I NEED HELP WITH A CONSTRUCTION QUESTION ABOUT POSTS FOR MY DECK

He's pouring a slab... use the calculator for thickened slabs.
If it's a slab, then you're right. I thought he was isolating his posts from his slab.
Sorry to get back on here so late. We worked on putting in a new window in my bedroom. I couldn’t get a a stock window of my size, 32w x 32h. Odd shape. We had to go with a 32x 38. My friend made a larger window sill for the new window. He buried it under the window with 1x10 and routered the edges. The thing I didn’t realize was we have these special shades that were made to that size of the old window. So with the height increase of the window it makes them too short. It has been like this the whole project I started with the old deck stairs almost falling off and it just morphined into this SYCO PROJECT THAT JUST WON’T END. The Money spent is nuts and I had to use money that I had for a NEW RV I was going to buy this spring. Oh Well.

We are having a 38’x16’ 3'-4” thick slab of cement under the deck. They removed 12” of dirt to get to the right height. I will have about 76" of height. Electrical lines need to be lowered and now 12”x12” footings 40” deep will be made first before the pour of the slab.
This is so I would be able to keep the columns that are there, and add new columns or posts. Then we would remove the wood 4x4’s buried that are not deep enough in the ground now.
So once the footing cure enough, I will be putting in those steel leveling posts. Each one holds 8,000 foot lbs.
I do hate the Forrest of posts. Ideally yo have a steel header and fewer posts would be the way to go BUT I have a time crunch to get this done.
I found a sweet alternative but it would delay the job and my buddy has other jobs on hold and the paver and concrete guy also slotted me in this project.
I found galvanized 3 1/2” square steel posts 10’ long that would be cut to size. Then use the bottom 3 1/2” x 3 1/2” bracket and have it welded together. Then a 3 1/2” bracket that would fit the square post and a 6 3/4” specially fabricated top mount for the girder. But the fabrication would delay the project so I’m stuck with this.
I wanted to have only 5 of these leveling posts and eliminate 1 by having 1 at each end. Then one in the center and 1 in between the end post and the middle on both sides of the header.
It would have made the posts 7’ apart. So I was asking if this would be ok, not knowing the correct way. But I didn’t want to take the risk and ordered 2 more anyway. That makes a total of 6 per header.
We are going to use wood lattice to cover underneath the deck for storage. I was going to but some kind of ceiling under the floor joist to keep it dry if i want to power wash or hose off the deck. We are going to install many lights and build a wall on the side with a door. Maybe not use all of it for storage and maybe section half of it off and screen in the area by the new stoop under there.
After the 16’ of concrete, I’m having 17’x38’ of pavers to meet my long patio on one side, and the concrete RV driveway on the other side with the stairs coming down the middle. So I will have plenty of patio space.
It looked like shit with the uneven dirt underneath the deck. So this is a great add to the house BUT an insanely expensive one.
If I could have done it all over again I would have gotten 2 steel headers and I see they make steel floor joist for steel decks.
I can Woulda Coulda Shoulda all night long. But This is what transpired and I’m still very blessed to have all this done on the spur of the moment.
We are replacing my sliding glass door tomorrow with a new one with blinds in them. I was lucky to find one in stock with the odd size of 60x80.
We stripped the old siding off the top half of the back of my house. We ripped off the 38’ gutter today and prepped it to get sided. We removed the rotted 1X6 behind the gutter snd bought 2x6 to install tomorrow to support the 22’ awning coming in this week for the deck.
We need to side both sides and the back of the house and replace another window in my bedroom. Then we still need to build that wall on the deck.
We opened the soffit yesterday and ran that 15 amp line to where the wall will be that was there for 2 years for this project. Then run LED lighting , ceiling fan, wall hung TV, and outlets for the deck.
My friend is going to replace my Bay Window in the front of the house. The front door, 2 more bedroom windows, 3 down stairs windows, and side the front of the house in the spring.
So there still do much to be done. That’s why I couldn’t wait on getting a steel header, or even those sick square posts that would have looked sharp.
Oh well. I’m so excited. But do overwhelmed and stressed out of my mind. I still have lots of tears to ligaments from my injuries from that accident even after 8 surgeries that have been making me hurt so bad every night.
👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Donny Details 😉
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Sorry to get back on here so late. We worked on putting in a new window in my bedroom. I couldn’t get a a stock window of my size, 32w x 32h. Odd shape. We had to go with a 32x 38. My friend made a larger window sill for the new window. He buried it under the window with 1x10 and routered the edges. The thing I didn’t realize was we have these special shades that were made to that size of the old window. So with the height increase of the window it makes them too short. It has been like this the whole project I started with the old deck stairs almost falling off and it just morphined into this SYCO PROJECT THAT JUST WON’T END. The Money spent is nuts and I had to use money that I had for a NEW RV I was going to buy this spring. Oh Well.

