Well, I finally finished it. We have a local "old time" sawmill near here. The mill owner recommended hemlock for the lattice. He said it would last just fine outside, especially if stained. Apparently hemlock was/is the lumber of choice for barn siding. If anyone is interested in including this feature in your deck project, it is mostly a time consuming process. The materials cost for all my lattice is well under $350, including the hemlock, PT 4X4s, fasteners, and stain. To do this, you will probably need a table saw and thickness planer (to make all the flat stock). I used over 3,000 #16 brads (pneumatic deWalt nailer). The flat stock is all 4X4" X 3/4", laid flat, so that makes the lattice panels 1.5" thick. To get the equal spacing in the lattice grid, I used and excel spreadsheet, with a little bit of high school Algebra. If anybody wants the spreadsheet, send me a mail (tom@garden.net) Thanks again to all the deck pros here - John Hyatt, Steve from Brooklyn Decks, and so many other!!! Here's the pile of hemlock for flatstock ($200) Here's a couple of pics of the finished project Here's a pic before the lattice screen: Here's a pic with the lattice screen:

Ok, I found this site doing a Deckmaster web search. I have read some really boring to really funny to really smart and quite a few fibs...on this topic So here is my situation and then finally a few questions: I have a 37 x 14.5 section of deck and another 11 x 12 section of deck attached to the back of our house. We are 2 feet to 4 feet above ground on a gradual slope right to left facing the deck. We have built the smaller section with 12 OC joists for a hot tub. The larger was built with 16 OC joists for the larger part. I have ordered the Redwood decking, all 675 sq ft of it at 2 x 6 boards with 10 foot through 20 to lenghts. I decided to use Con Heart instead of Con Com redwood. We hope to to do a perpendicular installs on the smaller section and do two 14' x 14' forty-five degree sections for 29 feet of the large section and then more perpendicular in the remaining 9 feet. My questions are: 1. Would anyone of you (professional and DIYers) use Deckmaster for this type of installation (yes this is not IPE). If you don't think it will work, please provide some logic on why this system might not work well for 2 x 6 redwood Con Heart. 2. I found the "Fine Homebuilding" article referenced above. Therefore can anyone offer an alternative to Deckmaster and from screwing from above, I don't want to counter screw and plug redwood. 3. Can any one tell me what stain/protectant they would use on this redwood? 4. We are using Stucco Pillor/Posts every 8 feet. What would anyone recommend for railing between the light colored stucco. I am looking at two options. One is prefab metal black railing. The second is using CorrectDeck 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 rails with solid metal ballisters with basket every 4 ballisters. Thanks for you help!!

HI Ya George! I dont really care all that much for the 4th not for what its there for the caps poping off all over, just makes me a little jumpi so I am hiding out in the office. Rule of Thumb the fasteners should go into the frame at least 1/2 the depth of the decking, of course the L metal cant do that because the decking is not really fastened to the frame there in is the problem. Using any more than 2 fasteners per conection will have no effect one way or the other far as movement goes, but it just might split out the ipe. Take a close look at that L metal, hold it in your hand,while doing that recall the ipe bill you just paid, inspect the thin area the screws are going into, remember the coated cans you see on the freeway ramps that were missed by the clean up guys after several months, then ask your Contractor if you could drift on over to the many ipe jobs he has out 5 years old or so done with that L metal, Keep in mind us ol boys over here make a living doing decks there would be no trashing if they worked we would be selling the S#i$ out of them. Then make your plan as to how to countiune.Side Note>> I would come closer to using pt 2x2s joist sisters installed with ss screws and 490 adhesive leval with the joists and adhesive on the decking at least you would have a fighting chanceCross Ventalation is very important to any decking X 10 with ipe Air in Air out. T&G ipe skirting gives a very good look. When using solid skirting install screen vents in the skiting, they look like soffit vents in your overhang, we put a router detail on them pretty cool look you can see them on my site. Air in Air out. Do Not Seal All Four Sides with any decking ever for a lot of reasons. Ipe is a very tough long lived nice looking material. It will not put up with uneven traped moisture,lack of ventalation,or flimsly conection while laying flat to the sun. J

You should run the decking in the direction that your wife likes :-). Both ways have their advantages. that said, what you mostly see when the deck is done is the decking. It's a lot easier to do a good job decking if you don't have any butt joints. It's difficult, as your Ipe boards won't all be of the same dimension...they will range from 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 wide. The downside is that framing is more of a problem. 24" centers on your joists works well with 5/4 decking. If you buy 1x6, you should go with 20". pressure treated is what we all use for the substructure...but don't use the word simply, because there's nothing simple about framing with ACQ. It cups and twists before you get it out of the lumberyard. Never, and I repeat...Never...leave it out in the sun before its installed. don't use hidden fasteners.