Weekend re-cap - the deck project

The deck...she is finished

This last weekend, I was on call, and knowing that we could not stray far from home, Hubby and I decided to tackle a big project before it got too hot to do so!  Let's pause a moment to appreciate the sad state the yard has been in:

Dirt, falling down fence, non-functioning landscape lights...

 Pretty new fence!  But craptastic rotting wood deck.  And homemade BBQ patio that I HATE.

 With pavers that were sinking. (yes, we also ordered a new BBQ cover)

A relatively large area of yard devoted to grilling, though we do that sporadically at Camp Rustown nowadays.  And that smoker to the left rarely gets used at all.  The area was a pain to sweep off.  And I want grass!  Might as well fix it up now, instead of when we get ready to sell,  so we can enjoy it now.

Hubby came home from work on Thursday and removed the fence railings and a couple of boards to get a look at the deck frame.  Not in bad shape at all.  So on Friday he went to Burnet to fetch the trailer, then bought the screws and wood we would need, and by 9 a.m. on Saturday, our project was well underway.

We cleared the patio so we would have a walk through when we were unloading and reloading the trailer.  Also, we had plans to powerwash everything.  It looks deceptively cool under there...it wasn't.

Even though most of the boards were rotted, removing them was painfully hard - the screw heads had rusted off, so we had to saw through the screws to release the boards.  Two saw blades and an hour later, we paused for lunch and another trip to Home Depot. We also sawed off the rail posts, which were sunk in concrete.  {Please note: green bricks, and screens and windows that were full of bug carcasses, spider webs, and dirt.  However,there were no critters under the deck, and relatively little trash} 

Removing the last board was the worst.  Even though we were drinking water, we were lagging - it was so hot and the first part of the project was so labor intensive.  Mostly it was just Hubby and I, but Bubbie and Firstborn lent us some of their brawn, too.

We got all of the new boards relatively into place around 2:30 - hottest part of the day.  I asked if we could take a break, we all agreed, and I sat down...and the phone rang.  So, off to work I went, while Hubby and the boys removed the pavers from the BBQ grill area. All of the old wood and the pavers were then loaded into the trailer.   I got home around 5:30, changed clothes, and we headed to Highlands to drop off the full trailer.  Then we headed to a favorite seafood place and had dinner.  Here is an after shot of the BBQ paver area:

I'm going to scoop out as much of that sand as I can, then rake the rest and put sod down.

On Sunday I was called in again around 7 a.m., but was home by noon.  Hubby had finished screwing the new boards into place so we got busy powerwashing it all.  We cleaned windows and screens, all of the furniture, and the slab.  Phew!  But it was so worth it - it will be a nice spot to sit!  The giant BBQ grill now lives here:

The smoker lives at Highlands now - we may actually use it more up there - and all of Hubby's grilling gear is in the storage unit under the patio:

Which also got powerwashed.

On Monday we put everything back.  I'm still not sure what I will do (if anything) about landscape lighting.  I want to get the new grass in as soon as possible.  I still have debris to rake up, and we have to get the sprinkler system maintenance done so we can keep the new sod alive.  And I need to figure out what to do about that little wagon which I was going to use for potted plants- I don't want anything else on the deck before seal it.

 

Without the rail it looks so much bigger.  It was a hard project, but I think we did good!  Next up: working on the grass, gutters, and red rocks before it hits 100 degrees out...