Cable Rail

Hello...

  Today is part 2 of the Low sloped roof deck, composite pavers, and cable rail project.


  To review this project it is a roof deck that is sloped for drainage with a EPDM rubber roof installed to provide a dry area underneath the deck. We installed Azek pavers and custom Timber Tech cable rail on this project.




The first step we did on the cable rail installation is to drill through the 4x4 rail posts and the Timber Tech Express post sleeves for the cable rail runs.

The tension and termination hardware is very expensive on cable rail so wherever the cables run can go through the rail posts,  the more affordable your project will be.

Here is a picture of Trex Rain Escapes flashing boots they sell for 4x4 rail post that would run through a low sloped roof deck or a deck drainage system like the Trex Escapes.


















This is a good illustration of the flashing boots we installed on this project.

Once we drilled out and flashed all the posts we install the proper code rail post connections. With two 1/2 Threaded bolts and one DTT2Z bracket.

Feeney allows for 70' of straight cable runs, and 40' of cable with two bends per section.

The cable is spaced 3" on center and you are suppose to have support posts every 3' ... We cheated a little at 4' on center posts on this install. Because of the flat roof, and Azek pavers. 

We did not know how well the Feeney intermediate balusters would hold up attached to a floating paver.

Once you get the cable threaded through the install is pretty easy. You have a tension quick connect fitting on one end and a lock termination fitting on the other end of the cable run. You slowly tension the cable runs starting from the middle working both ways alternating up and down. This takes 2-3 times to get the proper tension. From there you trim off the access cable and install the caps over the fittings.

The cable rail is one of my favorite looking railing in fills and I think it goes with many different styles of homes not just modern architecture. 

Upper balcony deck with the top tier of fascia spaced out for water to flow off the rubber roof, We could not install a gutter on this balcony because there was no place to run a downspout. 

Here are few final pictures of the view this beautiful house has looking out at the middle shipping channel of the St. Clair river.  Where Walpole Island Canada is on the other side of the river. Walpole Island is an Indian Preserve. The Freighters run through here 4-5 times a day and at times will cross paths two wide it is quite a sight to see !

Michigan deck builders - Autumnwood Consruction Inc.

Low sloped roof decks, composite pavers and cable rail.

Hello again ...

Today we are going to go over a project we did back in March for a home builder out on Harsens Island Michigan. This house is being built right on the middle channel of the St. Clair river where the ocean freighters cut through to get to lake Huron, it is also the border to Canada / Walpole island.

The deck was built by the house framers, and had a EPDM rubber roof applied before we arrived to complete the decking, railings, and fascia. The home actually had three deck areas where we worked.

Originally they were going to use 2x4 sleepers and PVC decking on the deck.

 The deck is sloped about 1" of fall for every 4' to allow the water to run off and to keep the space under the deck dry where they planned on doing a screened porch.

We recommend to the builder to use the Azek pavers. This is the very use they were attended for and in my opinion is the best option for a flat or low sloped roof deck.

The pavers are installed over a rain screen mat that allows the water to flow underneath the pavers. Once the mat is installed you layout out the grids, and then install the pavers.

 Nothing is attached to the deck so there is no worry for leaks because of having to attach sleepers. Also all the products are made from plastic or composite so they are light weight in comparison to decking with sleepers.



We started the project laying out the rain mat, then installing the grids, and then the pavers.

The install is really easy and goes really fast we installed this 600 square foot deck in a day with two guys. The real works begins at the edges of the deck.

You have to plan the grid layout to fit the paver layout with the biggest concern being how to finish off the edges of the deck.

The builder keep the bottom course of the stone veneer out until after the deck was finished. Then they will finish off the stone edge around the house because of the inconsistency of the stone veneer that would be hard to match up with the Azek pavers.

Here in the picture above you can see our progress after day 1 we have all the pavers installed except for around the outer rim of the deck. That is when the work begins.






Our next step was to install the rail posts for the railings of the deck since the deck was 10' above ground level the deck needed railings. The homeowner choose cable rail in fill with a synthetic rail.

The rail posts were installed inside of the deck rim and attached with 3) Thrulok bolts and one DTT2Z bracket. Then we had to flash around each post with EPDM flashing boots that were glued down.

Sorry I cannot find any pictures of the flashing install on the rail posts. Here in the picture on the left we have the Timber Tech Express post sleeves and top rail installed. We are working on installing the bull-nose border paver course.

We decided on this project to overlap the border course a few inches past the deck rim so we could hid where the rubber roof will run into the gutter mounted right under the border course.

 That will do it it for today ... I will finish this project off in the next blog post, and go over the cable rail install. Thanks for reading !  Michigan deck builders.