New Deck

Here are some photos of the new deck. Like Carrie said, we re-used the balisters since they -- unlike the rest of the deck -- were not suffering from rot. The wood does still need to be painted.



Differences from the old deck:

- The new deck is slightly (but noticeably) larger (8 X 12). The original deck was 8 X 10. Since it is larger we added a third support post.

- You can't fall through the new deck.

- Stairs.



- Azek (i.e., $$$ PVC) vs. 3/8ths-inch rotted wood decking.



And for the low, low price of $80 you can get a box of invisible screws.



Actually, I was really impressed with how difficult it is to see where the screw holes are. The box comes with Azek plugs to match your deck. You would have to be on your hands and knees to find where they are at.

Like Carrie said, we are very pleased with our new deck. And we are especially grateful to Tom Grover for his expertise. It never would have happened without his help.

-Tom

7 (not so) Quick Takes

Goodness, has it really been three weeks since I last posted something? Oh well, here are a few Quick Takes and snapshots of the happenings of the Herring household.

1. Bye-bye old roll-up shades that Clare loved to fray, hello brand new faux wood blinds throughout the whole house. We love them!

Kitchen window BEFORE:



Kitchen window AFTER:





2. Check one project off the list. On to another (much bigger) one: rebuilding our deck which was threatening to fall apart and add some stairs so that we can actually get down to our yard from the patio door (a pet peeve of mine for the past year).

Tom went to Lowe's and used their "design a deck" computer program to come up with an estimate of our building costs. Their estimate: $3000. For a 10 x 10 deck with stairs! We thought that sounded a little high, especially considering that we were going to do it ourselves. Fortunately for us, my mom's husband Tom knows what he's doing, has all the fancy equipment, and was willing to spend a couple of days at our house working on it. With his help, re-using some of the salvageable cedar railings, and not having any waste or equipment rentals/purchase, we were able to cut the estimate we got at Lowe's in half AND use the Azek decking (like Trex but a little better according to the guy at Kitsap Lumber) that we wanted to.

Here are some pictures of the whole process. It only took 2 days for them to get this done! I was impressed at how quickly it can go when you have a project manager who knows what he's doing. Thank you soooooooo much, Tom (Grover)!

BEFORE looking out the patio door:



BEFORE from the back yard:



Tom doing the "head scratching" part:



Digging up the footings of the old deck



Clare had to help dig, too.





Shannon got a tutorial on how to use the saw and was then in charge of cutting (perfectly, I might add) all the deck material.



Putting up the railing on the stairs.



Well, I guess I have pretty good before and during shots, but I need to take a few of the completed project. We LOVE our new deck and the ability to get down to the back yard from the house!

3. We also painted the guest bathroom, but I don't have any before/after shots of that. It looks great, though.

4. Tom's Spring Quarter ends today! Thank goodness. No more 12-hour days of work + homework...at least for the next 10 days. Summer Quarter begins on the 21st. Tom was working hard one night after dinner on some homework, and Clare thought he needed a little cup of "tea" aka: water in her plastic tea cup to perk him up.



5. James has teeth!



6. My little kitchen helpers unloading the dishwasher for me:





7. Please keep our friend Matt Oakland in your prayers. He's being ordained to the Priesthood tomorrow!!! We are so thankful for his generous "yes" to God's call and are looking forward to celebrating with him tomorrow.