BobVila.com

Bob in the backyard of the Medford restoration project where Charlie and Matt are finishing up the picture framing for the mahogany deck. The mahogany will be left unfinished�allowing it weather and take on a beautiful silvery sheen. The first nail goes in about an inch from the edge at one end, then one at the other end, and then every 16" in between. The end piece is brought in at the miter and nailed. Charlie is working with mahogany in an assortment of lengths�20s to 6s. Charlie prefers to space his joints at least 32 inches apart staggering them by at least two bays. He uses 16-penny spikes as spacers between the boards as well as between the butt ends of the boards and the picture frame. He's using 2 1/2-inch stainless steel annular ring nails. To avoid putting dimples into the mahogany, he doesn't hammer them all the way in but leaves them just on the surface and then uses a nail set to drive them home. Charlie believes that sometimes it's best to predrill at the butt end of board rather than risk splitting the wood by driving a nail that's close to end.

The crew from Owens Corning Basement Finishing Systems has been at work putting up the framework for the walls and the grid for the ceiling. The first step was to lay out the steel-stud wall just to the inside of the perimeter drain. The bottom sheet metal track was attached to the foundation using concrete nails. Magnetic levels were used to get a plumb line to the ceiling joists to mark where the top track should go. The top tracks were then screwed into the ceiling joists. The studs are cut to length and two studs are attached together back-to-back and then affixed to the bottom plates. The magnetic level is again used to find plumblines to attach the studs to the top track. The room will eventually be used as a family playroom. A suspended ceiling system is attached to the existing joists with wires so it can later be adjusted for level.