Building 55' Bridge Across Creek - Utility Poles

[deezler]

^ good point, Eddie. Maybe the widest roll of window flashing or zip tape that you can find? Ideally covering all the flat portion of your cut on the top side of the poles. The gooey tape also reseals itself around screws coming through it.

Good call on the GRKs, they are indeed stout. And you got the big 'uns. I predrilled holes for all of my decking boards, didn't want to stress them out too bad. I also used a spade drill bit to make a very shallow counter sink for the GRK heads, since I wanted them flush with the decking. In retrospect, that was probably a bad idea.

 

[gable74]

I will have over 600 screws to put in, so I plan to pre-drill the boards, but not countersink the heads. Not worried to much about the little bumps.

 

[Rustyiron]

If your decking is green you won't need to pre drill, and if not, the only reason would be for splitting near the ends. I use the heck out of those GRK RSS screws and am amazed that even in normal junk lumber (normal lumberyard dimensional stuff) we can put them within an inch of the end of a 2x4 for temporary bracing without splitting it.
If you don't already have one, get a cordless impact driver.

 

[Rustyiron]

I will have over 600 screws to put in, so I plan to pre-drill the boards, but not countersink the heads. Not worried to much about the little bumps.

Countersinking makes a little "cup" that will hold water and expose end grain. The little things add up.

 

[gable74]

I have a couple impacts and don't plan to countersink the heads. I was going to predrill to save some battery life on the impact, but if they cut that well, maybe I will skip that step. Thanks.

 

[Rustyiron]

I have a couple impacts and don't plan to countersink the heads. I was going to predrill to save some battery life on the impact, but if they cut that well, maybe I will skip that step. Thanks.

I read that you weren't counter sinking and the that was my (very) long way around to agreeing with you and why .

 

[gable74]

I figured as much lol......no worries

Gonna set up the saw and stand tomorrow and start cutting some deck boards. I saved a few bucks at the mill by not having them cut to length (so long as they were 84" or more). Kind of wish I had him cut them as I am looking at having to make 200+ cuts on this 2" lumber now....LOL. Might stop on the way home and pick up a new blade or two.

 

[Rustyiron]

A lot of times if you're Lumber is just a little longer than needed or you can't get another board out of it, we'll put them down with both ends "running wild" then snap a chalk line across the whole length to trim them with a skillsaw. Usually this is much faster and easier on the eye in the end.
I'm not trying to run your job, but just passing on little things that someone has shown ME over the years.

 

[deezler]

^ coupled with that thought, rusty, is the fact that it can be hard to keep the boards running perfectly perpendicular as you go across the bridge, even though you might have squared it up really nicely to begin with. So you might pre-cut the board ends dead straight up at the garage, and then half way across the bridge realize that they are all at a slight angle with a zig-zag look on the edges, if that makes sense. So cutting them all afterwards on a chalk line, in place, makes it look perfect.

My bridge was a little bit skewed. I mostly hid the zig zag ends with my bumper rail screwed in from the side.

 

[EddieWalker]

Even with treated 2x6's from Lowes or Home Depot, the length varies on each board by an eighth to 3/8's of an inch. I never precut them. I always cut them after they are installed.