19 February, 2011

Deck Repair Fail at the Ol' Rental Unit

I've been sitting on these pictures for a while, because frankly, I've been a little embarrassed about the whole thing. But a few months have passed, so I can laugh about it now. Kinda.

It started with the previous tenants. They were good guys, this was just one of those things. Ashes from their grill spilled onto the deck, burning a hole in it. (This is why the city of Chicago forbids such grills on wood decks, although everyone does it anyway.) The guys fessed up and agreed to pay for the damages.



Although we've never done a deck repair before, it didn't look like it would be that big a deal. Certainly not worth hiring a contractor for. Just pop out the old boards and nail the new ones in place.

First board off, no problem.


Second board off, just as quickly and cleanly. Both were taken down to the dumpster, broken down, and tossed in.



New boards were put in place.




So did you catch it? Did you see where we went wrong and somehow completely failed to notice it, even though I'm snapping away with the camera?



Yes. We took out the wrong board. I wish you could see the look on Ted's face at this point when we realize it, but our light was fading fast and I didn't use the flash.



In our defense, I'd like to say we were overtired. Tenant transition is always a hectic time, and between that and our day jobs we hadn't slept much the couple days before. But still, really. What kind of home improvement aficionados are we?


We couldn't even go downstairs and get the old, undamaged board, because we had already broken it down. Back to Home Depot we went, and eventually sorted it all out. And it looks great.



Replacing deck boards really is very easy. But I can understand now why people will write on their bodies in Sharpie marker which body part is to be operated on before going into surgery. You just never know.

12 comments:

Karen Anne said...

This post made me feel particularly good today :-)

Me said...

Glad I'm not the only one!

Fanciful Quilts said...

lol - oh boy, does that sound familiar!!!!
Love the post and the photos....!

Jean Martha said...

Been there. That's why God invented beer.

Joanne said...

Amen, sister!

Karen Anne said...

No quilt news since September?

Joanne said...

Hi Karen Anne! We have been rather lazy bloggers this year. I'll tell my mom you demand quilt updates. :-) She's been spending a lot of her time working on a stunning quilt for my uncle, one of her best yet.

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Emma Jasmine said...

Building a deck is a lot of hard work. Despite how many DIY stories there are of people building a deck, there are just as many stories that are not successful. There is nothing wrong with turning to professionals who do this for a living. There are specific questions that you should be asking your prospective deck contractor. Asking about their history, staff, specialities, warranties, insurance, licensing, and more should all be on the shortlist of questions being asked. This will ensure that the contractor you hire is best suited for the job.

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