Saturday, January 9, 2021

Next House Project

I know I’m skipping over Christmas, but really, how much can you share about a pandemic holiday? Answer: not a lot. I’ll cover that another time. 

This 1980 house has a lot of decking. A lot. There’s unnecessary wood walkways that I want to replace with concrete. 



There used to be a hot tub on the lower deck - because who has just one? :: sarcasm :: It’s been covered with wood slabs since we moved in. I know, trashy. 






But the big freak out was this summer I noticed the main deck was starting to sink at the far corner. Like big time. Before we moved in, we negotiated that the deck needed better securing to the actual house. We live on such a hill that the living room slider walks out to the main deck which is elevated one story up. This summer I went to sit in a chair and felt it leaning back - no bueno. I can also visually see it’s not level anymore. 


The far left corner is sinking.


Friday evening our contractor came over and inspected the deck. Overall, he said he can fix it for us to get another 2-3 years out of it. The wood is still in okay shape, but whomever built it did it cheap and a poor job. Which feels like the story of our all our homes’ lives. 

Additionally, he recommended taking out all the steps to the lower deck, replacing them with stone slabs, tear out the lower deck and just putting in a small retaining wall, and a gravel area with a firepit. SOLD. And maybe Tim and I can even do the demo - ?? 





I’m more worried about replacing the larger deck - $$$. I guess we’ll have a few years to save up - !

Homeownership, am I right??