The Deck is Finished

Here is the deck from the back yard.

All those crazy overgrown plants were removed, so we'll have to figure out how to plant grass.

The new deck is much sturdier than the old one. Before:

After:

Now we have a gate close to the door of the house, so we can easily let the dogs out into the yard, or keep them penned on the deck.

The space between the new rails is too small for trapping skulls:

We're thrilled with the new deck. It looks great, the cedar smells good, and we're getting a lot of use out of it.

Our new problem is that a pair of woodpeckers have begun digging holes in the old wooden stairs and railing by the driveway:

I've watched them throwing splinters all over the driveway. Who knows what kind of delicious bugs they're finding in there. Replacing these junky stairs might be a project for next summer.

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Deck in Progress

As you can see, the old deck had issues. There was no flashing or ice & water shield between it and the sill of the house. The "ledger" was attached to the sill with dinky nails that extended about half an inch into the sill. Snow on the deck melted and rotted the ledger and sill, until the nails attaching the deck to the house had nothing to nail into. The deck sagged and the wet sill continued to rot. Walking across the deck was like walking on a trampoline.

The rails were also spaced too far apart, at exactly infant skull size. At one end the rails were missing. The stairs were at the far end of the deck, only a few feet from the neighbors' house, and there was no gate.

When the deck came off, this was left:

The deck guys were able to attach new 2"x10" pressure-treated wood over the old sill with 12+ inch carriage bolts. They say the sill will dry out and be okay. They put ice & water shield over this new wood and built a pressure treated wood frame for the new deck.

The visible part of the new deck will be made of red cedar.

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major project$: roof and deck

Pictures of the roof before:

What's that bubble?

Gaps into attic.

Three layers of wavy shingles.

No drip edge.

Pictures of the roof now:

No more bubble!

Lookin' snazzy, with a drip edge.

The new roof makes a big difference in the look of the house. The color and shape of the roof haven't changed, but the house looks more solid and better cared for.

Now that the roof is taken care of, the second most pressing project is replacing the deck:

...and dealing with the wet, damaged sill:

It's the stuff of nightmares.

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