The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Deck Building Weekend

Our back deck has been in need of repairs for quite awhile, but we've had a busy summer and really, who wants to spend a weekend repairing a deck when you can do something fun, so we've been putting it off for ages.  Well, as we are approaching winter far too quickly for my liking, we decided that Thanksgiving weekend would be the best time to tackle this endeavor.  

Henry looked the deck over and felt that it could be repaired in a day so that would still give us Sunday to do the family Thanksgiving thing and Monday to relax.  All in all it seemed like a perfect plan.  It turned out to be anything but perfect.  

So, without any further delay, here is the picture story of our Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Deck Building Weekend.

Chapter 1 - Saturday

This is our back deck as it looked Saturday morning.  Although it isn't apparent in the photo, not only are the boards rotting and breaking, the whole thing was very wobbly and uneven.

See what I mean about broken boards?  Repair was very obviously needed, ASAP!

This is the underside . . . notice that there is nothing supporting the joist?  Yeah, that's not a good thing!

Speaking of support, exactly how is this post that doesn't even touch the ground supposed to support anything???

The demolition begins!

 

And continues!

This was the fun part . . . I especially enjoyed the reciprocating saw!

. . . until we determined that the deck was in much worse shape then we thought.  Henry made a run to the hardware store for more supplies . . . and I went to play with my camera!

Our big maple tree . . . 

Our little Crimson maple tree . . . 

We left this poor spider homeless, but isn't he cool???

Kali did not enjoy having her naps interrupted . . . 

Kruise liked supervising!

And that is pretty much the end of Saturday's chapter.  The day ended and the deck was not finished.  We knew that Sunday was going to start with a trip to the hardware store and end with Thanksgiving dinner, meaning that there would be limited time to work.  We had a bottle of wine and went to bed early.

Chapter 2 - Sunday

Sunday was a long, frustrating day.  We got two support beams up and fixed the frame at the end where the stairs attach.  Seriously, it looked like we had done next to nothing even though we'd worked our butts off all day.

Sunday's lunch . . . highly nutritious, I know!

Liam found bugs when he came home from Grandma's for a nap, so that was cool!

And after his nap, he attacked Mommy as she lay on the ground with the camera!  That was fun too!

Don't mess with the boy and his timbits!  You may not come out alive!

By late afternoon, it was time to turn our attention to Thanksgiving dinner.  Thankfully, we had opted not to go with the traditional turkey dinner, because, well, it just wouldn't have happened!  

Instead, we had grilled portabello mushrooms . . . 

 . . . and Jack Daniels marinated, cedar planked salmon . . . 

. . . the only traditional part of the meal, pumpkin pie for desert!

Chapter 3 - Monday

Thank goodness it was a long weekend, because we needed Monday!

Liam thought that it woudl go better if we would just let him help.

We even called in reinforcements for Monday . . . and look, we are making progress, joists, held up with proper joist hangers!

We were lucky to have beautiful weather all weekend!

All the joists are in place!  Yeah!

And slowly but surely, the top boards start to appear.

It is starting to look like a deck!

Liam decided to show us how to use the cordless drill.

It is looking so nice . . . 

But that's where the sun set on our deck building for the weekend.  

Yes, a one day project and we worked our butts off from three days and it's still not done.  Hopefully, Henry will work on it a little bit after work through the week and it will be ready to paint by next weekend.  

And guess what?  We get to do it all over next year for the front deck!  Yipee, I can't wait!