The Deck

I hate our backyard – there is no place to sit or entertain, we have no fence… it`s just a mess! So we got a quote on getting a fence and deck put in and it came back at $8,000. Hahaha – we do NOT have eight grand to sink into our backyard. But when I get something in my head – it sticks. So I`m going to build myself a deck!

I know nothing about building a deck, so I did what you do when you don`t know something these days… I Googled it! I found some pretty good directions and got started.

First I had to decide what sized deck I wanted. So I drew up a a plan of how I was going to make the deck and based my estimate for ordering the lumber and decking blocks on this plan.

Once I`d ordered the lumber and deck blocks, I went to Home Depot and bought the decking screws and chose the Stain I would need. It turns out that I GROSSLY underestimated the number of screws I would need! Live and learn – and as it turns out, I would learn a lot by the time this project was over! When choosing a Stain – I picked something that reminded me of my parents deck in Barbados which is made out of a wood called Purple Heart. I can’t wait to stain it!

Because of the size of the deck and the fact that I was going to be building it out on the grass and then moving it into place, I decided that I would have to build the frame in two halves. Building the frame out on the grass was my first mistake – I should have built the frame in place. It was very heavy and extremely difficult to move once it was built.

Ethie helped me:)

Then I added the horizontal joists for extra support. Once I was done with this half, I repeated it for the other half of the frame.

Once both halves to the frame were built, I placed the weed blocker over the area that I was going to put the deck. Next I placed the deck blocks on top of the weed blocker. Then I got Alex to help me move the frames into place.

Once the frames were in place, I attached the 2 frames to each other. We then made sure than the frame was level (with a very slight slope away from the house), and shimmed it where need be.

Xander helping me:)

Then I attached lattice to the outside of the frame, in the hopes of preventing animals from making a home under the deck.

Once the deck was in place, it was time to attach the deck planks. I started from the house and worked my way out. After I attached the floor boards, I decided to stain the deck right away – mistake #2! Over the next few weeks the planks shrunk and you could see that the cracks were a completely different colour than the rest of the deck! So then I sat down with an artists brush for 2 days staining down in the cracks:)

It was a whole lot of work – but the end result was still pretty terrific! If I do say so myself:)

Once I got the furniture for the deck, I realised that I could use an extra space for placing food when we entertain. So I built myself a little buffet table too:)