Well it has been a while. A while since I (Shannon) made an entry in the blog. Mary has been reminding me to do it but it's hard for me to make it a priority. I tend to be bouncing from one task to the next project then back to chip away at one started months ago. Writing the details of actual work being done just doesn't make it very high up on my mental list of things to do. Plus my explanations and thought process probably aren't that interesting since my engineering personality can some times be heavy on the detail, if your not into house renovations or agonizing over decisions.
Currently I've been working on the back deck. I cleaned and stained the deck portion about a month ago now then stalled a bit. The past week about got 95% of the railing is up and just lacking a small portion that is the short length of rail at the "landing" at the top of the stairs. Thanks to Nicky and some online reading the railing installation went pretty well. If you remember, the back porch was left as just 2x4s and screen walls sans roof for a while. :| I had intentions of trying to cobble some railing together out of the remnants and the ever growing pile of scrap wood but my neighbor made a good point in passing when I told him my plan. He said "well you don't want anyone leaning against your "railing" and having them fall off the porch." This is a pretty obvious statement but after that I had images of friends coming over and hanging out on the back porch and falling through my "recycled" railing. That sealed it for me, I read up on deck railing code and made a material shopping list. Off to the big blue store.
Wood is not completely stable but this was my first time working with pressure treated (PT) lumber and I had read about warping and twisting being a nuisance when building with PT lumber. Warping and twisting is because when the lumber is milled/processed/treated it is still extremely "green" and/or wet. I searched through the racks of lumber culling out the better boards until I thought I had everything I needed. Just putting up the railing I've had to make two more trips to the store :| but I guess that is the case most of the time. A project can never be done with just one trip to the store ;) somebody told me it is like the law of physics there is no way around it, I'm begining to be a believer. Next task on the back deck will be rebuilding the stairs, they are definitely on their last, last leg!
Shannon
