Posts in category 'house'
The Deck is Done!
Well, sort of. There’s still plenty of work to do, like installing railings, stairs, evening out edges, installing facia, and other such things, but the bulk of the work (framing and decking) is complete!
Now, it’s been a while since my last update, and some people are really interested in seeing some pictures. So, I thought it about time to post a few shots of my work. First off, I have a couple photos showing the completed framing:
As you can see, it turned out pretty well (thought not perfect… the right-most joist on the upper deck isn’t quite square with the rest of the frame). Truth be told, I think framing was the most enjoyable part. It’s not terribly tedious, but it really gives you a feel for what the final outcome is going to be like.
Speaking of which, second, I have a couple shots of the completed deck. The first is an attempted overhead panorama. Unfortunately, the image is a bit warped, but it gives you a decent look at the final product:
And lastly, an elevation shot, showing the deck in profile against the house:
Not too bad, eh? Again, there are a few warts that I, having built the thing, are probably more likely to notice, and only one semi-major thing: it appears the lower deck shifted forward a bit during construction, and so the front beam and posts are leaning forward slightly:
I suspect this is minor, so I’m not terribly worried about it, but worst case I can unscrew the joists, lift the deck (which isn’t has hard as you’d think), push the beam back, and rescrew.
So there you have it! ‘course, now we need to find a way to actually use the 250+ square feet of deck we now have…
Garden Update
This is a bit of a belated entry, but hey… better belated than never, eh? Well, I suppose that depends on the content of the entry…
Anyway, last weekend I decided to ignore the fact that it’s so late in the season and planted a garden anyway! After which we had near-monsoon weather, but… so it goes… hopefully my seeds don’t drown. The end result is depicted below:
As you can see, I’ve planted a few crops:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Corn
- Parsley
- Peas
- Dill
- Carrots
The idea was that, hopefully, these crops all can be started late (with the exception of the corn… that’s mostly an experiment). So, in three months, hopefully we’ll have some fresh veggies for the bunnies! Oh, and a few carrots and peas for us.
Our New Bedroom!
As anyone who’s seen our house knows, our master bedroom was… well… a bit of a slum. Okay, not living-in-a-box slum, but still, not all that impressive given how nice our house is. Well all that has finally changed! Our new bedroom set has finally arrived!
It was a pretty damn close call, though… the armoire barely made it up our stairs, and the moving guys needed Devin’s and my help to do it. Heck, if we didn’t have the 9’ ceilings or the stub wall beside the staircase, we would have been totally hosed. But, lucky us, it all worked out! So we now have a brand new bed, armoire, mule chest, and two nightstands, all made of solid Alder.
Deck Happenings
Well, we’ve finally started moving on the deck front! I went to Cedar Village this morning, the shop owned by our unbelievably generous family friend Roy Crosty, and did a little bit of deck planning. I’m incredibly excited, as the end product looks absolutely fantastic:
As you can see, we’re planning a two-tier deck. This allows us to build a full-width deck while still preserving the basement window for an additional bedroom. And for those we haven’t told, it’s going to be built from cedar! So. Sweet. Not to mention fragrant! Anyway, the materials have been ordered, so now we’re awaiting delivery, which will likely occur some time in the middle of next week. Once that’s done, it’s deck-buildin’ time!
Of course, one can’t build a deck without some tools, so we headed to Rona and picked up a couple items, specifically:
- 12A 7 1/4” circular saw
- 18V cordless drill
- Level and other random bits
And all for just over $100! Yay for clearance items, and me being not terribly picky about my tools! I figure, in the long run, should they prove insufficient, I can always upgrade later.
Unsurprisingly, though, I’m now itching to play with my new tools! So, tomorrow I’ll probably scavange some wood from various scrap piles nearby and build me a couple saw horses. Once that’s done, I might even attempt to move up to a set of shelves (for the new tools ;)!
