Christmas in April!

Chad and Brynn and their four kids live in Jacksonville, NC, near the coast.  Their deck was starting to fall apart, so for Christmas we agreed to help them rebuild it.  On Monday morning after Christmas on Sunday, it was off to Lowe's to buy the materials.  Yes, those are 16-footers in a 7-foot bed of Paula's Tacoma.  You just put a bunch of concrete on the other end and drive re-e-e-a-l slowly. 

Chad had already taken apart the old deck, and a couple of pickup loads got it all to the landfill.  Along with a no-longer-repairable piano.

Ever toss a piano in to a 10-foot deep landfill bin?  As the piano crashed in, I smiled and thought of every piano teacher of my youth (the memory of them has probably been poisoned by my lack of practice).

Back to work.  Augers?!  We don't need no stinkin' augers!

Every sixth grader should know how to mix a wheelbarrow of concrete, right?  

Chad gave instruction on the fine art of mixing the stuff.

Once the placement of the posts had cured, the frame construction started.

The guys at Lowes just shook their heads as we loaded up Brynn's minivan with more stuff.

Chad's eight-year-old son Joshuah has a love of all things tools.

He volunteered to help in all sorts of ways.

Despite the gloves and eye protection, we waved him off.

Power tools and 2nd graders - not a good mix.

 

Annie was caught red-handed. Or pink-handed, I guess.

She arranged her "office" on the under-construction project.

The deck gradually, and I do mean gradually, began to take shape.

Chad proved to be as adept at fine-cutting deck planks as filling teeth.

 

We finally finished up last week, on the third visit to J-ville to help with the construction.

The benches held up to the test of the entire family plus Grandma.

Old joke - How many gynecologists and dentists does it take to build a deck?  And how much time will it take them?

In the end, it all turned out pretty well, and looks to be very functional.
We hope that all your projects turn out OK, but that they don't take so long.
Dave & Paula