Day Four

Deck Assembly

Once the sub-structure was assembled and painted, it was time to lay down the decking, which is composed of two layers of 3/8" plywood. The bottom layer is rough (aka cheap) plywood, painted on the bottom for weather resistance. The top layer is pre-sanded  ACX (aka expensive) plywood, which we'll paint later once the deck is completely built.

Laying down the decking with a whole lotta screws. Here's where snapping
a chalk line along the studs underneath comes in handy. Otherwise, you end up
sinking screws through plywood into nothing. Place the chalk line along
the screws at the side, where they hold the 2x4 cross-members.

The coping is fastened from underneath with two lag bolts. It took a while to drill
through the steel pipe, which is actually schedule-40 electrical conduit. And once
bolted down, the coping is still a bit loose in the middle, so were going to try
some self-tapping screws to secure it. Hope it works!

I leveled an uneven spot with a few wood shims. I couldn't raise the platform itself
because the sub-scructure is screwed together under the decking. So the shims
raise the platform just enough to even out the surface and make a smooth transition.

Sean tests the new decking with a preliminary run. Report: A-OK!

Ryan helps me secure the 'top shelf' decking.
We used this trick -- snapping a chalk line along the studs --
along the entire ramp surface, to tell us where to sink the screws.

The final step -- assembling the railing.

Done! Tomorrow we'll paint the deck surface, but for now, let's skate!