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Garden Table
Deck Repair

 

There are two gates, one on each side of our house that were made by my design. Our next-door neighbors liked them, so I made one more for them. It is the one to the right. Each one is different, but I like to have the top connectors because that makes for a solid set of posts from which to anchor and hinge the door frames.

I used kiln dried redwood. Expensive? Yes, but these are 'special' and will last. The stiles and rails were made with deep tenons and mortises that are glued together with epoxy. This makes them strong and weather resistant. I discussed that more below when I made a table with all details about how to do them. Click here to see.

I have had people come by asking where they could buy those gates, and my answer was simply, 'No way, I made those for us and I am not interested in doing it again'. Unless???

  

 

Here are some photos of the deck and built-in barbeque. There is also a table with an umbrella stand underneath. I designed the table top on rollers so it is easier to get in and out of the back side. Then there is a small deck where the kids had fun playing 'house', the tool shed with its stained glass door and two compost bins. BTW after about thirty years the deck and planter boxed had to be replaced. For details of that effort go to the deck replacement.

 

 

But let's go back and see how I made a small table for the outside deck.
First I made a sketch with all the dimensions and joint designs. Some of those were changed as I went along, but the main concept was there..
I used redwood (it is rot resistant, lasts, not all that strong, but good for this project). All it took were two pieces of redwood 2x2 plus one 2x4.

I wanted to make the joints so they would not be exposed to the elements. Blind mortises and tenons would do the job, along with epoxy to seal and bond them.
A few years ago I made two small tables the same way and made a fixture to cut the mortises.
We'll take it from there

  

 

I realize the pictures of the fixture are confusing, but it involves a router with a 1/2 inch router bit and a guide that is mounted on the bottom of the router base. The latter slides in the elongated slot and the router bit is plunged into the wood. The second picture shows the bottom view with the side stop block. It was designed for 1.5 inch wide stock, but in this case it was actually 1.375 inch wide. I took care of the difference by making sure that all the pieces were oriented accordingly. Thus the router cut the mortise and the tenon was then fitted by using the table saw, a chisel and a file to mate the two. These are all blind mortises, meaning that they go down only about an inch and don't protrude from the opposite side.

 

First I glued two of the legs together with the short, horizontal parts. For this I used epoxy. I had bought this gallon size kit some time ago at a nautical hardware store. The mix ratio is 5:1 but I tend to be heavy on the hardener and I add sanding dust to the mix to give it some 'body'. The pot life is quite long (30 minutes or so) and it takes several hours to set up (clamps can be removed if need be after that) and 24 hours to fully cure.
With two clamps each, the four piece assemblies were then glued to the long horizontal members to make up the frame as shown below. Again I used epoxy for all of this.
BTW the two thin pieces of wood you see below left are only there to keep the spacing of the legs correct.

 

 

Meanwhile I cut the table top pieces and aligned them by putting in two 'biscuits' for each of the five pieces of 2x4 making up the top.
For this I use a special tool that cuts a semi circular groove into the side of wood. There is a mating groove in the piece that goes against this and the two are then connected with a piece of compressed wood, the 'biscuit'.

Normally I use the biscuits to strengthen a joint, but in this case I just wanted to use them for alignment while the epoxy would do the work of strengthen the joints. That is wax paper underneath the 2x4s. It prevents the whole thing from being glued to the table.

  

 

After the epoxy had cured, I sanded the pieces and assembled the top to the base with six screws from below. That way I can take the top off should it need some rework in the future. Notice the four metal buttons on the bottom of the legs. They prevent contact of the end grain with the deck and moisture. After a coat of oil based polyurethane to seal the wood, the table was ready for a final coat of stain to match the rest of the deck furniture.

 


After a number of years even these nice projects suffer from the weather. In 2012 the planking of the little deck needed to be replaced and the planter boxes, which had been filled with wet soil, were in bad shape. It was about thirty years after I built these units. Yet the frames of the deck were surprisingly in good shape, but I did reinforce them by adding 2x4s on both sides. Then I covered the tops with 'Joist Jackets', a black plastic designed to prevent intrusion of moisture into the joists that causes dry-rot. It comes in rolls of three different widths, staples in place and has a lip on both sides that protrude over the edge so water will drain away from the tops. I have used it on other deck sections and the solid colored stain has held up just fine. The new deck planking will be 2x6s.


Notice the original deck and planter boxes above and what they looked like after I cut them apart (below). Dry rot also set in at the end of a work table next to the tool shed. After the small deck was finished, I replaced the top and also the supports underneath. To see the finished table click here.

  

 

I replaced the planter boxes with 2x8 fir but this time used a plastic insert as shown here. The 'trays' are available 30 and 24 inches long and are 7.5 inches wide (perfect for what I needed). I primed the wood with some left over stain before assembly. The corners were also reinforced with metal brackets that I primed with some Rustoleum. The boxes are now rectangular because of the plastic trays, so I filled the corners with a matching triangle piece. All I need to do is plank the deck.
BTW I also made two more boxes for the main deck. One uses a 30 inch tray and one a 24 incher.
  

   

Here are some views of the finished boxes on the main deck before they get filled with summer flowers.

 

A few more details about the edges and the small deck. Dry rot will always start where water can easily enter and stay there. The inside of the planter boxes are prime examples of this. However, the ends of the deck boards are also prone to rot. To reduce that I decided to put a metal strip along the edges and behind where the planter boxes would be located. I found these 'trim' pieces at Home Depot's carpeting department. They were about $1.50 for a three foot piece (cheap). In addition, I used some tar sealant before screwing the metal pieces in place. You might not want to do this everywhere, especially where the ends are clearly visable or where there are steps. Note I will have to replace some of the main deck boards pretty soon, but that will be another project.

 

 

After spraying some primer on the metal and adding the first coat of solid colored stain, it seemed that the metal and Joist Jackets would take the paint quite well. The next step was to stain the small deck. It would take two coats. I also installed some soaker hoses as shown in the final pictures below.

 

Two more pictures of the work table that is next to the tool shed. These were taken after I replaced the planking. Both ends of the 2x6 top as well as some of the supports underneath were gone. Notice the dry rot above. Rather than using the metal strip on the end, I used some Joist Jackets, another narrow board and lots of tar sealant at the ends of the exposed boards. All of this should outlast me.

 

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