I have the bruises to prove it

Though it may not appear from these pics as if I'm doing any work, I promise I am. Quelman and Juan Carlos have a lot of framing experience (they framed the basement, too), and I basically did what they told me. Which, as has been the case for much of this project so far, involved carrying heavy stuff. Pressure treated lumber is no exception...

Notched posts:


Running a line to level the first side of the double-beam:


Setting the joists:








Quelman had a tico nail gun, which I didn't know existed. Made fastening the joist hangers to the ledger board against the house SO MUCH EASIER than hand nailing. We started at 7 on Wednesday morning, and finished at 5 on Thursday afternoon. Not bad for a couple of days work. (I paid them $1000 total for the two days, which is a pretty expensive hourly rate by WV standards. But they worked pretty fast and they did a nice job.)

Ipe comes on Wednesday, all 3,256 lbs of it. I believe I am on the hook for unloading it (story of my summer). Hopefully they can get the truck nice and close to the deck.