Deck Progress Update

So we had a deck that was sinking...

No footings = sinking

 So we had to fix the deck. The existing deck was built to surround this tree (we took out as it was messing with the foundation and filling the gutter) so it was weird shaped.

weird shape and tree stump 

Tom and Dad dug out the tree stump and filled over the hole it left behind. After that they brought in dirt to the entire length of the back side of the house to pitch water away from the foundation. 

Then I decided it was time to kick this project into high gear as summer was right around the corner (started this in late April) so I took all the deck boards off and the hand rail off. 

No more stump, boards or ugly railing! 

Tom and Dad figured out how many footings they would need to support the weight of a hot tub and got to work using the tractor to dig the post holes. They then cemented the bottoms and got to making posts and joists. 

No rain water in our cement holes! 

I filled all the holes back in after they had every thing screwed together and level and all that good stuff. Then they added all the joists. 

   

Lots of trips to the lumber store...

We were finally ready to start working on laying the deck boards. That took a long time. We pulled the seems as tight as possible so once the boards dried out there wouldn't be such a big gap. 

After 2 weekends of laying deck boards we were finally done with the construction of the deck! (minus the step, and the railings but small victory's are important!)

Ready to enjoy the sunset with some wine!

Took us a little over a month of working weekends to finish this but its going to be really nice! Next step was to paint the house and the deck, but more on that later!