Last summer when we bought this house we loved that it had a deck looking out to the back yard, but upon further inspection we realized that it had some issues. The moldy, old look of the boards and the way they sagged when you walked on them made Brian and I think we were
going to have to replace the entire thing. Looking at a couple thousand dollar project, we expected we would have to wait a few years at least.
Then, my handyman dad came to the rescue. He took one look at it and knew exactly what it needed. The wood of the boards themselves was fine, he said, they just don’t have enough support. Sure enough, the supporting boards underneath were spaced about 3 feet apart when they should be 16 inches apart. Dad and my younger two brothers came in, pulled up most of the deck boards, added the extra supports and that was it!
Then came the cosmetic side of things. Again, Dad to the rescue. We borrowed his pressure washer, and let me tell you, that is a fun project! The dirt just flew away under the current.
We then had the issue of the stairs. There were three steep, sloping steps where there should have been four at least. Not a problem for the Hungarian Handyman (my dad). Another afternoon and he had the new steps in place. (I get all this free work because we have the only grandson He had to take out the existing concrete pad in order to dig the holes for the new supporting poles.
A coat of stain and we have a safe, beautiful deck. The picture below was taken a few months after all the work, but I just loved the way the yellow leaves cast a red glow on the entire space.
Check out my post on our wicker chair re-do.
Such a beautiful result