Friday, May 16, 2014

Our 2014 OutDoor Project

Oh my goodness gracious I am finally able to take a breath for a minute today. It feels like we have been going non stop for the past 2 weeks. Mark and I are both exhausted and we still have a long way to go. What am I talking about? Well, we decided to replace our deck. Last year we updated the landscaping in the front of the house, this year is a much, much bigger project. I really wanted to post a new recipe and I have been meaning to for the last two weeks, but it is just going to have to wait right now.
Before

Before
Back to the deck. Isn't it funny that when you start a DIY project it always becomes a lot bigger than what you think it will be when you start? That has been our experience so far with the few DIY projects that we have tackled. I guess this is what happens when you own a house that is older than you.
This is what we found after tearing the decking off. Gross!
OK, Mark is not gross, just the wood.
This is the biggest beast that we have slayed yet. OK, we are still in the fight, but we are starting to win. It is kind of like in the Hobbit when they are fighting the trolls. At one point it looks like it is hopeless, but then Bilbo starts to outsmart them. Yep we are now outsmarting this beast and that reference definitely showed my how big of a nerd I really am.

This is part of the reason we had to replace the structure.
We really thought that we would just have to replace the decking, stairs, and railing, but we would leave the structure. Little did we know that the structure was done wrong when the deck was built. The scary part is how wrong it was done and that it was probably not safe to be using it.

Yep, more structure issues. Just like a construction job, two guys standing around while one does the work.
After more materials than we planned on in the beginning, not to mention the million and one trips to Home Depot and Menards we are feeling a little more confident. We are slowly but surely making progress and thank you to some of our friends otherwise I am not sure what we would have done when it came to the structural issues. That part was way above Mark's pay grade anyway. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Our new deck sitting on our lawn.
The old deck. It is my job to break down this pile. I get to learn how to use a circular saw this weekend!
Making progress.
We are finally structurally safe.
Do your DIY projects always turn out to be a bigger project than you originally thought? Anyone else have to take a million and one trips to Home Depot during a project?

2 comments:

  1. Keala Roy5/21/2014

    Looking Great!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! The deck warming party will be coming later this summer.

    ReplyDelete