Mr. Deck - Split-level deck with a multiplex arbor

Finish carpentry generally applies to interior craftsmanship whereas rough carpentry generally applies to outdoor carpentry. Even house framing begins outdoors and falls under the rough-carpentry classification until it gets enclosed with siding and roofing. Siding itself also falls under the classification of rough carpentry.

Deck-building is also classified as "rough carpentry". This is a category distinct from "finish carpentry" where the detail and craftsmanship are a level of skill an order of magnitude above the standards for rough carpentry. Rough carpentry is aptly named because the precision required of finish carpentry is not expected nor is it generally possible with the course materials involved such as rough timbers and wood planking for deck-and-arbor-building.

The products of rough carpentry are differentiated from indoor constructs where the tight seams and smooth edges of cabinetry and hard-wood floors are fabricated from kiln-dried oak on in-place shop machinery. The equipment used in rough carpentry is generally operated on-site.

Here's the breakthrough with the the Olea project: finish-carpentry craftsmanship has been extended to the outdoors.

The precision required to accomplish this project was made possible by the use of solid plastic materials. The miters and bevels customarily found only with indoor construction were applied to exterior newels and posts, and to the railings, facia, post-cladding, planking and borders.

In fact, indoor construction, because it is weather protected, allows for the use of putty and fillers to conceal gaps in seams and splices and conceal blemishes. Outdoors, there are no such options: any caulking will eventually wash out with the rains. So the precision of corner miters, plank splices, curved railing-cap overhangs and newel panel recesses all have to be even more precise than with the indoor carpentry.

What you see here is the use of precision-cut plastic newels in both the railings and arbor-posts. You see arbor posts clad with grooved solid-plastic facia and trim. You see the turned architectural-grade solid-plastic balusters in the railings. You see the tight seams in the top and bottom rails of the railings.

Notice the white inlay in the solid-plastic planking at the platform step. Notice the undetectable seams in the exterior facia. Notice the curved 2x8 continuous curved borders below the curved railings, the longest being 18 feet. All this is finish-grade craftsmanship.

And it's all made possible through durable weather-proof color-stabilized recycled polyethylene PrimoPlank plastic. And what's really significant is that polyethylene plastic will never need painting and will retain its color indefinitely without fading.

This project raises the bar for contractors everywhere who claim to be professional deck-builders. With solid-plastics now being incorporated into the construction process, the distinction between the skilled and the unskilled and the experienced and inexperienced is becoming more conspicuous than ever before -- as this project clearly demonstrates.

Those black metal balusters are 1x¼ black powder-coated aluminum strips. They were special-ordered to Mr. Deck's specs from DecKorators, the designer baluster company in Missouri, to accommodate the 42 inch high designer railings with the 39-inch high, turned PrimoPlank solid-plastic balusters.

See the Products page for ordering our solid-plastic turned balusters and prefabricated plastic newels seen above.

1) You don't see any brackets. Whatever brackets were used were of the kind whose nailing flanges were turned inward behind the timber being supported.

2) As with most MR. DECK structures, you also don't see one bolt, yet the arbors are quite complex and involve many long 5/8ths inch all-thread bolts with nuts and big washers on both ends.

3) You see the PVC plastic caps on the top side of all the beams and rafters. Not obvious are the PVC plastic spacers on the bottom sides of all the horizontal wooden rafters and lath strips sitting on top of the capping. This was done so the water building up on the plastic capping doesn't get under the wooden elements and cause dry-rot at their points of crossing in the future.

4) You don't see any electrical conduit or wiring. Yet there is a 120v electrical receptacle in one panel of each of the railing's four newels and a 120v lamp at their top, each type on a separate common circuit (see below right).

There are also twelve 50-watt low-voltage lights on the beams and gables to highlight the six arbor-post

newels below. These are powered by two low-voltage circuits connected to a 600-watt transformer.

And both of these full-voltage and low-voltage light circuits are turned on and off separately by a double light-switch mounted within the central post of the flat arbor just above the top of its newel (see above left).

Further there are two swivel spot lights to light up the fountain from below mounted just over the edge of the deck (see left) not visible from the deck (see above center). The fountain's under-lighting is controlled by both a dimmer switch and a daylight sensor in series just over the deck's edge, neither of which is visible from either the upper or lower level deck.

5) You see the lath atop both the gabled and flat arbors made from hollow PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) plastic with decorative end-caps. These will never need painting nor require expensive maintenance. Also notice the staggered ends of the flat lath to give this rather bland canopy some interesting character (see right).

6) You don't see any ledger along the house wall for attaching the horizontal joists of the flat arbor to the house. Instead, individual solid-plastic chamfered 2x6 sconces have been used. Hidden-flange joist-hangars were used to attach the joists to the sconces. The sconces were attached to the wall by lag bolts hidden within the joist-hangars, driven into the window and door headers of the wall's interior framing. All this detail gives a clean open look to the entire flat canopy.

7) You don't see any seams in the continuous gable arch in which multiple pieces come together to form it (see left) -- a perfect framework for the distant view -- where moonrise on a night of the full moon is a mesmerizing sight.

And all this attention to detail takes experience, forethought, knowledge of materials and a lot of additional time.

Most contractors try to impress potential customers with the quantity of projects they've done, not their progressive and impressive quality. Where you see lots of people working on a project, you can just count on the fact that its all plain- Jane standard stuff.

The detail evident in this project is way beyond standard. All this precision work and architectural detail takes time and a lot of extra work to implement -- in addition to a well-thought-out plan beforehand. To do work like this, one can't have other workers milling about or a radio going because it requires total and absolute concentration. Only a very few contractors statewide have the temperament and dedication to do a project like this. Attention to detail and prior journeyman experience were the essential orders of the day
-- that you can see for yourself.

Put yourself "on-deck" in these pictures.

Befitting enough for a presidential stay over.

Postscript

When I was growing up in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the artisan builders in my town were revered for their expertise. They were predominantly recent European immigrants. To this day the European culture still has great respect for their craftsmen and artisans; I know this because I have experienced this firsthand. Not so in California at large; here getting a great deal for cheap seems to be the order of the day.

The Oleas got a showpiece project because they were very respectful right from the get-go, not tight with their purse-strings and very accommodating throughout their whole project. They were the ideal customer and in the end they deservedly got a classic residential deck like no other in all of California and maybe even in the whole USA.