Decks and Vinyl Siding for the Dummy DIYer

Ledger board attachment

The most common do-it-yourself backyard project for the average homeowner just has got to be building a deck. Since a lot of ordinary homeowners can barely tell a hammer from a Phillips screwdriver, many of them turn to the internet to find help in completing their project. Heaven help the poor fools, however, if they turn to the likes of eHow.com's Owen Pearson when they want to know "How to Attach a Deck to a House with Vinyl Siding" at HomeSteady.com. Why? because Owen's apparently an idiot, that's why.

Why do we say that? Because of the inane, moronic, stupid, and just plain dangerous instructions Pearson pounded out for eHow, instructions such as these:

Remove a section of the vinyl siding with a reciprocating saw or hand saw, making sure not to cut through the subsurface of the wall... This section should be as wide as your deck... Cut a ledger board out of 1-inch-by-10-inch pressure-treated lumber using a circular saw Drill pilot holes along the top and bottom into the subsurface, and secure the ledger board to the wall with lag bolts Cut a section of copper flashing as long as the width of the deck. Slide one side up at least 3 inches behind the vinyl siding

Here are the comments from the Antisocial Network's house carpenter and DIY enthusiast after reading Pearson's "advice":

You cut vinyl siding with snips or a utility knife, not a reciprocating saw, though a  rotary tool might do the trick. And just out of curiosity, Owen, WTF is this "subsurface" you keep mentioning? Not necessarily: you want it as wide as the framing, not as wide as the flooring. That's being a little nit-picky, though. Use a 1-by-10 for a ledger? Are you kidding us, Peterson? It's a framing element: it has to be 2-by lumber! "Along the top and bottom"? "Into the subsurface"? Neither makes any sense. You secure the ledger to the frame of the house, e.g., studs - not the "subsurface of the wall." Dumbass! Copper flashing? What's wrong with aluminum? Are you made of money?

If you find out that you need help to complete this particular DIY project, you'd be wise to not look to HomeSteady and the likes of Owen Pearson to get it. Around the Antisocial Network headquarters, we often refer to sites like Inspectapedia for help completing our DIY project; mainly because they know what they're talking about, so we never needed to award one of their writers the Dumbass of the Day. We sure can't say that for eHow!

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DDIY - DECKS