get's the 2nd least rainfall in the US and the humidity in the non-winter months rarely gets over 15%. And as I said, I treated the framing with 2 coats of Termin-8.

- As for nails, I used simpson ties at most all intersections: pier-to-post, post-to-beam, beam-to-joist along with toenailing. It's probably overkill, but honestly it seemed easier to me.

To Jon at Advantage:

- I'll email pics and what my CS issue was, like I said overall it turned out fine but it wasn't an ideal interaction.

The deck turned out gorgeous!

We too built a deck with Tigerwood from Advantage last summer. We didn't get a chance to seal it, but I'm taking the Messmer recommendation to heart. We also used the clips and i hate them. My DH wasn't pleased that I wanted them, once he started installing, but I persisted. I think it looks awful, and would much prefer nail/screw holes-but what's done is done.

Are you planning on staining the posts to match? Our posts and rail are all PT wood (metal spindles) so once we seal the TW, we'll try to find a stain to match for the PT wood.

Update a year later... the 2nd round of sealer didn't go great but my father-in-law did it while visiting when we had our twin girls. I think coat #3 will turn out better this summer when I do it. The only other issue is an occasional split in the pre-grooved boards with the worst one caused by me reinforcing with a face screw to pull a corner down. I put the screw in too close to the end and split it good. Unfortunately it's in the main foot traffic area and drives me nuts. I'll pull it up and replace it when we add the outdoor kitchen. Other than that, I am very happy with the wood, the ipe clips, the messmers, everything.