The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[Deceus]

Working through some deck work of my own. It all started with a single board ...

Some of my front steps were starting to crack pretty bad. Two of them were outright split down the middle for most of the length. Was waiting for it warm up and stop raining before really diving in. The whole deck really needed a bit of attention. One day I noticed a chunk missing from one of the boards near the bottom of the staircase. Didn't think much of it at the time but this deck is barely 8 years old, how did anything rot all the way through? Plucked a few more chunks off and I found my answer.





Someone either used interior screws or the world's shittiest exterior screws while building this deck. Looks like they rusted out real good and started letting water in. Out it all came after some serious effort. The few screws that didn't immediately strip, simply snapped off. I could've gone to town with the sawzall but didn't feel like redoing everything, so I pryed it all off. Screw by screw, board by board. Was a LONG weekend, definitely should've just hacked it up.



Figured it was a good plan as any to start tackling everything at once. Replaced the steps and started sanding everything down. (You can see how bad I let it get)

Had some solid help from a pro




After nearly cutting off a couple fingers trying to take a little off the top of some 8ft boards, I figured it was finally time to build the woodshop a bench. Found some inspiration on a pintrest post and just kinda started winging it. Pretty happy how it turned out even though I need to fix a few things.





Added the table saw because ripping 4x8 boards solo without an outfeed table also gets kinda dicey.

BONUS: Threw some pegboard up on one of the unfinished sections. It was entirely too fulfilling putting all this stuff up.



Got to thinking and realized I needed to tackle the siding first or risk ruining the deck. Just had someone come and give it a "soft wash" in May. It was ready for a fresh coat of whatever I wanted as nothing really remained from whenever it was stained last. Settled on PPG/Sikkens Pro Luxe and picked up their solid stain for the deck. Found nothing but good reviews on it but I guess we'll see.

The siding was definitely a lot of trial and error. The stain was too runny for a roller and definitely wasn't going to be able to reach much of it with a brush. Settled on using a Shurline deck pad I bought for the deck stain but ended up rolling that as it was super thick. Almost done now, have to go back and touch up some spots and order more. Apparently 5 gallons was only enough to do 2 sides of the house.

About the time I regretted taking this on:


One side down:


Upstairs mostly done:


Needed a break from the madness but couldn't say no to a 70 degree weekend in the middle of June. Finishing up the bottom deck now. Have to wait 2 weeks to finish the back of the house and the other side. Won't be as hard to reach those as it's level ground and I won't be 8 feet under the first floor.

Before/after: (no idea how I'm hitting those shingles up top)



Hopefully finishing the bottom deck this week while it's still 70s and not 90s.

One coat of one third is all I had the energy for, the railings took forever to both prep and paint.