We are having a 38’x16’ 3'-4” thick slab of cement under the deck. They removed 12” of dirt to get to the right height. I will have about 76" of height. Electrical lines need to be lowered and now 12”x12” footings 40” deep will be made first before the pour of the slab.
This is so I would be able to keep the columns that are there, and add new columns or posts. Then we would remove the wood 4x4’s buried that are not deep enough in the ground now.
So once the footing cure enough, I will be putting in those steel leveling posts. Each one holds 8,000 foot lbs.
I do hate the Forrest of posts. Ideally yo have a steel header and fewer posts would be the way to go BUT I have a time crunch to get this done.
I found a sweet alternative but it would delay the job and my buddy has other jobs on hold and the paver and concrete guy also slotted me in this project.
I found galvanized 3 1/2” square steel posts 10’ long that would be cut to size. Then use the bottom 3 1/2” x 3 1/2” bracket and have it welded together. Then a 3 1/2” bracket that would fit the square post and a 6 3/4” specially fabricated top mount for the girder. But the fabrication would delay the project so I’m stuck with this.
I wanted to have only 5 of these leveling posts and eliminate 1 by having 1 at each end. Then one in the center and 1 in between the end post and the middle on both sides of the header.
It would have made the posts 7’ apart. So I was asking if this would be ok, not knowing the correct way. But I didn’t want to take the risk and ordered 2 more anyway. That makes a total of 6 per header.
We are going to use wood lattice to cover underneath the deck for storage. I was going to but some kind of ceiling under the floor joist to keep it dry if i want to power wash or hose off the deck. We are going to install many lights and build a wall on the side with a door. Maybe not use all of it for storage and maybe section half of it off and screen in the area by the new stoop under there.
After the 16’ of concrete, I’m having 17’x38’ of pavers to meet my long patio on one side, and the concrete RV driveway on the other side with the stairs coming down the middle. So I will have plenty of patio space.
It looked like shit with the uneven dirt underneath the deck. So this is a great add to the house BUT an insanely expensive one.
If I could have done it all over again I would have gotten 2 steel headers and I see they make steel floor joist for steel decks.
I can Woulda Coulda Shoulda all night long. But This is what transpired and I’m still very blessed to have all this done on the spur of the moment.
We are replacing my sliding glass door tomorrow with a new one with blinds in them. I was lucky to find one in stock with the odd size of 60x80.
We stripped the old siding off the top half of the back of my house. We ripped off the 38’ gutter today and prepped it to get sided. We removed the rotted 1X6 behind the gutter snd bought 2x6 to install tomorrow to support the 22’ awning coming in this week for the deck.
We need to side both sides and the back of the house and replace another window in my bedroom. Then we still need to build that wall on the deck.
We opened the soffit yesterday and ran that 15 amp line to where the wall will be that was there for 2 years for this project. Then run LED lighting , ceiling fan, wall hung TV, and outlets for the deck.
My friend is going to replace my Bay Window in the front of the house. The front door, 2 more bedroom windows, 3 down stairs windows, and side the front of the house in the spring.
So there still do much to be done. That’s why I couldn’t wait on getting a steel header, or even those sick square posts that would have looked sharp.
Oh well. I’m so excited. But do overwhelmed and stressed out of my mind. I still have lots of tears to ligaments from my injuries from that accident even after 8 surgeries that have been making me hurt so bad every night.
👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Donny Details 😉
View attachment 33901View attachment 33902View attachment 33903

My phone spits out crazy unreadable messages with word correct. I had to edit my whole post. I hate posting with my phone. Ughhhh
 
Here's the results of removing 15" of ground under my new deck, then pouring 3" of concrete for a slab. 3" concrete with paving stones above the cement on 1/2 the area. This was a very costly add on to my project, but it really turned out fantastic.
We are going to build a wall on the side of the patio with barn doors, and add Black Plastic lattice on the front side of the deck with white accents and around the outside of the stairs and run it all the way next to the side of my stoop to the house. This will be an awesome storage area. We are going to leave it open from in front of the stoop and on the other side of the stoop on the RV driveway side. Only 4 metal posts to be in our way. I did add 2 wood posts on the outside of the deck to prevent side to side swaying, but I didn't seem to move side to side at all, so this may not have been needed.
This was all done for 30,000$, not including the 4,500$ for the posts. This was such a crazy expensive project. I do see it adding value to my home. Plus we are having this home set up, to exactly how we want it to be, to enjoy our time living here. My future RV will now have to be put on pause for IDK how long.
We are now going to be installing new siding on the back of the house, and both sides of the house. We replaced the sliding glass door and 1 window, with another window getting replaced when we start the sides of the house. I still need to install the 22'x12' awning, which was delayed but is getting delivered this week. Then have new gutters put in. Then build a wall above the bottom wall, but on the second floor deck, which will be attached to the awning.
We have a 15amp electric line ran in the soffit area for a TV under the awning on the wall. Plus a ceiling fan, led lighting, and outlets galore. My flood lights that are on a switch on the inside of the house was removed and we ran 6 high hat connections to be installed under my soffit on a dim switch.
It is going to be one heck of a party deck. A 1/2 above and 1/2 below pool (code won't allow us to put an in ground pool with all the concrete and paver work done) with a deck around it will be installed in March. Then side the front of my home and replace the front door, big bay window, and 4 front bed room windows.
Its going to be what we dreamed of.
PARTY AT IRONMANS CASTLE NEXT YEAR. WE HAVE RV DRIVEWAY FOR EXTENDED GUESTS THAT WANT TO CHILL ON LI AND WITH THE IRONMAN. BEACHES AND BEACHES AND BEACHES ON LI NY.
Well that's it. I will hook up pics with the next post. 👊 👊 👊 🙏🙏🙏
Donny Details ;)
 
