It’s been a long time coming, but things are finally starting to coalesce.
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I peeked out back at noon and saw almost half the deck boards had been laid.
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When the husband got home at 5:00pm, two thirds were done.
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Apparently with the help of a wooden mallet.
But because nothing ever goes smoothly here, it was then we learned the contractor had misjudged the width of the boards and would be two short at the end of the project. And since this is a special color no one keeps in stock, we’ll have to live with an unfinished deck for at least two weeks while we wait for the order to come in.
Sigh…
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But if I take a photo from this angle, I can pretend all is well.
As you know, the state of Maine decided to dig out the ditch in front of our house… even though we wanted to fill it in.
The head mucky muck said they would call my husband and give him fair warning when the crew would arrive so he could plan to be here during the process.
You know where I’m going with this right?
On the very day my husband ended his (unhappy) retirement and went back to work at the office?
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Yeah.
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Bright and early at 6:45am, with no warning whatsoever.
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I scrambled to get dressed and went out to talk to the crew, trying to explain the problems we’d been having. No one cared. Their instructions were to dig out a ditch and that’s what they were going to do.
I told them about the temporary mailbox situation and said it was too heavy for me to move, but could they please drag it out of the way when they shored up the sides of the ditch.
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As you can see…
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That did not happen.
They went right around it.
WTF?
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It was a noisy, dirty day at Casa River and I knew all they were doing was making the ditch worse. The carefully tended grass on top?
Gone.
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But look, they spread some dry seed.
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Which they then dislodged with a leaf blower.
Again… WTF?
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In the bottom of the ditch, they spread a rolled line of hay like fiber.
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What that’s supposed to do I have no clue.
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They dug and they swept, but if you look closely they did nothing to build up the sides of the ditch or the top which is what caused the caving in problem in the first place.
At the end of day four, which turned out to be an 11 hour day – our contractor arrived at 7:15am and left at 6:15pm- this was the result.
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Five deck boards.
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Five.
Count ‘em… five.
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Three ‘picture frame’ and two others.
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After 11 hours… at $55 and hour.
Let me do the math for you… that’s $605. Which works out to $121 per board. Granted there was a lot of measuring and cutting around the existing railing posts, and at $96 per board we’re glad he’s precise and doesn’t waste material, but wow.
Sorry Mick, but in this instance… time is definitely not on our side.
Warning: disturbing avian photo to follow, but trust me… no birds were harmed in the making of this blog.
If you remember, our contractor had just laid rubber protective tape over the framing of our back deck.
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I can’t say I examined it too closely after he told us it would protect the boards from water damage. I figured he knew what he was doing…
Until yesterday when I heard something strange out back and went to investigate.
What I found was a small sparrow hanging on the board, with one wing stuck to the tape. It’s little bird companions were tweeting and pecking and trying in vain to free it. I didn’t take a picture, I didn’t have time. I just wanted to save the poor thing.
Which I did, and it flew away happily.
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Although with a few less feathers attached.
Feeling pleased with myself for saving the small fellow I went back in the house, until I heard something strange out back an hour later.
Another bird was caught in the tape.
I saved that one as well and hoped that was the end of it.
Nope.
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Bird number three… who I did take a quick picture of before I scooped him up and freed him. This one bit me for my trouble.
Not wanting to continue the sparrow torture sessions, I grabbed a knife and made small cuts in the tape so it would lay down flat around the upright posts.
Thankfully no more feathered friends were trapped after that.
While we really like our contractor, I have to admit he’s not the fastest worker we’ve ever seen. His motto is do it once, do it right… which is great in theory… but I have a feeling it’s going to be hard on the check book.
After three days of work….
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We have perfectly level framing (which was already there, he just sanded the boards) …
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And rubber sealant tape.
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And one loose laid picture frame board.
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And rain.
Yes, we had that as well.
It rained so hard the contractor gave up and left, which was fine. Until we realized he didn’t take down his tent.
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An hour later tent drainage surgery had to be performed.
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And there was a lot to drain.
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Water is heavy.
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Which is why the husband performed the surgery and I documented the procedure.
Three days.
16 billable hours at $55 and hour.
$880… for prep work and some rubber tape. This is going to be one very expensive deck.
The contractor set up a tent to beat the heat of the baking sun.
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He started work on the framing.
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And then my husband went out to talk.
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And talk, and talk, and talk.
At the $55 an hour we’re paying this guy, I could do with a little more work and a lot less talk so I hauled the husband inside and got him busy organizing some of his old magazines and newspapers.
Bad idea. Very bad.
Because as soon as he found some interesting ones?
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He took them out to show the contractor.
And then he talked, and talked, and talked.
Jesus wept…we’ll have to remortgage the house before this is through.
And if Jesus weeping wasn’t bad enough?
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The heavens decided to weep that afternoon as well.
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Torrential rain, heavy downpours and big mud puddles.
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Left us with very little progress.
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But there is a great big tool trailer parked on the lawn.
One afternoon, when the temperature was near 90 and the humidity level was almost as high, my husband decided it would be a good time to start ripping up the old deck. You know, the one we hired a contractor to rip up and rebuild.
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It was hard, heavy, hot work. Which is why we’re paying someone else to do it.
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An hour or so into the demolition, said contractor showed up…
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And was a little surprised the husband had already started the project for which we’d hired him.
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But they worked side by side, in the heat…
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Because no one told him husbands who are bored with retirement need to keep busy.
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In less than three hours…
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All the rotted old wood planks had been ripped up…
Home repair projects are lining up faster than ever here at Casa River… and if my husband wants to go back to work instead of enjoying retirement? Then I’m going to spend his reinstated paycheck hiring a contractor to fix the things that need to be fixed.
New driveway? Done.
New windows for the master bedroom? Ordered.
New back deck? Materials being delivered today.
And then there’s the disaster we call a living room ceiling.
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The one that’s been damaged by roof leaks for the the past decade.
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( It doesn’t really look this awful, I had to increase the contrast for the pictures)
Thankfully the cause of the leak was finally found and repaired, but it’s left us with a mess that’s been screaming for help.
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Our house was built in 1974 and an addition was added in 1994. This bump out to the living room included a support beam like structure that has been nothing but trouble.
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It’s slightly sagging in the middle and of course it was also water damaged.
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The problem in fixing and replacing it…. is we don’t really know what’s up there. The only access is through a tiny hole in the den closet and though my husband has crawled up there numerous times, there’s no attic and no way to reach that particular area.
After one contractor quoted us $25,000 to fix it sight unseen, and another quoted $35,000 to completely rework the trusses, we despaired. But the guy who will be doing our back deck and windows agreed to give it a go and brought over some fun equipment to investigate.
This required moving the furniture into a pile on the other side of the room which Lord Dudley Mountcatten did not appreciate.
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How can you fling your mouse off the couch when it’s right next to the coffee table?
Oh, the horror.
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The first step was drilling holes in the ceiling.
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Second step… threading the spy camera lens into the holes.
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Third step… trying to figure out what the hell you’re looking at.
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Fourth step… drawing a highly technical schematic.
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The contractor wasn’t pleased with the outcome, something about overlapping beams and braces and trusses … but agreed to repair and replace it as best he could. This will involve an utter mess and temporary load bearing devices which I’m not looking forward to, but it has to be done.
And until that day?
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We have a beautiful Swiss cheese ceiling to enjoy.
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Good times.
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