Tar

This is not something you'd send your cats out to walk on. This black glossy stuff is a type of tar that was painted on the plywood that is sitting on top of the shims which are on top of the joists. So, order of placement: 1. joists 2. shims 3. plywood 4. waterproof tar stuff.

And it's glossy mainly because it's still sopping wet...





This picture was taken a day later and you can see that it isn't quite so glossy anymore. And therefore not quite so wet. You still wouldn't want to send your cats out on it.



View from the underside of the top level. You can see the plywood now. The electrician was also out that day and installed the four lights in the ceiling that will be the recessed lighting for the downstairs level of the deck.



Up close shot of one of the can lights mounted on the bottom side of the top deck,



No, this is not part of the deck itself and so therefore is off topic. But it was a clear day today and Mt. Hood had some late afternoon sun on it so it looked pretty cool.