New Dock on Pond

[samission]

Hi Bob, Cliff, and GerardC

Thanks for the encouragement on my project. We have a wedding reception here at the party house/barn this Saturday /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif and will not be able to work on the dock until Sunday.

Lowes has the ChoiceDek in redwood color in stock locally, we be going over there tonight to get the decking supplies. Hopefully will be able to get started Sunday, unless the rain tonight makes the grass jump up to high, then there goes 3 hours to cut the 10.5 acers on Sunday, but I would rather have to cut the grass then re-seed due to the long drought we have had.

See Ya later,
Steve

 

[samission]

Progress Update Report

Well it looks like we didn't use that decking from Lowe's after all. Had to many problems trying to get matching accessories, and a guarantee that we would be able to find the same color next year on our other projects (ie: another dock, and a deck for the party barn/house). Seems that the supplier for Lowe's has changed colors each year for the last few years.

So we went with western red cedar, took a while to find cedar decking in this part of the country but finally found it at a lumber supply in Columbus, OH. About a hours drive from here.

This pic is a front view of the dock, pond is still 18" to 20" down, hope we get some good rain soon. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[samission]

This pic shows the dock from the bank, shows the nice looking red cedar.

 

[samission]

This pic is from behind the dock overlooking the pond, its fountain, and the bridge over the stream.

Well I'm still not done, still need to trim out the stairs with cedar, install a hand rail around the stairs. My wife wants an offset/fold out canopy (like the ones sold at Home Depot) mounted to the upper dock, we have a extra one in the garage. Then we want to put a park bench on the lower dock.

Will post more pictures when I am finished!

 

[TBAR]

Very Nice.......................you do good work.

That place is beutiful.


TBAR

 

[EddieWalker]

Steve,

What you have there is a work of art. Very Nice!!!!!

I noticed the bridge in the background, how about a few shots of that also...

Eddie

 

[samission]

Hi Eddie,

Thanks for the encouragement, I will try to get some photo's of the bridge soon, it need some work, maybe put it on the project to-do list.

Well the new dock got done 15 minutes before the start of our labor day party.

This first picture shows the completed dock with the new bench and umbrella installed, also the handrail to help people down the stairs to the lower level.

Pond level is still down 20" or so, still hoping for rain, looks like Frances is going a little east of us here later this week /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, so no rain from it.

Steve
SW Ohio

 

[samission]

Same picture with the umbrella up.

 

[samission]

Picture from the right with the umbrella up.

 

[samission]

Eddie,

As requested, here are a couple of pictures of the bridge.

The bridge crosses the creek to our back 2 acres for access and mowing. The bridge is wide enough to get our 2 yazoo 76" wide mowers over without any problems. The bridge is made with concrete walls on both sides of the creek with a ledge in the top of the concrete to hold 3 - 6" steel I-Beams.

The I-beams are then covered with 2x6 pressure treated wood and the railing is 2x4 pressure treated set in steel brackets welded to the side of the I-beams.

The bridge is strong enough to hold our 1/2 ton chevy pickup, as I had to retrieve one of the mowers last year from the back property before we got our case DX33.

Steve

 

[samission]

Here's another picture of the bridge looking back at the party house/barn. You can see the width of the bridge and possibly the carriage bolts holding the 2x6 decking on the i-beams.

Steve

 

[qqq]

Steve,

Congratulations, that dock looks like a million dollars. The design and craftsmanship are top notch. (Nice looking bridge, too.)

Dave.

 

[BB_TX]

Steve - That really is a great looking deck you built. However, I can't look at it without thinking of a child falling over the edge into the water. Do you plan on any kind of rail across the front?

 

[samission]

Hi Bill,

There are no plans to put any railing across the front, as this is a dock not a deck, requiring access to peddle boats and fishing.

As I have stated before, the pond is down 20" now and when it returns to its normal level, the dock will only be 1" - 2" from the water, great for getting into and out of our peddle boat.

If it was a deck, without water at the edge I would put a railing around it, as it is now, a child can walk anywhere around the pond and fall in if they are unsupervised, not just from the dock, so I guess if I were to put a railing around the dock, then I would also have to put the railing all the way around the pond.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[samission]

Thought I would include a picture of the Dock with the pond finally back up to where it belongs. Took a while to get the 35" of water needed to bring it back to its normal level.

Steve

 

[B7500]

Just incredibly beautiful.
Nice work!
-Terry

 

[BeeFarmer]

How do you get the post in the pond? I was thinking of making a bridge over my pond and was wondering how to get the post pounded into the mud...

 

[GerardC]

Very nice indeed. You should be proud. ENJOY! Gerard

 

[samission]

BeeFarmer,

To put these posts in I was able to do it from the bank, with the help of the DX33 FEL. However, I helped a friend put a bridge in over his pond.

We built the bridge by driving in the posts with a 2 man self made post driver (very heavy). We started at the bank and drove in 2 posts, then we made a temporary cantilevered walkway to the next post location, drove in the next set of posts, attached more temporary cantilevered walk and did the next.

Our post were only about 5' apart, the temporary walkway was a little springy on the ends but it worked. Another option we looked at was to build a floating platform to use as a work area to drive the posts, but the catwalk way worked just fine.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement on the project, looks like a 12' gazebo project overhanging the other end of the pond this coming spring.

Steve

 

[Turkeyman]

To drive posts ( 4x6 or 6x6) into muck rent a small trackhoe and get a vibrating plat compactor in place of the bucket. Put the post where you want it and the down pressure from the arm and the plate compactor will hammer it in. Like a pile driver but will not splinter the wood. Hardest part is keeping it plumb with the arch of the trackhoe's arm, this take some practice. Most arms reach out 7-9 feet.