Every house has its story. What's yours?

Now that spring is almost here (mid May in Sweden), it's time to stop thinking of things to do around the outside of the house and get to it.

My first project was to rip out the 2.5 x 5 meter deck that was attached to the back of the house. It wasn't very nice and it was built too tight to the side of the house so moisture has managed to rot the vast majority of the siding (the replacement of this will be in a post on down the line). It was a pretty straight forward destruction job, but I was careful enough to save the supporting 2x4s and 2x8s since I will build an addition onto the deck we already have out in the backyard.

The mess that has been left in the wake of my demolition will be sorted out over the summer as we will commence digging and placing a stone patio/rock garden in this back section (also a future post) after we have installed new drainage around the house (yes, another future post – looks to be a busy summer for this lad and lass).

On to the upper deck…we currently have a raised deck measuring 4 meters by 5 meters with a decent little fireplace. This is kind of the hub of activity around our yard since it just about the only place in the yard that is flat. It has served its purpose well, but we've found that once I get my Weber grill up there and the table with 6 chairs it can get a bit cramped.

Plus the fireplace was built in such a fashion that you can only get 2 people in front of it on a chilly Swedish evening. Thus, the addition of an attached 2.5 x 5 meters will allow for some nice deck chairs in an even sunnier section of the yard.

The first step was to set my foundation which consisted of 7 concrete filled PVC pipes reinforced with concrete reinforcing bar (rebar), which were also salvaged from the back deck I tore out. At first I thought this would be a great solution and save me time mixing concrete, but it turned into a bit of a nightmare. The pipes were all of varying length and requiring a bit of precise digging on a slope to allow for pre-poured concrete slabs for them to rest upon all whilst keeping everything at a relative level.

Many evenings of digging and cursing later 6 have been set and then filled with a combination of concrete (used cement with sand at a 3:10 ratio) and stones/rocks from the hill upon which we reside. This has gone pretty slow since the cement I'm using is a bit old and has become clumping so I've been doing a lot of pinching. Combine that with the fact I only have the facility to make a bit at a time (smallish buckets and kids to attend to). Anyway, I'm letting them cure for a couple days before proceeding with fastening the beams.

That's pretty much where it stands as of now, but there is more to be done in the meantime. Today I am going to work on getting the final 3 supports in. One is the remaining pre-filled PVC, but the other 2 I will be setting myself with the handy-dandy cardboard tubes and reinforcing with rebar whacked into the ground and rocks cemented around the sides for additional support.

Also today, if time/temperament permits, I will begin removing the old railings, rails and floor of the deck. I'll save what I can of the floor, but the rails and posts will all be replaced with new items I've picked-up today from the lumberyard. I also ordered all the flooring for the deck which is pressure-treated and 12 cm wide by 28 mm thick (approx. 5 inches wide by 1¼ inch thick), so it should be sturdy as hell.

I'll pop on tomorrow and let you know how it went.