Backyard Remodel - We Have A Deck!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy 4th of July! The weather has been really nice this week and we took advantage while we could. We started off cleaning up the edges and adding the rest of the top boards.

Pretty nice cut for a first try

Added a framing piece

Love that it all goes under the overhang

 We got all of the boards screwed in and ready for the holiday weekend. This time Uncle Mat had a day off so he jumped in to help. We started cutting down the posts and post sleeves for the railings.

Ready to get this thing together

Next it was time to start working on the stairs. Our personal engineer (Dad) had already drawn up the plans and since we are going with 4' stairs, we needed to cut out 4 stringers. We used a square and a few stoppers to make the step design. Then it was time to cut...

Starting on the first one

Cutting the wood down, his way

Two down, two to go

 Then once all 4 of them were cut, the boys spaced and attached them so we could move them into place.

Looking good

And then the fun part...more digging. We decided to concrete the stair posts into the ground so the boys started digging so we could set the stairs

More holes

Lovin' life

 Next it was time to attach and level the stringers...

Getting in place

Our foreman, making sure everything was in place

 Next we sat in the posts, mixed the concrete and let it set for the night.

Starting to look like stairs

 Then it was time to take a break and enjoy some fireworks

What a handsome group of guys

Even Tequila likes fireworks

This morning we tackled the stairs, first we needed to cut down the boards.

All the boards laid out

After seeing the boards on the steps, we decided that we didn't like the open look of the stairs (OK, we = me, but better to decide now than later). So we ran up to the hardware store and grabbed a piece of treated plywood and brought it back to cut down.

A lot better

Tacking everything in

 Then we got the boards screwed down and Voila, we've got stairs!

These steps aren't going anywhere

View from the top

 We got the stairs in before my parents showed up and we also started attaching the posts and the post sleeves for the railings.

All the posts are up

 Then we started measuring and cutting the railing sections one by one.

Starting to look like a deck

All the outer rails are up

Then we worked on the stair rails. Let's just say the railings were not a cake walk like we wanted them to be. After some cuts and bruises (and a few choice words), we got them up and steady. Then it was time to take a step back and admire how far we've come...

We have a deck!

Another view

View from the back

Callie approves

And the final view from the back door

We still have a lot of work back there but we are so happy to have a big (and safe!) deck to enjoy for the many years to come. Thanks again to Sara's family for all of their guidance (and free labor!). We'll keep you updated on the rest of our remodel.

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila