The Deck

The deck was one of the first ideas we had to improve the house at the farm. We originally envisioned it coming out 25 feet! from the house and wrapping around to the back side, which would have given us somewhere around 800 sq/ft of deck. We ended up setteling on a modest 16 feet out from the house and 650 sq/ft of total deck space. Sometime in July Jay and I put up the ledger boards around the house, a few weeks later the grading got done around the back and the holes dug for the posts. Jay and Ted shovled cement and stuck in the J bolts a couple weeks after that. On Monday the 8th of August, my cousin Marc came down from Fargo, and we drove out to begin the framing.
Jacob came out on Tuesday, and he and Marc started putting up posts and beams around the North side of the house while Jay and I continued working on the West side. After a couple days we met in the middle and were (fortunately) only slightly off level. Ted was there on Wednesday to help us with joists, and Jacob left at around noon Thursday and Marc and I headed back in to town at around 3 and he took off back home to pack for Colorado.
On Friday morning I picked up my friend Erick and we drove out for the weekend. Ted was there to help again Sunday afternoon, and he and Jeannine stayed untill Monday. By then we had gotten the majority of the decking in, as well as benches and, I must say-thanks to Erick-the most perfect set of deck stairs I have ever set eyes on. Erick and I also stripped a long narrow piece of decking that we set into the angle where the deck boards meet. This piece points to the crown jewel of the deck that has yet to be installed-the cedar tub.
I drove back out on Thursday to start on the mitered decking, and we finished the West side with the help of Jay's dad and uncle who were staying for a few days. Then on Monday Jay and I did the other side of the angled boards and cut the hole for the hot tub. And now, besides getting the rest of the screws in and the benches treated and in place, we are pretty much done. The hot tub will hopefully be in by the end of September.