| It's June 2008 and we're at it again! Our family is | | | | our plans. |
| hosting its own Special Olympics in our backyard | | | | We ordered the lumber and had Home Depot |
| this summer. | | | | deliver it to our driveway. Our sons, who had |
| While the competition rises for swimming, | | | | been recruited for the job, complied with our |
| gymnastics, volleyball, and other sports on TV, | | | | request for their help and showed up at 7:30 on a |
| we are working up a sweat as we design and | | | | warm but overcast Saturday morning in August. |
| construct our new outdoor living space. We have | | | | By the end of the day and with the expert |
| demolished our old, dilapidated deck and have | | | | stupor-vision provided by my daughter and me, |
| started the framework for what will be a 12- by | | | | the men had all six, 6 x 6-inch 12-foot long posts |
| 30-foot deck with a slatted overhead pergola. | | | | stood upright and stabilized with 2 x 8-inch, |
| After weeks, or should I say months, of planning, | | | | 12-foot long crossbeams. The midday heat took |
| drawing, designing, measuring, and re-measuring, | | | | over at about 3 p.m. and turned the pergola into |
| we took our plans to an architect to make sure | | | | purgatory, so we called it a day. |
| they would meet the building codes established by | | | | Next came notching and carving the ends of the |
| our county. Then, it was off to the codes | | | | sixteen 2 x 6-inch 12-ft boards that would serve |
| department to apply for a building permit. The | | | | as rafters and provide a slatted shade over the |
| people who work in the codes administration | | | | deck area. We measured and laid them |
| office are none too friendly, but after being | | | | temporarily in place sixteen inches apart, but then |
| ignored and treated rudely our payment was | | | | decided that spacing didn't provide enough shade |
| accepted and our plans were finally approved. No | | | | so we notched a few more boards. After installing |
| one even glanced at the blueprints, which my | | | | them, there was still not enough shade, so we |
| husband had spent hours drawing, erasing, | | | | installed lattice on the top. It looks nice and serves |
| scrapping, and starting over. | | | | the purpose. |
| Under my direct supervision, my husband dug six | | | | Progress really began showing when we began |
| 1-foot square holes to the required depth of | | | | adding the joists to support the flooring. We had |
| eighteen inches, added the cardboard forms to | | | | to brace them underneath to make the structure |
| create columns,and set the wire and rebar in | | | | feel more sturdy. I'm sure it wasn't going to cave |
| place. He called the codes department to come | | | | in, but we didn't like the way it bounced when we |
| and take a look. Unbelievably, an inspector came | | | | walked on it so we supported the joists with a |
| out within 48 hours and approved our preparation | | | | few blocks underneath to reduce the flexion. |
| efforts and gave us the go ahead to pour the | | | | Then, it was cross bracing and adding |
| footings. | | | | one-by-six-inch deck boards to cover the area. |
| This is August, and while the temperature is in the | | | | We have a nice dance floor! |
| nineties with high humidity, our real battle was | | | | Our next step took much longer than we |
| with the mosquitoes. Swatting with a hammer or | | | | expected. We had to have a way to get in and |
| screwdriver in hand is not a good idea. We | | | | out of the house from the deck. We made three |
| sprayed the yard and ourselves, but to no avail. It | | | | boxes and stacked them on top of one another. |
| does nothing to deter the pesky critters. Bug | | | | The top landing is five feet by three feet. The |
| spray might as well be meat tenderizer on me. | | | | second landing is three by three feet and the |
| It's like putting ketchup on fries-more please. | | | | bottom step is three feet by twelve inches. The |
| I allowed my husband to mix ten bags of | | | | risers are eight inches each. Now we have to put |
| concrete one at a time in the wheelbarrow and | | | | on the railing to keep someone from falling. |
| pour it into the holes and forms. Then, as we | | | | The far end of the deck leads to the garden, so |
| typically do whenever we are deep into a project, | | | | we made a regal entry. |
| we took a vacation and went out of town for | | | | The entire structure has been built to allow for |
| the weekend. I suppose that time away serves | | | | later addition in case we, or the future residents, |
| as sanity check and gives us a chance to change | | | | want to enclose it to make a screened-in porch |
| our minds and make any last minute changes to | | | | or additional room. |