THE DECK

For those of you who know Jonathan and I real well, you know we've been talking about this deck thing we are building since about May of this year. Jonathan really got started on it. Did all the dirt work, poured the footers, got the needed inspections and permits, and then it sat.

For a multitude of reasons, it kept getting put off. Most of the reasons were really good ones, some not so much. But we had this thorn in our side every time we even looked to the backyard.

So finally Jonathan and I had a free weekend last weekend and we just went at it. In two days we got the whole lower deck put up. What a sigh of relief. So here is what it looks like so far. Life is creep'n up on us again and we only have Sunday to work on it this weekend, but I really think we can get the posts and beams and some ancillary items completed that day if it doesn't rain. Cross your fingers.

I grabbed the camera late in the process. This is the lower deck w/the posts, beams, and joists put in. The joists are hung between the beams because the deck is so low and the ground is so hard and full of tree roots. Love that Georgia clay! At 16 hand driven nails per joist, it equaled sore arms and a lot of hammering. (I contributed about 7 of the 16 per joist)

Here the decking is going on. We get to use the pneumatic nailer for this part, Jonathan lined up the boards while I nailed. You have to be very quick with the trigger, I was the queen of putting two nails in one spot.

And here is JB cutting off the excess. Yeah!