Last weekend I called in my Guthrie Crew and Josh and Michael (honorary members of the Guthrie crew) to tear down our old deck. We have been planning to replace this deck for seven years. And finally we are ready! We’ve been working on the plans for the past few months, redesigning the layout and new stairs. So now that we have all our ducks in a row, it’s time for some demo!
Josh arrived at 8am with his Sawzall and proceeded to cut the thing apart. He originally wanted to use a chainsaw (haha!) but my brother John wanted the scrap wood to reuse so it was important that we leave it mostly intact. :)
This picture shows my Mama kicking the balusters (AKA spindles or pickets) off the deck edge. When she was finished, she wanted to know if I got a picture of that. Of course! :)
Josh sawed off the fasteners and then pushed the stairs over.
While Josh and Michael were deconstructing, Mama was carrying the pieces away and pulling the treads off the stairs. Papa was pulling nails and stacking all the wood up for haul away. Hannah and I were documenting the process and hanging out with the children. :)
It came down rather quickly. :)
They even found a job for me, removing lags from the header board. I also sledgehammered off some of the stair treads, but no pictures, alas. :)
All done.
After we were finished removing the deck, Mama and I set to removing part of the patio. Since the long string of stairs is not going back on this side, we won’t be needing the weird second level walkway on the patio anymore. We’re redesigning it, too. So we moved some the pavers out of the way, shoveled up the gravel into buckets (and a big pile on the driveway) and removed the timber wall holding the upper level. After the “fun” we had installing the patio the first time, I am less than excited about putting it back together. But it will be worth it in the end when it’s finished and all one level! Hooray!
For now, I’m just enjoying listening to Josh’s crew put the deck back together! :) Be back soon with details!
