New Deck

The muscadine vines that I have enjoyed for about 7 years now have never produced any real fruit. This year I got a whopping 3 grapes. It is nice to see the vines leaf out in the spring, and my grandfather had some of the same varieties on his farm so it makes me feel connected to him. But the new porch creates a bottleneck where the vines are in the front yard, and I need something else out of that space anyway so it is time for the vines to go.  Before:

See the bottleneck?

6 vines on 3 trellis'

Time for them to come down. The shed has a flaw, namely the walls & roof. it's an enclosed building and I need a flat platform with square corners to assemble furniture outside. No limits like walls or doors. Luckily the trellis is well anchored in concrete already. Also I can clear out the far side for a new space for boat building.

First, I cut these off level

Then ran a 2x6 rim around the blocks

Ok, this 2x6 rim

I pinned these in first, then added joist hangers and set the scrap 4x4  posts into the concrete pier blocks

I needed this to come out to almost 94" - I love math

First deck board is on

All decked up!

Platform established

The final size is 8' x 12'. It went up clean, and this thing is sturdy - I mean solid as a rock. So far it has come in really handy. I screwed down a jig to build beds that are square and consistently sized, I've been using it to stage furniture and stain shelves. This is a really nice addition to the shop.