Funny thing about how projects always seem to become more than what they are intended to be. And other funny thing, they never seem to be COMPLETELY completely done, there are always improvements to be made or grand ideas to put in to make it even better. But with today comes the point to that we can say the deck project that was originally slotted to take a month, started the beginning of August has come to a close. We had our final final final inspection that was passed in a matter of seconds after the inspector arrived. I went back and looked at our permit record and noticed that although originally it was something that started the beginning of August, we had the first inspection with footings on Sept. 12th....which means from the time that there was absolutely nothing but holes until the final deck board and railing was up was a little over 7 weeks.
Originally the project simply entailed tearing off the old deck boards and replacing them with new ones. However, once the deck boards came off, there was warped boards, no appropriately used footings, and glued ledger boards (instead of screwed in). So basically the frame was completely unusable. Ok...tear everything out. Dispose of old lumber. Draw out new plans. Discuss with city building and planning on a few occasions. I have to say....I LOVE our city building and planning people. EVERYONE that I dealt with, permit approval, inspectors, even the operator getting me to the correct person was so fast in getting back to me, or so helpful with questions I had (even if I had no idea what I was asking about) and generally had a very laid back attitude which for me was nice.
Because we had to go the route of getting a permit, we decided to wrap the deck around our 3 season porch. We had to have 14 footings. We found 5 but the previous builders were only using 2 for the deck and neither was actually doing anything other than leaning on the concrete. So we had someone else come out and dig 11 footings because we could use 3 of the ones they already had. And then the same company came back and poured the cement and put in the anchors. Then came the construction. My dad came over once a week, sometimes more as we were his designated Habitat for the Family house this quarter. Since he has retired, he has been doing Habitat for Humanity via 3M once a week in St. Paul or wherever they are working for that month. Russ had been working on the deck during the weekends whenever he could get a free minute or two. Derek and Brian came over and helped out as well.
And now we have this gorgeous, beautiful, large deck that is fully inspected and good for the life of the house, or at least as long as we are going to be there. We were planning on having a deck party but with the yucky weather coming up and the lack of time with other events going on, I think we are going to try to keep it clean and have a joint Thanksgiving/Deck party on the same day.
Thank you to my dad for making this all happen and thank you to Russ for rearranging your house project plans to help make it happen as well. It is beautiful! I am posting the deck pictures on facebook because I feel like I mess up the format of this when I post pictures. The only picture I did not take is the one of the bench that was added after the inspection today. Perhaps more benches will be built as we have a little bit left over decking material. Or maybe I can get my privacy fence after all.
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