Staycation Project: New Deck Boards

We've known our deck boards would need replacing sooner than later since we moved in.  Many of them were rotting away and the nail heads were continually popping up.  I replaced a particularly bad board last year, but it became clear it was time to do them all this spring.  The kids took one last swim on Saturday, then I took the pool down to start demo.

I started demo on Sunday morning and it was a pain in the butt!  Every spot had at least two nails since the original ones had failed.  The angled pattern was also good in theory, but caused a lot of issues.  I was also removing the nails from the boards as I went which took longer.

I met my dad at Menards Sunday evening to pick up all the supplies we needed for this week's projects.  Both Jimmy and I have the whole week off, which is much needed.  I didn't take vacation at the end of March since our Mexico trip was cancelled and I was starting to get burned out.  I finished demo Monday morning just as my dad backed in with the wood.  This was the hottest day of the week and was going to be mid-90s by the afternoon, so we got started as early as we could.

My dad was the cut man and I was measuring, drilling, and screwing.  We borrowed some amazing cordless drills from my brother and that really sped up the process.  I decided to secure each end of the boards first, then do more as time permitted.  This was our progress by 9:40 am.

We switched to a standard straight layout which made for pretty simple installation.  There was just one area to notch, which we were able to do with a jigsaw and circular saw.

We made it to the half way point just before 1:00 and took a break for lunch.  I think I pushed a little too hard and also drank too much water and was not feeling well.

I ended up vomiting, but felt a lot better after.  Jimmy was concerned that I may have mild heat sickness, so I agreed to take it much easier in the afternoon.  We took a lot more breaks and I made sure not to drink too much water, but also stay hydrated.

Progress by 3:30.  Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Jimmy was on kid duty all week and I was so appreciative of that!  He set up the slip 'n slide for the kids since the pool wasn't up.  Parker started to get the concept a bit and even Jimmy took a couple turns.

We had to rip down the last row of boards and had them done just before 6:00.  We were both exhausted.

I still had a lot more screws to put in and finished them as the week went on.  Esme even helped out a bit!  We are really going to enjoy our new deck this summer and for years to come.