After the drywall was installed in Lily's room and Doug wasn't needed inside, he turned his attention outdoors to our new deck construction. As mentioned in the previous deck post, we are removing the old concrete stairs that are falling apart and are building a custom deck to fit around our house. It'll be a great addition to our back yard and hopefully a jumping off point for future projects (like fixing our veggie gardens, working on some flower gardens, and a few other projects). But before any of that can happen, we need to start the deck. Doug already dug the holes for the support beams (all 6 of them), including cutting through concrete for four of the six holes (he got lucky and two of them were in dirt).
Next came the stair demolition. We went to our local rental store and rented a jack hammer over the Fourth of July. We had no idea what we were getting into with the stairs but after Doug started, he realized they were hollow and easily came apart. So the next problem became... what to do with all the concrete?! We (and I mean Doug, I only helped pick up the chunks) put all the concrete underneath our shed. Our yard slops and it's at the back of it, so no one will see it and it'll eventually (hopefully) be turned into a chicken coop and the underneath will be surrounded with fencing anyway. So, off he went and got it all with 4 trips. The dirt went to fill in a low spot in our yard and a few holes that a large white dog likes to dig.
Sorry there aren't really "progress" shots of Doug and the jackhammer but he didn't want me breathing the concrete dust and because it was a holiday, Lily was home with us so I entertained her until we both came out to help and check on the progress.
Lily is sitting in our small screened in porch. I may replace the door at some point (it kind of sticks, plus it's horribly ugly but it does its job right now) and the windows/screens all need replaced but that's a whole new project we're not messing with right now.
Under the concrete steps was a small hole where no concrete was poured. It'll all be covered up with the new deck so it just made Doug's job of digging the 6th hole easier.
Lots of broken concrete.
The leftovers of the stairs that was all thrown away. Tetanus, anyone?!
Doug has since filled the 6 holes with concrete and an anchor screw for the boards. My dad ordered all of the wood and it'll be delivered Monday. My dad and Pat will be back to work then and while my dad is inside in Lily's room, Pat can help Doug build the deck. We are using pressure treated wood for the most of it and then cedar for the top handrails, just like what we did on Lily's play yard.
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