Operation Build-A-Deck

Sometimes, David and I don't think clearly. This is one of those times.

Yesterday we gathered up Noah and made the trip into town to Lowe's. We walked right in to the Project Desk and said, "We want to build a deck, 16 x 12." The guy said, "Okay. Let me just figure that up for you." Forty minutes later, we walked out of Lowe's with a LONG receipt for the deck materials and a cart full of man toys (aka: tools).

Let's highlight the positives: we received a 10% discount because every year, Lowe's gives active and veteran military folks 10% off on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day (Thanks, David!). Score! And the decking lumber was already on sale for the holiday weekend. Double score. So, we're building our mid-size deck for a relatively reasonable price.

Also, they are delivering ALL the materials to us today! I liked that we didn't have to haul it home ourselves. What the heck would we have put all that wood in?

Now, let's run over the negatives—or perhaps challenges is a better word.

- David has never built a deck before. He has worked in construction before, but it's been a while. Hmm...

- He has no one to help him but me. Ha ha ha. We (he) waited until the last minute to start this blessed deck, and of course everyone has terrific holiday weekend plans. NO ONE is available to help. So David is stuck with me. And Noah.

- Next week, we're having Noah's first birthday party. This deck needs to be done by next Friday AND we need to finish our other projects (painting, mowing, weed-whacking, etc.). Uh-oh.

For now, let's remain hopeful that we'll pull this off. So along that vein, here are the results from Day 1:

- Buy decking materials
- Smash the hell out of existing steps to make way for new deck. David really enjoyed this part.

Back of our house, where the deck will be:



A close-up of the demolished steps (which required the purchase of a sledge hammer):



Note the ugly brown screen door. That's one of MY projects before Saturday: paint doors. Ah the list just grows...More pics to come!