Early in the Fall we kind of decided we’d rip out the deck and have a concrete patio poured. We’d wait until the weather cooled off and we’d slowly start disassembling the deck. Late Fall came. Winter came. Steve and Joanne came down for Christmas and we’d recruited them to help take apart the deck.
Taking apart the deck never happened. And we had quite a few rotted and broken boards. We left the deck in ill repair for a lot of months. We had coolers and pots strategically placed about the deck to cover the holes and bad boards to prevent anyone from having a brush with gravity.
It’s starting to get hot and realistically we’re not going to take down the deck this time of year. So I decided we’d invest a little in some new 2×6’s and we’d fix the deck.
Quick and easy.
A few boards turned into 10 boards. Removing those 10 boards exposed joists that were rotted, so I removed a lot more boards than planned and replaced the rotted joists.
What started out as a quick Friday evening and Saturday morning chore turned into an all weekend job. Elise helped me pull old boards and remove rusted screws (Deckmate screws are horrible. They’re cheap alloy steel with a painted coating that easily scratches, exposes the metal, and causes rust and corrosion. This time I went with 2.5″ GRK multipurpose screws). She also fastened most of the boards on section we repaired and, while I went to lunch with some old high school friends, she took everything off of the deck and pressure washed it.
With the deck now all spacious, safe, and clean, we all hung out on it last night while I grilled chicken and we had a long-overdue dinner outside.
It really looks nice from what I can see in the pictures. I’m glad you decided to keep it — at least for awhile. It’s a nice design, and I think adds value to your house.