the deck adventure II

so we have spent about 3 full days working on the front deck. what have we learned? number one: a composite deck system goes together much easier when it is designed into the initial house plans. this rang true when we realized the distance between our front columns is about 7' and our rail sections are only 6'. number two: those crazy guys at Lowe's know less than i do about composite decks (scary). they had no options to 'fix' my findings, only that they could special order 8' rail sections for around a zillion bucks apiece and it would take weeks to get them in. oh well. we decided to add posts between the columns and trim our 6' sections. (a little more work; but a lot faster and cheaper.) so, with the help of the 'crew' (jeremiah, brad, christian, elijah) the extra posts have been set and the decking laid. we have also decided to widen the front steps from 4' (what the plans called for) to 6', giving a more inviting look to the porch. as it turns out, to widen the steps means adding more support which means digging a couple more post holes (lucky jeremiah). at this point, we have abandoned the initial deck plans and are now free styling it.

as the temperature holds around the mid 50's this coming week, we hope to get alot done. with cold weather coming, i expect jen to soon recall my underage labor force (christian and elijah). we've already been cited for not wearing our winter coats (way to go, elijah) and instigated safety concerns when christian fell off the access plank. (smooth move, grace). of course, we stood tall and reminded mom that we were men, and men fall off things and laugh at the cold...(she just looked at us like we were clumsy and stupid, told us to put our coats on and be careful.) undauntedly, we plod on. the deck adventure continues. and we breathe in the cool air, mock the splinters and sawdust and revel in our manhood... at least until mom shuts us down.