New Composite Deck

Mama decided that we needed a new deck.  She was right.  We could not walk to the hot tub without catching a splinter.  So, we ordered a new hot tub.  That makes sense, right?

Old hot tub has to be removed.  New hot tub installed.  Now, we can build the new deck around the new hot tub.

Ripped off all the old deck.  See pictures below.  It was 20 years old.  Had been stained multiple times and been sanded prior to Nick's high school graduation.  I cut the planks and Sandy pulled the boards.  Alex and Sandy also helped pulling the screws.  

For the most part, it was in decent shape.  I ended up replacing 2 boards and adding only a few more to help support around the hot tub.

Old deck plank removed.  Facing NW.

Sub deck / support structure in pretty good shape.  Facing N.
New hot tub installed.
Truck parked to right of picture to capture old deck boards.

Another shot of the old deck with tailgate of truck visible.
Facing mostly W.

We decided we were going to get a quote to install the new composite material.  Minimum was $10k with not-to-exceed pricing of $12k.  No thank you.  We bought all of the material for just over $4k.  So in effect, I paid myself $6k in labor.  Not seen a penny yet!

My timeline was to have it completed by our family reunion, to be held here, this coming Saturday.  I used every bit of the time allotted.  The only remaining task is to paint the benches white.  I did not paint them yet because they are treated lumber and are too wet.  I shall wait for them to age and then paint them.

New deck and new railing.  Solar lights on top of posts.  Facing N.
Quite the difference, eh?

Sandy & Kathy landscaped.  It looks good too.

Top of deck looking E with bench and rail.
You can see Old Brown (Nick's Shit truck) & the "Gator" in the background.
Look how nicely the deck is built around the new hot tub.

I have to give Sandy kudos.  She picked the entire color scheme.  She did not want brown for fear of not being able to match the hot tub color, so she went with grey and white.  I think it looks awesome.  And, that's the last time I'll ever have to work on that deck.  I'll be planted before it rots away.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cleaning Winchester SX3 / SX4 Shotguns

Image
The Winchester SX4 is my Go To shotgun for everything - clays, doves, ducks, geese, pheasants, whatever.  It is an awesome firearm.  The drawback?  There are multiple moving parts and a few of them like to collect carbon.  And this carbon sticks as if it were put on those parts with super glue! Specifically, the magazine tube and the gas piston are the main carbon collectors.  Those parts come out more black than silver & gold. The inner components of an SX3 / SX4 with highlights where carbon will form So what is my trick for cleaning those bits?  I drop the gas piston into my Hornady sonic cleaner.  Inside the cleaner I put in about a cup of Hornady's One Shot Sonic Clean Solution for gun parts, add some DI water, a couple squirts of Dawn liquid dish soap, and then top it off with a dash or two of the citrus version of Dr. Bronner's pure castile liquid soap.  I have found that the citrus Dr. Bronner's is awesome at removing grease and oil.  All of that bakes in the son
Read more

Winchester SX4 Trigger Assembly Update

Image
First, you need to read the post immediately before this one to understand why I had to take my Winchester SX4 shotgun apart - all the way apart - specifically the trigger assembly. Second, my bad.  I had neglected to clean the gun after returning from last October's pheasant trip.  I had about one bale of grass seed inside that gun, which in the end, may have kept the #8 pellet from getting out on its own.  Shame. Finally, I did not give up.  I watched four different YouTube videos on how to disassemble and reassemble the trigger group.  Sadly, no one did the SX4, only the previous version, the SX3.  Close enough.  Why did it take 4 videos?  Because no one explained HOW the damn sear goes back in.  Everyone either ASSUMED we all know how OR in two cases, the reassembly process was out of the camera frame.  Aggravating! The key, and this is more for me to remember, was on the fourth video, the author said, "The sear kinda slides down into a channel in the housing."  Bam. 
Read more

Determine Sex of Deer from Tracks

Image
It IS possible to determine from a set of tracks whether the deer you are tracking is a doe (female) or a buck (male).  And, it's actually pretty simple if you know a few facts about deer. First, you have to know what a deer track looks like.  Deer leave a track that looks like the outline of a heart. Next, you have to know the direction of travel.  Deer are moving toward the "pointy" end of the heart.  So in the above example, the deer is traveling toward the top of this post, or up. Here is an actual photo of deer tracks in the wild so you can get a better idea.  Again, this deer is traveling up, or towards the top of this page.  (It is also clear that this deer was STANDING, not walking - well clear enough to me.  Read on to find out why I know that). Sometimes if the ground is soft or if the deer is traveling really fast (jumping), the track left will show the deer's dew claws at the rear of the direction traveling, like so: The two little "
Read more