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Here's the results of removing 15" of ground under my new deck, then pouring 3" of concrete for a slab. 3" concrete with paving stones above the cement on 1/2 the area. This was a very costly add on to my project, but it really turned out fantastic.
We are going to build a wall on the side of the patio with barn doors, and add Black Plastic lattice on the front side of the deck with white accents and around the outside of the stairs and run it all the way next to the side of my stoop to the house. This will be an awesome storage area. We are going to leave it open from in front of the stoop and on the other side of the stoop on the RV driveway side. Only 4 metal posts to be in our way. I did add 2 wood posts on the outside of the deck to prevent side to side swaying, but I didn't seem to move side to side at all, so this may not have been needed.
This was all done for 30,000$, not including the 4,500$ for the posts. This was such a crazy expensive project. I do see it adding value to my home. Plus we are having this home set up, to exactly how we want it to be, to enjoy our time living here. My future RV will now have to be put on pause for IDK how long.
We are now going to be installing new siding on the back of the house, and both sides of the house. We replaced the sliding glass door and 1 window, with another window getting replaced when we start the sides of the house. I still need to install the 22'x12' awning, which was delayed but is getting delivered this week. Then have new gutters put in. Then build a wall above the bottom wall, but on the second floor deck, which will be attached to the awning.
We have a 15amp electric line ran in the soffit area for a TV under the awning on the wall. Plus a ceiling fan, led lighting, and outlets galore. My flood lights that are on a switch on the inside of the house was removed and we ran 6 high hat connections to be installed under my soffit on a dim switch.
It is going to be one heck of a party deck. A 1/2 above and 1/2 below pool (code won't allow us to put an in ground pool with all the concrete and paver work done) with a deck around it will be installed in March. Then side the front of my home and replace the front door, big bay window, and 4 front bed room windows.
Its going to be what we dreamed of.
PARTY AT IRONMANS CASTLE NEXT YEAR. WE HAVE RV DRIVEWAY FOR EXTENDED GUESTS THAT WANT TO CHILL ON LI AND WITH THE IRONMAN. BEACHES AND BEACHES AND BEACHES ON LI NY.
Well that's it. I will hook up pics with the next post. 👊 👊 👊 🙏🙏🙏
Donny Details ;)
man I have missed Donny details!
 
Damn Don, that looks great! You put in the work and it's built to last. Hope you and your family enjoy for many years to come.
Ali my friend. Party at my home next year. I have a few Harleys that we can go riding and have a blast with. I’d love to have Danny, Bruce, Brett, and so many of the Tremir brothers to gather at my home. We will make it a tour to hit other home towns of others. I do mean it.
👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻🙏🙏🙏😁
 
I'm in, let me know when. Renewed my motorcycle endorsement this past year too 😁
Yeah Man. Open invitations. Jarrod you are in NY so you need to attend. All my my friends, open invite. 😁
 
Don,
I’m super impressed with the transition you have done to your house and property. All of that hard work (and money) really shows and I’m sure you and your squeeze are going to love it for years to come! 👊🏼🍻😎
 
@Iron Man looks awesome! I think it is money well spent as you will get alot more use of that area... I did something similar under our deck (poured slab, walls, sliding doors for storage.

Just something to consider when you put the walls up - you don't want to join any independent structures. I don't recall how you ended up doing the slab - but if it is not connected to the deck supports with footings (or other methods) don't connect the walls either. I faced the same issue and can share how I solved the issue in my build if you want to discuss...
 
Damn buddy .. It's beautiful. I'm totally jealous .. I can't even get a Contractor to my house to get a re-model estimate, let alone the work be done. They're all booked. New construction is over a year out. Shit, it took 4 months to get our fence replaced. Paver company said over the phone, (yes, phone estimates now) doing my sidewalks and entry didn't meet their minimum requirements. The world is changing, and I'm not.
 
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