[AT] Crazy pricing on construction job

Sat May 15 16:32:09 PDT 2021

I believe you can butt composite together since it doesn’t really expand that much width wise, the clips that are used with the grooved boards doesn’t allow for expansion width wise. Butting boards end to end only requires a 1/8 inch gap, on Trex anyway. There are screws that don’t require pre-drilling or counter sinking and are color coded to match the board color. The head of the screws have a reverse thread that draws the upper surface of the board inward so that there’s no raising of the board surface around the screw head. It essentially countersinks itself and you only have about a 3/32 exposed head. They’re trade name is TrapEase3. If you’re using clips with grooved boards you still need to use something like them to screw into the outside edge of the first board, and the outside edge of the last board. The screws come with a handy plastic jig that positions the screws and maintains board spacing if you not using clips.  

When you butt boards end to end you do need to add a second board so that you can put a clip at the end of each deck board. You just have to cut the boards so that the required gap is centered on the two boards.

Carl

----- 

Original Message -----
From: Dean VP <deanvp at att.net>
To: 'Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group' <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sat, 15 May 2021 14:43:45 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [AT] Crazy pricing on construction job

Several years ago I installed a deck on our place in AZ using the composite decking that Loews or Home Depot sells. I don't remember the brand name right now. It was just under $2.00 a foot for the 5 1/2" wide boards then. I haven't looked at what that price is today.  But I elected to press all the boards tight together because I needed the best air seal I could get, so I used screws. Two screws every joist.  I used a 3/8" drill with the torque setting pretty high and it drove the screws into the composite pretty good. I would say countersinking the heads at least a 1/8 to 1/4". IIRR I think I predrilled each hole with a small bit.  It's been several years and some of it gets exposed to the 115 degree direct sun weather in the summer in the Phoenix area and the coldest it has ever been in our 14 years of winter stays was 22 degrees. Lets call that a 90 degree temp spread. Have not yet seen a single pop or change in the wood or screw so far.  It is very dry there.  But...  Knock on wood.  Or composite if necessary!   I sincerely doubt this stuff is better than Trex or Timber Tech.  I wonder if moisture getting into the underside causes the composite to swell and pop the screws?  Here in WA I intend to use composite that is clad on all sides if necessary and use clip fasteners.   Turns out with my deck design of just under 400 square feet will only have about 5 boards that will need to be end butted and those will be staggered in the least visible place.  I believe what is done at those butts is a double joist is fabricated. . I suppose some gap will have to be left at those Butt ends.

Dean VP
Snohomish, WA 98290
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
..Winston Churchill...

-----Original Message-----
From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Mike M
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2021 10:44 AM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] Crazy pricing on construction job

My daughters boyfriend installs a lot of Trex decks. I have a buddy that had a Trex deck installed in their vacation house in FL. I showed my him a picture of the new deck, and he just shook his head, they surface screwed it like a wooden deck. He said those are going to pop, and he was right, they weren't even countersunk.

Mike M

On 5/14/2021 9:11 AM, szabelski at wildblue.net wrote:
> Last year I redid our deck using Trex and clips. Has a 25 year warranty. It’s not the one that’s fully clad, only top and sides. I believe they do have the four sided clad but we were looking for a mid range product so I can’t say anything about cost. Keep in mind that the ends of a board clad on all four sides will still have exposed ends on each board. I have a few long scrap pieces that I cut lengthwise and they do develop a bend from moisture over night, however when they dry out in the sun for an hour of so, they’re perfectly flat.
>
> Carl
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dean VP <deanvp at att.net>
> To: 'Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group' 
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Fri, 14 May 2021 00:27:47 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [AT] Crazy pricing on construction job
>
> I've now had some additional quotes come in I can now say that the 
> inflation of at least one quote from the lowest I got last year is 
> 320%.The housing and remodel market in the Seattle area is soooo hot 
> right now the contractors have developed a serious case of GREED.  
> Apparently there are enough suckers out there that will pay these 
> inflated prices that they can cherry pick very high margin jobs. Two 
> contractors that have come out of the Seattle area are the ones with 
> the 300% plus bids. We are 30 miles plus from the center of Seattle.  
> I suppose what they are doing is they are willing to travel for a job 
> if they have found a sucker.  I'm trying very hard to not be one of 
> their victims. It's an insane world trying to get something related to construction done in a reasonable time at a reasonable price.
> Greed is a very attractive concubine.    As my father said in these kinds of
> times:  This too will change!  Oh by the way.... Concrete work is $18 a
> square foot with a $2800 minimum.   If I was a few years younger I'd build
> the damn thing myself. Building a deck is not rocket science.  I get a 
> kick out the sales people that throw around that material costs have 
> gone up by
> 300 plus percent.  They get very quiet when I mention, I've been to 
> the local lumber yard and was told the price of a 16 foot 2 x 8 has 
> gone up 40% in the last year.
>
> I do have one question.  As most of you know it is very wet and damp 
> here for at least 7 months a year and where I am installing my deck is 
> in the shade all afternoon and evening. The SE corner of the house but 
> is in the worst possible place for the weather which we often get  
> rain from the East or SE.  I intend to use composite wood for the 
> flooring. I have developed a fear of what a constant moist environment 
> under the deck will do to the underside of the composite wood.  So I 
> am looking at composite flooring that is clad on all four sides so the 
> moisture cannot get in. A intend to use clips rather than screw the boards down so I don't penetrate that seal.
> Anyone with experience in this area I sure would appreciate hearing 
> from you.  The 4 sided sealed composite flooring board is considerably more
> expensive.   Am I being over cautious?  I know almost anything will last as
> long as we live here which probably will be between 5 and 10 years.   But I
> don't like building crap.
>
>
>
> Dean VP
> Snohomish, WA 98290
> "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and 
> gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
> ..Winston Churchill...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Steve W.
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2021 8:25 PM
> To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group 
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Subject: Re: [AT] Crazy pricing on construction job
>
> Stephen Offiler wrote:
>> My rental property is a prefab built in 1989.  I purchased the 
>> property in 2015 so obviously I had nothing to do with selecting who 
>> made
> it.
>> What I have done is renovation work that has shown me they really, 
>> really like their construction adhesive!  No matter who the 
>> manufacturer is, they all have to be built to handle the 
>> transportation from factory to job site.
>>
>> SO
>>
> Transport is part of it but most of it comes from the regulations on them.
> The standards on a prefab are really interesting to see. I worked in 
> the cabinet shop at a local plant for a year before getting fed up with it.
> There are different specs for the various parts of the country and 
> even different ones when you shipped to Canada. They actually have 
> crash test standards for them!
> It was a real blast watching them being built though. We started with 
> a set of axles and bulk frame steel and built from there. My boss at 
> the time was also my fire chief and he ordered a new place while I was 
> there. He spec'd it out as a Canadian unit (that gets you a larger 
> breaker panel with breakers for each room instead of the common US 
> designs where the front bedroom, bathroom and outdoor lights are all 
> on one breaker style) It also has increased snow loading, better 
> insulation and closer spacings on studs and joists.
>
> We also had different materials for items, from real solid 
> oak/cherry/maple to pressboard with paper facing. His was built with 
> all the top line materials. From start to finish it took us one week 
> on the line. That was for a double wide 62X32. The weigh them as they 
> go out the door to be sure the permits are just legal and his was a 
> bit on the heavy side, roughly an extra ton of weight in better 
> materials and insulation over the normal version.
>
> --
> Steve W.
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