When we decided to have our deck redone, we had some ideas of what would make it better. We came up with a design that we felt would best optimize the space. We extended the depth of the deck from 10 feet to 15 feet. We moved the stairs from the side of the deck, by the back door, to the side of the deck closer to the concrete patio and had it be next to the deck so it did not extend into the yard. We felt this placement would be good for when (if) we extend the deck the full length of the house. The design also had an opening in the deck to access the concrete patio. With the current deck, to get to it from the concrete patio, you either had to climb over the railing or we had to go down into the yard, across the yard and over to the deck stairs. This new design would gives us more freedom to go between the back patios.
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| A reminder of what the old deck was like |
We gave Bob our design and he drew it up and gave us the supply list. In order to maximum the promotions offered by Home Depot, we ended up placing two separate orders. They did not stock quite a bit of the wood we needed so it had to be ordered. Laurie received the call to schedule the delivery, but, when it arrived, it only contained a few pieces of the order. Apparently the delivery person did not realize there were two separate orders. After a lot of phone calls, we got it straightened out, but the 2nd part of the order was not able to be delivered for another week. This threw the schedule out of whack and caused additional delays because Bob had to work it into his other jobs. It was also very rainy during January which pushed the schedule further behind. Not too big of a deal, but a little inconvenient living in a house, with a very active dog, when the back door is not in service.
Over the next few weeks, Laurie was in Payson to help with staining and run errands for supplies and lunch. Part of the new build also included attaching flashing between the deck and the house as the previous owners had not done a good job installing that. We had already replaced some wood under the house when we replaced the kitchen flooring due to the flashing issue.
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| The staining begins using quite a bit of the front yard (Roscoe the dog supervises) |
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| And some of the backyard |
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| Delivery delays allowed bad weather, not great working conditions |
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| Sunny days brought more staining |
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| Then the work began in the mud |
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| Starting to resemble a deck |
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| Most of the snow is gone, but mud is aplenty |
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| Even during construction, more wood had to be stain and stored |
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| Looks even more like a deck |
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| It looks so much brighter than the old one |
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| Getting there, but still some left to do |
At the beginning of February, we had our brand new deck. It really turned out nice and gives us plenty of room. The access to the concrete patio works very well and the stairs are placed perfectly. Laurie wanted some accent lighting, so she bought some solar post lights like what we have in the front yard for each of the deck posts. It looks very pretty at night. Now we just needed to have a party to test it out.
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| Now it is complete and looks fabulous,with access from the concrete patio |
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| The color really stands out |
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| The wider depth makes a big difference |
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| A nice, solid staircase |
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| It looks ginormus (yes that s a word) |
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| The spindles turned out great |
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| One more view from the yard |
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| And the stairs from the other side showing the opening in the back to the patio |
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| A great view of the stairs, railings and post lights |
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| Laurie tried to capture the solar led post lights and you can see some near the stairs |
Stats: 3 Home Depot trips; 0 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 12/26/14-2/03/15: $1,857
Remodeling expense to date: $51,206
