It's Like Magic

Every day my deck gets more and more complete...

Cassie, Erik, David Puthoff, and I removed the old decrepit deck, which was quaint if not compliant, by the afternoon of Sunday the 3rd of July.

Gary Smith, our local Groom Creek handyman is building me a new one under the watchful eye of Mathilda the wonder dog.  Tuesday the 5th.

I'll track the progress here as the work proceeds.  Wednesday, July 6, 2016.

Friday 8 July 2016

Gary made good progress through mid-afternoon Saturday the 9th.  He has discovered much about the limitations of the previous builders' DIY skills...

We agreed painting all the new wood is a good thing and that doing so is much easier standing up than on ones back.  I painted until 7:00 pm.  There's less magic when you do it yourself.  Time a long hot bath, a four ibuprofen, and couple fingers of Ardbeg...

Gary has it looking very deck-like by Sunday afternoon.

I added the paint.  10 July 2016

Most of the work is just visible at the northwest edges or out of sight along the north side of the deck. July 11th...

And more paint...

The white stuff is adhesive joist wrap to protect the wood. Thursday, the 13th.

Friday 14 July 2016.  Won't be long now.

Saturday the 15th; almost "sittable."  That's Gary at the far end, taking some measurements before knocking off for the day.

Planks trimmed Sunday (07/16/16)

First posts, then rails. Tuesday the 19th.

Wednesday's progress before the late morning rain (07/20/2016).  Gary has gone back to his shop to work on the steps for the rear of the deck.

More results 21 July 2016.

Friday the 22nd of July, 2016.

Steady progress, much of it invisible from this angle, but look closely at the back rail.  [24 July 2016]

And done, mostly, on the 25th of July, 2016. Just in case you're wondering what I'll be up to most evenings for the next week or so I offer a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes, "There is a time to mask, and a time to paint; there is a time to remove masking, there is a time to be done painting."  

And, with the help of a friend (who even brought lunch), the deck posts, balusters, and rails were painted as of 4:00 pm Sunday 31 July 2016.  Yee Haa! Waa Hoo!