Figured it was time for an update....

Figured it was time for an update....

I've got the deck back on the frame and am working on replacing the rotten framing and rotten wheel wells.  Here are a few before shots.

On the wheel wells I bought a 2x12 figuring I would use 1 piece of wood rather than the 2 pieces that were used previously, After thinking about the single piece of wood I started to worry that it might be prone to warping so with the help of my brother (he has the good tools) we ripped it in half length wise and than reversed the grain so that the grain on the two halves ran in opposite directions. We glued and screwed the pieces together before cutting the wheel well out.

Old and new wheel wells

I bought a 2x4 of hemlock to cut into strips to replace the curved portions of the framing. I chose hemlock because it had a fairly straight grain and was knot free. I was hoping I could just bend it to the required curve, but no such luck. To get the curve I built a really crude wood steamer out of items I had in the garage: PVC pipe, rags, foam insulation and a deep fryer. Filled the fryer with water and let it boil then piped the steam over to the PVC pipe that had the wood in it. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get the wood to the point that it will bend, but it did work!

Wood steamer on a budget!

Yesterday I picked up all the 1/8" birch paneling (11 sheets) so I should be able to get the old birch off and new stuff on shortly.