June 2009:  The last project that's been bugging me for awhile - and is definitely highlighted on the "Mistakes and Corrections" page - is the decks.  When I built the decks I was under the impression that 2x10 joists shouldn't span more than 12'.  Because these are 16' wide decks, that left a 4' overhang, which made the ends of the decks "bouncy", like the balconies.  Aside from annoying, it could also be kind of dangerous, so I thought of several possible remedies. I first considered "doing it right" by putting in all new supports and removing the old.   That would have been expensive and a HUGE hassle.  The only other viable option was to brace the overhang from the existing support uprights.  This was considerably easier, but I didn't want to just stick a piece of 4x4 in there and call it good - I wanted to somehow preload it to make sure that overhang was stiff enough.  I decided to put the 4x4's in, sticking just a little past the overhang (1/4", give or take), then draw them flush with a piece of threaded rod (first two pictures).

The corners were still a little "bouncy", and bracing them would be very difficult, so I decided to just cut them off (last 3 pictures).

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