Back to Construction.

I forgot to do a "before" picture of the deck, but you can see it here. Mr. H. put my butcher block outside so he could sand it down and put polyurethane on the sides.

The deck is 20 years old, warped, weathered, splintering, and ugly.












First, Ed pulled up all the old decking.




























Here, Ed's started on the decking.

















If you notice, you can see that Ed's put reinforcement joists in between the old ones for extra support and to get rid of any "bounce."












He's almost finished with the west side of the house.

Anybody want to take a guess as to what kind of tree that is straight ahead?

Ed has removed the decking from the south side. If you look to the left, you can see what's left of my steps. Ed said when he removed the railings, the steps just collapsed.

South side of the house.
I'm liking this because I'm getting more deck - about 2 more feet worth. Ed's put in new joists that extend past the old pilings.















My Mister Lincoln rose is blooming below the joists.











This is the south side. Ed will probably finish up by tomorrow. It's sloooow work. He says the boards weigh at least 50 pounds each. Then he has to angle and cut them, then drill a hole for the screw, then drill the screw in.














Aren't my roses pretty?



































Ewwwwwww.
This is what happens when you leave town and don't take care of your pool. It's a pretty color though.









Here's a closer-up of the tree. Any guesses?





I bought it when it was about 3 inches tall and quite spindley, maybe 21 years ago. I actually thought, at the time, that it was a bush. I was wrong. It's about 35-40 feet tall now.








And it's a bay tree. As in bay leaves ... for cooking ... that is, if you subscribe to that sort of monkey business.