Project Home Renovation

[Ryan T]

So several things have changed on the inside but they are mostly cosmetic/furniture related. The most recent big task I've undertaken is rebuilding our dilapidated deck. It was built with nothing but 4x4 posts, 2x4 joists, floor boards and nails. It's was still standing but was by no means safe. First task was cutting down two 9' tall holly bushes behind the deck. A chainsaw made quick work of those and my truck and a logging chain made quick work of the stumps.

Here's the old deck. 3 of the posts were just stuck in the ground with no concrete at all and the rest were only about 8-10" deep with very little concrete.



As you can see from this side, it's leaning and sagging pretty bad. The bannisters are also too low.





A chainsaw made quick work of the old deck. 90 minutes and the whole thing was down and on the trailer headed for the dump.



New posts are each a minimum of 22" deep with a 50lb bag of concrete per post. These 4x6 posts aren't going anywhere.



Posts set for a couple days to cure before the supports, band boards and achor bolts went in. Instead of the screws and nails that held the old deck together we used 4" lag bolts both into the house foundation and into the support posts. Band boards are all 16" apart with metal mounting supports. Everything is screwed in, even the floor boards. Not a single nail on this deck. We also raised it up a few inches so you don't have to have much of a step into the kitchen.







Main section of flooring down. Don't mind the nails, they were just used to hold the band boards and supports level while we screwed in the anchor bolts. The rest will come this weekend and the banister/steps/gate at the steps will come early next week as time and weather permits. Once it's all built we will be putting gravel underneath it and lattice work around the sides. More pics to come as work gets completed.