Hi, I'm Melissa Maley here with home improvement specialist Todd Hendricks,
and today we're going to be showing you how to install the Zip-Up UnderDeck system. The
system's great. You're going to see it's going to go up fast and it's easy, and not only is it going
to provide a beautiful ceiling for this patio, but it's going to help protect it by draining
water away from the house and into a gutter. Now, we've installed several of these systems over
the last few months and we've found it a superior product to some of the others on the market,
and what we are going to do here now is the first step is we're going to take a few measurements and
show the tool layout that it takes to install the product. The Zip-Up UnderDecking system was
designed for that you wouldn't need a lot of tools to install. These are a pair of shears to cut the
panels. We have a cordless impact to screw the main rails up, another one here, tape measure,
a gyp knife for cutting the length of the panels, chalk line to get the first row straight,
and a large square to draw a straight line. Now, if you have an electric miter box, that makes
the project go a lot faster and smoother, but you can get by with these tools here.
The system was designed for the do-it-yourselfer, so it was meant to be as easy as possible,
because of that there's only three pieces. So the first piece we're going to work with is the wall
trim. The wall trim goes around the perimeter of your deck and it's going to create a frame for
the system all the other components are going to snap inside the wall trim. The second piece
is the panel. This is the decorative finish of the system. It's about a foot wide and it
comes in two different finishes, we've got a serrated and a smooth. We'll be working with
the serrated today. And the final piece is the main rail. The main rail is a sturdy I-beam and
it's going to provide the structure and the support of the system. We will show you how
they all interlock to create a watertight system as we go along, so let's see how Todd is doing.
Alright our next step is to install our pitch rail, which we carry in a ½ inch thick and a 1
inch thick product, and the reason we do that is Zip-Up is designed to pitch 1/8 inch per foot,
which equates to ½ inch in 4 feet and then it progresses as the deck goes. This deck happens
to be 16 feet so we're going to end up all the way to a 2 inch spacer once we get out to the end. So
what we do is we snap line at 4 feet, 8 feet, 12 feet, and 16 feet and we install these out
starting with the ½, then a 1 inch, then 1-½ inch, and then a 2 inch. We had some extra lumber laying
around on the project so we decided to rip our own spacers on this one, just to utilize some of the
lumber that was leftover. This is our set of 1/2 inch, 1 inch, 1-½ inch, and 2 inch spacers made
out of cedar. You can use cedar or treated if you are going to rip your own. Ours are a PVC product,
which obviously will never rot. Now, we're going to mark 4 foot out from the house to establish the
line for our pitch spacers. Then we'll move down to the other end and do the same thing over there.
Now, we're going to take a string line with blue chalk. We're going to snap a line from end to end
to establish the first line of our pitch rails. Alright, we're going to actually start installing
the pitch spacers up on the ceiling of the deck and Melissa will explain to everybody
out there what we're doing as we're doing it. We're going to start with a ½ inch on our chalk
line that we already prelabeled. Now, you want to use a screw that's longer than your deepest pitch,
so we're going out to a 2 inch pitch, therefore we're going to need a 3-¼ inch deck screw.
[drilling] And now we have all our pitching set up. So as you can see starting from the house,
again we're coming out 4 feet, and you're looking at the ½ inch rail another 4 feet, so at 8 foot
we have the 1 inch rail, 12 foot we've extended out 1-½ ending at 2 inch pitch rail. This has
created a downward slope away from the house, so all the water is going to gather into the panels
and flow down toward our lowest point. Now, what you can see what Todd is doing is he is
installing the wall trim, which is the first step of installing the actual Zip-Up UnderDeck System.
The wall trim can be either mounted directly into the wall as Todd is doing here, and if you
have like a concrete board or your wall surface is difficult, it may require some pre drilling.
Or you can shoot a screw up vertically into the deck framing itself. We are choosing to shoot a
screw every foot just to make sure that the wall trim is good and secure since the other components
of the system are going to snap into it. When you're installing the sidewall wall
trim you want to be sure that it's uptight to the pitch spacers so that it creates the
proper slope that we acquired with putting these up. As you can see on the cement board siding,
you can see the slope that goes down towards the eventual gutter that we'll be installing later.
Be sure to leave a 2 inch gap away from the edge of your deck. This will allow for a gutter to be
mounted up in there. So you do not put your wall trim all the way to the end. Panels are
made out of a flexible, yet rigid PVC vinyl which makes them easy to be cut either by
hand by a strong pair of sheers or you can take them to a radial arm saw or a miter saw as well.
