Building a DIY Deck, with furry help:)

Hey guys, I'm back with more homestead projects. We have extended our outdoor life with a front deck off the studio/our little home:)  We talked about just making a small landing so we would have a spot to drop our groceries or whatever else we need to load in and out, but I also needed a little extra room for some plants. Then, we got to talking and realized if we built a deck instead of a landing we could have our recycling out there and our morning coffee so it was settled, haha. We went from a landing to full deck in one conversation flat.

Here's how things started...just a pile of beautiful treated wood. If the building bug hits you and you've made the lumber purchase make sure that you start the project straight away. The hardware store keeps the lumber stacked in order to keep it straight. The turn around on lumber is pretty quick so you will probably end up getting wood that is still "wet" this makes the lumber very pliable. It will curl up if you don't get it screwed to something. 

Once the truck was unloaded the boys joined in by hijacking the cab and taking themselves a morning nap that extended until dinner, haha. 

Next up, we built the frame. I really mean "we" hip hip hooray for power tools:) Make sure that with every step you are keeping the frame square and level. 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...the prep work for this project involved our post hole digger, again. That thing has been so useful. Bella wanted to help...so cute. So we, not me just my Mr., dug the holes for the post. We placed our post in, filled the hole with concrete, leveled the post, and then held it in position to cure for 24 hours. 

Making cuts via spotlight isn't the easiest or safest so we called it a day at this point. I'm happy to report this project was finished the following day, well almost, so I will be posting that for y'all tomorrow. I went a little photo crazy with Bella being so stinking cute:)

The frame alone wouldn't be too supportive so the next step is to get the frame ready for decking with support boards. We got that process started right before we ran out of sunlight so we had to pull out the construction lighting, which Bella prompting introduced herself to..silly goat

That's that, for now. Part two tomorrow, till then y'all keep it green, clean, and classy. 

Shalimar