Sweet Yet Sour

Our new deck is almost done, and honestly, since this odyssey began July 3rd, I am so ready for it to be done.

We knew when we moved in that the deck was in need of repair – it had several wonky boards, screws coming up out of it and it had never been stained or sealed by the previous owners.  It’s our only access to the backyard from the house, so we hoped we could live with it for a while until we had the money to repair or replace it.  But as time went on it became apparent that it was in worse shape than we had originally thought.  One post came completely out of the ground, the balusters had only been stapled on and came off in a light breeze and the deck sort of “shook” when you walked on it.  Not only that but it was giving everyone who walked on it it or touched it splinters.

The ugly before shot coming up:

Deck Before

The deck is huge by the way, 14′ x 30′, and we knew it would cost us a pretty penny to get it repaired.  But our neighbor was getting his deck done and he knew all the right people, so we got a loan and headed in.  The deck was demolished on July 3rd and the carpenter got to work on July 9th.  We left the frame thinking that it was okay, and that the carpenter could just replace a few posts and boards and be done.  Ha! Ha! I think it was the first or second day that he came into the house and said “Everything that could be wrong with this deck, is wrong!”  It took him two weeks just to get the frame to stop, as he said, “being like an ocean wave.”

Anyway, I’ll save you the long story of the many issues, problems with materials, etc.  We chose to replace the deck with Trex, since Mike and I don’t want to ever have to stain or seal this sucker (and it’s recycled!).

We chose to have the decking in “Saddle”, with the railings an artsy mix of “Woodland Brown” and “White’.  Amazing after pictures coming up:

Deck After

We had the carpenter put in a new set of stairs off the west side of the deck and the railings for that are all that remain to be finished. (Of course the lumber yard sent the wrong parts for the stair railings!)  Here’s a picture of the almost done west side of the deck.

Deck West

Once it’s not 90+ degrees outside, we’re really going to enjoy this thing!