As we talked earlier about the simple tools that it takes to install the Zip-Up
product, an electric miter box makes the job go a lot smoother, faster, and just a lot easier. When
you're cutting the wall trim, we suggest you cut a block of wood that fits inside the trim
as you can see here. It keeps our PVC product from shattering when you cut it. This time of year when
it's 75-80 degrees it's not a big issue, but when you start cutting the product as it gets colder,
it will shatter when you cut it. [sawing] This alleviates that and it's a lot safer.
All panels come pre nipped at the end, however when we trim a panel or have to cut it to length,
you're going to have to nip it back yourself. Set it back about ¾ inch, just far enough so that it's
going to slide easily into the wall trim. So you want to be careful when you're pushing into the
bead and you don't push so far that you actually strain or crack the panel. For your first panel,
so it can slide in the edge of the wall trim, you're not only going to have to nip one end,
but you're going to have to remove the entire bead off one side of the panel.
Just score along the edge of the bead and then gently rock to remove the panel,
being careful not to split or crack the panel. With the deck being a round number, it's right
at 34 feet, these panels do gain a little bit on each panel, like a 1/16. So in order
to not have either a really small panel at the end, or end up with a 1 inch rip at the
end of this one. We're going to cut an inch off of this panel to kind of alleviate that.
Now that we have our wall trim up, it's time to install our first panel.
We're going to start with the end that we already cut off first, so that's going to
slide easily into the slit of the wall trim. We're going to slide the end of the panel into
the wall trim here against the house. We're going to slide the whole panel over and get it started
in the sidewall trim. Just hold a little bit of pressure on the back end here and just work it
in. On the main rails, the first thing you do is you take it and lay it flat like this, and get
it into the wall trim, and then I roll it so it's just over the top of the bead, and now I'm going
to snap that in, and just work it in the whole panel from one end to the other. And these main
rails find their own true center so there's no measuring. We'll screw this main rail up with
some #8 by 1 inch stainless steel screws. We start at our 1/2 inch pitch spacer. You don't
want to drive the screws so far that it damages the rail. You just want to snug them up. Alright
after the first panel is installed against the wall, we just repeat the same process over and
over until we get to the opposite end, where we need to start doing some more cutting. [music]
Every now and then when you're putting the main rails in, you're going to run into a joist hanger
that hangs down. When you do that, you just simply take and you cut the top end off one of these main
rails the distance you need. Then it'll fit over that joist hanger and you don't lose any strength
on these because all of the strength is in the bottom of these rails. Alright, when you end up
with a situation like this, where you got a pitch spacer outside of a wall this close because we
got our zero back here and this is our 4 foot pitch spacer. What you got to do is actually,
go in the reverse order. Level back to this point, make a mark, and that gives you your height for
your wall trim, because your wall trim won't be at zero here. Because if you put it at zero it would
be higher than the rest of it and you'd be out of pitch. So that's the way you do it, you go at the
reverse angle back to, and make a mark. [music] The final thing you have to do is go around
the perimeter of your deck, anywhere you cut the edge, so all along the wall trim,
particularly focusing on the corners with a PVC compatible silicone caulk, and this will
ensure that water cannot escape through the edges. Now that all the panels are in, it's time to put
the finishing touches to the project. And the last piece is the gutter, you can use a conventional
gutter, aluminum or you can use plastic. It doesn't matter, it's whatever you prefer.
A great way to finish off the edges while you're installing the gutter and also make sure the water
doesn't kick back, you have two options, one is to run a bead of silicone along the inside edge, or
take your wall trim, normally installed like this, you simply turn it around and it will slide in and
reverse upside down on the panel, and this will help create a waterfall effect into your gutter
and prevent splashback. One of the great features of the Zip-Up UnderDeck system is that it's not
only designed to install quickly and easily, but it's also made to come back down. To do this,
I like to use something with a flat edge, just enough so that you can slip it under the seal.
I like a mini crowbar, some people can use putty knives, or like a really fine edge screwdriver,
something that is going to fit under there, but not damage or bow out your panel. You need to
push up in the middle of the panel just enough to break the seam, and then you slide your tool
in that gap, and then you simply repeat on the other side of the panel. Once the seal is broken,
gently pull down and the panel comes out. The reason why the ability to remove a panel is
such a great feature in our system is it allows it to be taken down to be power washed and provides
access to overhead areas in case you need to get maintenance underneath the structure, retrieve any
items that has maybe fallen through the deck, or any of your other structural maintenance needs.
That will wrap our under decking project for the day it's time to start utilizing this great
outdoor living space and have all this dry area to use for barbecues and things of that nature.
And when you're ready to come in from the outdoors don't forget to check us
out at www.zipupdeck.com and don't forget to like us on Facebook and Twitter. [music]