We reached decision time this past weekend, and awarded the job to a local contractor. He and his assistant will start work this morning; reluctantly, he asked me if it was OK to start at 7 AM, to which I replied that I am usually up between 5 AM and 5:30 AM. He and I went to Menards Monday morning and payed for the materials; delivery is Wednesday afternoon.

The new deck for the North of the house, from the driveway to poolside, will be replaced in cedar, as will the stairway to the upper level near the kitchen. All the replacement upright poles will be 4″ x 4″ treated wood placed on brackets in concrete footings (the old were simply buried in the ground). For the patio area just outside the family room we selected 16-inch pavers in a light color, to lighten up the area under the upper deck. I will work on replacing the floor boards in the upper deck section as time permits. I will post photos of the progress of the deck, in hopes it will help others; I thank everyone for all the comments I received to my earlier blog entry, as it helped Sandy and I a great deal in reaching a decision on how to proceed.

A portion of the old deck, a few years ago.

The remaining portion of the deck, shown in the bottom of the photo, will have to wait until next year, or until the next large commission job comes in.

This means that, for now, I will be free to start a large new project for a local church, in partnership with one of the local cabinet shops.

— Al Navas