Time to hit the Deck!

Loyal readers of this blog (i.e. both of you) may remember last 4th of July, when we had a work party to build the base and frame of our new backyard deck. Today, the decking went on! Come with me, as I relive the events of the past two days....

We ordered the decking last week, and it was delivered Friday morning. Here it is, in two stacks. I spent about 45 minutes just pulling out the damn staples.

After the staple-pulling, I applied a coat of waterseal to all surfaces. That took a long time Friday, and, by the middle of the afternoon, I was hot and ready for a cold beer, which, come to think of it, was really quite enjoyable, especially after the emergency visit to take Ben to get a tetanus shot, after he was bit on the finger by a mouse.

But that's a different story. Here are all the sealed pieces, laid out for Saturday's fun.

Our construction guru, Robert Perron, brought his great tools, boundless patience, and in-depth experience. Here he is, getting everything set up.

It took a while for us to get into the rhythm of laying out the boards, measuring the gaps, clamping everything down, drilling the holes, and screwing in the deck screws. The first few boards were painfully slow to set, and I was wondering how we were ever going to make real progress. Most of the boards in this picture are just laying there, as we checked positioning.

Amazingly, the momentum built quickly, and, by lunch time, we were about half-way across the 12x12 expanse. It was beginning to look pretty good.

Ben arrived and, incredibly, had a steady hand and saved the day, with his precision screwing, so to speak. He worked hard and his cheerful attitude was welcomed. Zack the neighbor came over to talk politics for a while. He's not sure about Kitzhaber. We are - Go Kitz!

By around 3:30 we were all getting mighty tired, but Ben kept at it. Karen made all the precision cuts for the four corners, and they were all perfect!


We finished tacking down the last board around 4:30. We cleaned up all the gear, covered it with tarps and went to Fuddruckers for burgers!

There are still many pounds of screws to be applied, but all cutting and measuring is done. Now, it's just the brute force of a couple hundred more deck screws, and nailing back the temporary facia boards. Whew!

Next year - the roof!