Deck Update – No Progress Thursday or Friday

Posted by admin on September 17, 2010 with No Comments

Due to the traumatic and untimely passing of Mr. Chubby Wubby (one of Laurel’s first fish acquisitions) I was unable to make any progress on the deck Thursday night.

R.I.P. Mr Chubby Wubby!

Friday night I had to work late so by the time I got home and had dinner it was already dark.  Hopefully I’ll get something done Saturday!

Deck Remodel – Wednesday (day 4)

Posted by admin on September 15, 2010 with No Comments

Well, yesterday we took a day off to celebrate our anniversary so I didn’t touch the deck at all.  Today after I got home from work I started ripping up the remaining deck boards.  All went smoothly until we hit the last board which was nailed down under the bracer board for the sliding door.  I ended up dismantling the sliding storm door and removing the the bracer board just to get to the last nails holding down that remaining board.  It was dark by the time I was done!

Decking all detached and the sliding storm door has been removed as well

Deck Remodel – Monday (day 3)

Posted by admin on September 13, 2010 with No Comments

Ok.  Today more of the same.  I only got about and hour and a half after getting home from work and after dinner to work on tearing off the decking.  I was able to finish all the decking in front of kitchen portion and only a little bit remains in front of the sliding glass door.  I have to admit that I really feel like I am just now learning the “art” of pulling nails.  I mean, after 38 years, you’d think you couldn’t learn any more tricks with something as simple as a hammer and a nail in a block of wood…  Well, believe me, I’ve learned quite a few so far and I’m really hoping I won’t forget them.

More progress removing decking. The boards you see are the ones I was using to sit on while removing the others up near the brick area.

Right about 7 PM it started to get darker and the gnats and mosquitoes were on the prowl.  Just enough time to grab the camera, take a picture and quit for the night.

Deck Remodel – Sunday (day 2)

Posted by admin on September 12, 2010 with 2 Comments

Well, it is definitely much nicer weather today and the humidity has dropped.  There are no clouds at all so it will feel hot out.  My goal is simple today.  Get up the decking.. or at least most of it.  The first thing to go was the picnic table.  I had noticed it was rotting at the bottom of its legs.  We’ve had it for over 10 years, so I’m not complaining.  The easiest way to get it down is just to push it overboard!

The picnic table took a spill!

The decking removal was slow going.  Definitely a lot harder to pull up than I imagined. Most of the nails were about half-way rusted through.  Many nailheads broke off  and many of the boards had 4 or even sometimes 6 nails at the joist.

Almost half of the Decking removed.

Vic felt a little better today and helped me pound out nails.  He did pretty good for having to deal with such rusty nails.

Based on the number of nails I am pulling out, I think I will need a lot of deck screws for the rebuild!  Here’s a picture of the nails we are pulling out.  Note:  I’ve already dumped one nearly full box into the trash!

More rusty and broken nails than you can count...

I was able to get a few more boards of but wasn’t able to get them all off today.  Luckily the joists seem to be in ok condition.  I am planning on putting extra posts underneath and in the center of the deck to better stabilize it.

More progress removing decking. The boards you see are the ones I was using to sit on while removing the others up near the brick area.

Calling it quits for the day!

Deck Remodel – Saturday (day 1)

Posted by admin on September 11, 2010 with No Comments

Well, it was time to re-do our deck or so I was told. I have to agree with her, especially after pulling up some of the decking. It was definitely in worse shape than I had imagined. Here’s a picture of it beforehand. I am not sure what the green stuff is, but I am sure it isn’t helping matters.

It is worse than it looks. The redwood paint hides a lot of its age.

I started by taking our the seating planks and knocking out the ballusters. I was surprised how easy it was to kick out the ballusters with a light tap of my shoe. I made a mental note to make sure I do a better job than the previous builder of securing the to the railing and bottom face frame.

Seating, ballusters and handrail mostly removed.

The hand rail came out pretty easily. I spent a lot of time removing nails from boards before throwing them to the ground. I don’t want any little kiddies stepping on any rusty nails. Vic was sick today and had a fever. Consequently he really didn’t feel much like being outside. Laurel and Jenny ran some errands and also hit the book sale at the library, so I was able to tear into it without much disruption.
Once I got into a groove I made good headway with the railing and seating. When enough wood would accumulate on the deck to be in the way, I would throw it down to the ground.

Pile of wood on the ground

Now after I got all the ballusters, seat boards and railings down and out of the way, it was time to tackle the railing posts and seat brackets. Well, it was time to re-do our deck or so I was told. I have to agree with her, especially after pulling up some of the decking.

Just the bench posts left

They were a lot more difficult to take down. I started on these after lunch. Talk about a pain. Each one was bolted in with a rusty bold. Most didn’t have a hex head either… they were square. I was hoping to used a cordless drill with a socket and pull them off without much effort. This was not to be the case. Most of the nuts were rusted on tight. At least half ended up breaking in half when I took the wrenches to them.
I really enjoyed once all the rails were removed and just nothing between you and the ground. Makes it feel nice and open!

Feels like you’re floating!

That’s enough for day 1.