Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Deck is Done...Done....Done....


Well the deck is done.  It took a little over a year to complete it which isn't bad considering D was working two jobs and spending time on it in the evenings.


I thought it might be nice to see some before and after pictures.....so here they are.


This was the first section completed. 


This corner was one of the hardest things to get right.  D actually took it apart after he had the framing done because it wasn't quite right in his mind.


He made a good choice, it turned out beautiful.  See those pickets?  I cut almost every cotton pickin' one of them.  D cut the first few sections and then turned them over to me.  He had to rip the posts from  2x6's or 2x8's first.  Then he'd pile them in the pick up and I'd cut them to size.

This is where you can see the deck is on a hillside.  Those are the tops of the neighbors Oak trees.  


I hadn't a clue how D was going to navigate this odd angle but he did a beautiful job.


See?  Goregous!  I believe this was the side that cost D two fingers.  He no longer has beautiful soft Banker's hands.  Nothing like a circular saw to shorten your digits.  LOL!


This and the above side were dangerous to walk on they were so rotten.  I had to tread carefully just to get these pictures.


I love the way D curved the rail with his router on the two ends of the deck where you stand and look at the view.  The wider wood makes it comfortable to lean on.


If it were my house, I'd take those windows out and replace them with french doors leading to the new deck.


For me to access the deck,  I had to navigate these dangerous stairs.  I had to try and walk right up the center where the support beams where or my foot would go through the wood.  It was scary and I'm really glad to see these gone.


These are much more elegant and I love the caps D put on the pillars.


Honest to goodness.  I don't know what kept this deck in one piece.  Look at the lack of framing and movement over the years of the existing support beams.  Now that's a slipshod job.


I think this desk is going to last for many many years.  D's framing and supports are far superior to what the original deck had.


D added gravel for drainage once he pulled all this garbage off.


Which would you rather have?  This one or the one above it?  I love this view.  It puts  the scope of the job in context.

D did admit to me while working on this section, he lost his footing and rolled down this hill.  The tree I'm standing under stopped his spiral downhill.  Oh...by they way, I'm further down than it looks, I used the zoom on this shot.


D was able to sister joists to the original ones on the front.  He wanted to do that because they were actually attached to the framing of the house.  This is where D hoisted me up there to work then went to the back to saw some stuff and I was stuck sitting on the beam until he decided to come back.


When my husband builds, it'll take an act of God to take it down.  LOL!


Look at the lack of support.  How did that pass an inspection?


D's solution to the lack of support in the previous picture.  It looks like an erector set to me.


Okay, D did a beautiful job on this deck but I had to toot my horn too.  It was my suggestion to miter the tops of the pickets to give the deck personality.  I mentioned it in passing and the next thing I knew, he was putting them in the plan.


I love that you see the deck as you drive up to the front of the house.


Even though this is a job D did for the neighbor, we won't forget it because we can see the deck as we drive up our driveway.  So we can still enjoy it in the future.


This is the best gift I've ever bought for D.  Okay, one of the best.  This little JawHorse is a real workhorse.   It's easy to move and extremely stable.  We wished several times during this job that we had two and not just one.  I'm thinking, it would have saved both of D's fingers from the circular saw blade.  Santa will probably put another one under the tree this year.  (NOTE:  For those who don't know, that's a compound miter saw in the picture, not a circular saw.  I've lost count of how many different saws the man owns.  My favorite is the reciprocating saw.  It trims trees and bushes great.  Don't let your husband know that's what you used it for though.  LOL!)

If you have a man who does any kind of handyman stuff.  Be it working on a car, yard, house, etc.  I can't stress how great it would be to buy them one of these.  They fold up so they're easy to carry and store.  They come with different attachments...I believe I bought D two.

Don't get a lookalike.  Buy a JawHorse.  He'll laugh at you when he opens it and make fun of it.  (Have him call D if they're questioning your purchase.)   I guarantee it's the one gift after he uses it, he'll thank you over and over.  

It's like the Dremel I bought him years ago.  He didn't open the package for about 3 years and then one day opened it and used it.  Both D and S had to apologize to me about thinking it was a stupid gift.  We now have 3 Dremels around the house and a gazillion attachments.