preventing moisture damage around deck

[quilter855]

we are going to build a deck running from a previous deck in front of our dining room. Everytime my husband builds anything outside, he worries a lot about moisture wrecking the house and his precautions are wrecking the appearance. Our house has the thick black plastic that is under the siding and goes over the foundation and looks terrible. I can't put plants close to the house (watering would seep into the foundation or hurt the siding) or put bark (ground is too close to bottom of siding). We were going to use 16 inch patio blocks to form a small patio against the house, but he didn't want want the rain to splash off the roof and damage the siding. (We do not have gutters and with a deck and the shape of this addition, it would be hard to drain a gutter).

He puts small concrtete blocks around the perimeter of the deck so that no dirt can touch the posts. These individual blocks are about 6 inches wide and look terrible.

I don't see these things at other peoples' homes and I don't want anymore cement blocks showing.

BTW, where we live is in a desert area - very llittle rain and snow in the winter. Does he need to put his posts farther under the decks, let the dirt touch them or what??

HELP I hate to have all the money and time go into another project that looks bad!!

[hmiller]

Check out my deck construction detail page. It has the prescriptive deck construction link to gove you and your husband ideas. Hope that helps. http://millerhomeinspect.com/decks.aspx

[kurt]

Siding isn't normally damaged by water. And what thick black plastic is sticking out of where and why?

Sounds more like a domestic dispute and less like a construction problem.[:-paperba

Tell him it's the UV light that's really messing everything up.........[:-eyebrow

[Jim Katen]

we are going to build a deck running from a previous deck in front of our dining room. Everytime my husband builds anything outside, he worries a lot about moisture wrecking the house and his precautions are wrecking the appearance. Our house has the thick black plastic that is under the siding and goes over the foundation and looks terrible. I can't put plants close to the house (watering would seep into the foundation or hurt the siding) or put bark (ground is too close to bottom of siding). We were going to use 16 inch patio blocks to form a small patio against the house, but he didn't want want the rain to splash off the roof and damage the siding. (We do not have gutters and with a deck and the shape of this addition, it would be hard to drain a gutter).

He puts small concrtete blocks around the perimeter of the deck so that no dirt can touch the posts. These individual blocks are about 6 inches wide and look terrible.

I don't see these things at other peoples' homes and I don't want anymore cement blocks showing.

BTW, where we live is in a desert area - very llittle rain and snow in the winter. Does he need to put his posts farther under the decks, let the dirt touch them or what??

HELP I hate to have all the money and time go into another project that looks bad!!

Oh jeez, he's one of THOSE. I run into those kind of homeowners every so often. Their particular psychosis is that they have to take extra precautions against problems that they've heard about or read about elsewhere. They have no idea how these problems really ought to be dealt with so they invent their own methods -- usually by backing into the problem butt first and then thrashing around until they've fought their way out. 90% of the time, the invented solutions that these people come up with cause more grief and are far uglier than the problem that they were trying to avoid in the first place. None of that matters to them of course because they really don't care about the problem anyway. The whole point of the exercise is to prevent them from thinking about a real problem or issue in their lives that they don't want to admit even exists.

The only solution is to divorce the bum.

On the other hand, you might be the one who's "one of THOSE." I mean the flip side of the other guy. This type zooms in on a tiny problem or imperfection and allows it to engulf her psyche to the exclusion of every other concern. You allow this to happen because you don't want to deal with real problems in your life, so you allow the insignificant problem to push everything else out of your brain.

Here's a thought: maybe you're both dancing around a bigger problem that you don't even want to admit exists.

Hint: When a husband & wife disagree about a deck, it's never about the deck.

[randynavarro]

Wow, Jim.

And I though you were just a superb home inspector . . .

[waynesoper]

PLease send us some pictures of his work!!

[quilter855]

Originally posted by kurt

Siding isn't normally damaged by water. And what thick black plastic is sticking out of where and why?

black plasatic that he puts around the foundation when he does an additon. So when looking at the house, you see the groud, black plastic, and then siding.

[quilter855]

Wow, Jim.

And I though you were just a superb home inspector . . .

Actually, he is a wonderful hubby and we have a great marrriage. I just hate to see the time and effort he puts into jobs (after working 12 hour days and taking care of his 89 year old dad) to have them look so amauter, when the actual job itself looks great.

[kurt]

I think the die is cast; he's gonna do his projects the way he does them, and you're going to fret a little. No one's gonna change his mind about how he builds.

Thanks for stopping by.......