My Big Fat Renovation

[67ChevyRedneck]

My awesome tiny wife helped me drill eight 3' deep holes for the posts with a rented 2 man post hole digger. I won't lie, it was a work out just for me, so it was amazing how well she did.

I laid everything out with string, a square, a level, and tape measure.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Not an easy feat by yourself, but I got it done.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Concrete day sucked. I got rained on halfway through it.

None of the boards you see are permanent. They're all temporarily screwed in to keep the posts square.

[67ChevyRedneck]

These are the good boards installed. I notched the posts along the outside for added strength.

I also don't do this often... but can you spot my mistake?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Hopefully it's obvious now... cost me a couple hours time.

I also sloped the land away from the house and to the right and laid some thick plastic down. It's rained quite a few times since I installed this and it works quite well. I did have to slit a few low spots so the water will drain under in those spots, but works well.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I learned my lesson on the front porch and didn't want to spend a day or two crawling under the deck to install the lattice, so I stained the areas around lattice and cut/installed the lattice.

[67ChevyRedneck]

This thing was the devil. I wanted a slight elevation so a lot of water didn't run over/sit against and rot out my steps (what happened on last deck), but by the time I ran it level over to the other side I was quite a bit above grade. I went 4" below ground... there was a crap load of hand mixed concrete in that step...

[67ChevyRedneck]

2x8x16 foot joists. I finished the bracing not seen in the 2nd to last pic. I had run of out boards for the day.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Flooring going down:

[67ChevyRedneck]

Rather than try to cut boards one at a time...

[67ChevyRedneck]

With a couple measurements, chalk line, cut, and a quick sanding it looks pretty good.

[67ChevyRedneck]

...and I'm pretty proud of this! Going from left to right it does drop about 3/8" over 24', but that couldn't be helped... I had to follow the existing door/old ledger/siding. That's pretty dang close for a deck.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Got started on the stairs.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Then daylight savings hit...

So I had to do things screwy, like only pressure wash half and stain half the deck.

[67ChevyRedneck]

There was a lot of red clay on it... and it doesn't like to come off easily... and the back side of the deck only has sun for a few hours, so I pressure washed one Friday night after work so I could stain it the next morning so it could dry.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Started the railing. Installed it the same as the front deck, except this time I wasn't limited by the existing posts, so I could do it the way I wanted to.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Painted the rusty old door under the deck to blend in with the brick better.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Other side:

[67ChevyRedneck]

Top side finished!

Check out that awesome gate! I had to "kit bash" for that. Trex doesn't make a gate kit, so I had to find someone that does. I found a gate kit at home depot that matched close enough. I made it work. We have indoor dogs, so we like to keep them somewhat clean. What's funny is they prefer to be inside 95% of the time, but the little one likes to sun herself every once in a while (yes, it's weird, she seeks the sun, not shade) so now we can leave them on the deck and not have to worry about them rolling in red clay and digging holes!

[67ChevyRedneck]

I'm not completely done, but pretty damn close.

There's obviously a lot of clean up to do. A little landscaping and mulching, but it's usable now. I do still have to build an access door in the lattice for the crawlspace.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Comparison pics. I started the tear down on October 3rd and I finished up the stair railing yesterday, November 29th.

Before:

12' long by 14' wide old deck:



After:

New 16' wide by 24' long new deck!

[esoxman308]

Looks great!! another fine job done....

[67ChevyRedneck]

Thanks man!

It's been a long time coming! All I have left inside is a hallway (although its a long one, and it's L shaped... and I added wainscoting...) and I need to finish the trim and build a closet in one more bedroom (used as an office) and the inside is done!

The wife thinks I'm going to "redo" the bathrooms... but I really don't want to. I added trim to both, and they need paint and some new lights, but what I really don't want to do is the tile. The downstairs laundry room and bathroom had nice, well done tile. The tile upstairs are the 12"x12" ones and some are cracked, either from bad installation or unlevel floor (likely both) and I just don't want to do tile... and I don't want to pay anyone either...

I also discovered there isn't any kind of a wrap on our house, just plywood and siding, AND there's A LOT of damaged areas I can't repair. There's a huge melt hole from a grille where the deck is (was like that when we got it), and where the fences are on both sides there's a couple feet of stain overspray on each side... and it's 16 years old... and the wife doesn't like the color....

My goal is to finish the bedroom and hallway this winter and next spring to reside the house with tyvex wrap and the siding with the insulation on the backside, if I use that stuff I can deduct the siding cost from my taxes as well. I may actually be able to start working on cars again next year?!?!

[motornut]

Thats a great looking deck,gotta love a big deck for entertaining.
I'm doin one up ,out back next spring

[67ChevyRedneck]

Thanks

I think we're gonna have a "deck party" this spring!

The neighbor next door loves the railing. He wants to redo his now

This may be *almost* a first for me. I started a massive project and kept at it until it was completely finished. I have a BAD habbit of getting something 80, 90, even 98% done and moving on to something else, then not finish that up for weeks, months, even years. My shed is a good example... it's all done except for filling nail holes and painting it... that was 2.5-3 years ago? (the primer is holding up so well! )

Anyway, here she is with the siding back on (although temporary as this will be redone as well) and the "grading" done. I plan on adding some sort of paver or stone in front of the steps and I will mulch around the deck as I did the house, but that can be done this spring.