DECK

Before

During

After

Originally, the deck actually had a plywood and carpet top, with brown painted wood railing, and it was enclosed all the way around the bottom, and had siding. That looked good for about a year, and then all the carpet tore apart and disintegrated, the plywood underneath got damaged by the elements, the railing got wobbly, and the paint on the railing flaked off. However, the biggest reason for ripping it out was that we kept getting flooded in the basement, and discovered it was because the eavestrough drains on that side of the house were running straight down under the deck and into the foundation. After a few flooding incidents, we decided the situation had to be rectified, and I came home one day after work to Nathan destroying the deck with a chainsaw!! :) That was in June 2007.

Like most other things around our place, it took a few months and some prodding on my end to get it rebuilt. Luckily Nate was able to exchange some welding work for some deck building work with a friend of ours (Grant). One day in August, we had a deck building party and the new deck was built - same dimensions as the old (as we are constrained on 3 sides), but with an outcropping on the open end for some wrap around stairs down onto the lawn (which will eventually become a crushed rock patio). We had also decided we wanted a solid top deck (as opposed to boards), and chose Duradek (vinyl decking). A contact through a friend got us a supplier and installer, and the top was added in September. (The finished pics are from January 2008 because I forgot to take pics before that!)

It's not quite finished though - we still need to put railing on (white aluminum and glass), and build the new stairs, as well as stain the exposed joists, and enclose the bottom with lattice (to keep the bunnies out from under it!). Hoping to get these things done this coming spring.