I had originally planned on replacing just 6 boards, but then one other one looked pretty badly split. I decided since one board actually needed to be trimmed to fit into a tight spot, I might as well buy one more board and have them cut it there, rather than try to do it myself with the mitre saw. So we ran by Home Depot and bought the board, plus some deck stain, which I hope to test out this next weekend. I decided to hold off for a little bit longer on concrete paint for the bench in the front, but I'll probably get that on the next visit.
Perhaps I should mention that we also were buying some chairs off of Kajiji to replace our main dining room chairs. I probably would have liked another set more, but those were already gone. These will do, but I'll probably want to add some cushions, since they don't have as much support as I would like. Maybe I can run over to the mall, get in a quick workout (not that I need too much after this weekend!) and pick up some cushions. I had to wait around a while for the chairs to be dropped off, then my son and I ran over to Home Depot.
As we were coming back (actually carrying the board between the two of us), it started to sprinkle. Fortunately, my wife had brought the chairs in (we were airing them out a bit more), but I had left some tools out on the deck. I managed to get everything inside before it really started to pour, but I was a little put out. I had expected at least another hour before the rain.
To complicate matters further, I was renting a ZipCar to take the couch cushions over to a reupholsterer, since the springs inside the cushion are just completely shot. I struggled a lot with the car (every new brand adds something stupid, like putting the gas cap release on the floor, or now putting the hand brake over by the main brake -- honestly it pisses me off and makes me much less likely to use ZipCar in the future). It was really pouring by this point, but I got the cushions loaded and set off. I went past the place three times before I finally saw the sign. So frustrating. Anyway, the good news is that they think they will be done by Thurs. or so (rather than a couple of weeks). The bad news is that I am paying just as much to replace the cushions as I did to buy the couch and love seat in the first place... But I haven't seen that good of a deal since leaving Vancouver (and my wife really didn't want to get anything used). So things are generally coming together, though the back room, which is a bit of a staging area for the deck work is a total mess. Well, I have another weekend to clean that up.
The rain was over by about 5:30, so I went back outside to try to finish up. I managed to pry out the 7th board and nailed all the new ones in. It was pretty exhausting, but on the whole I think the final results are pretty good. No question the deck is immeasurably safer (and by fixing the worst boards I've probably extended the life another few years).
So now I'll just see how it looks with the stain. No question I'm glad this is almost over. (I'm reasonably hopeful that the main railing will be easier to replace.) I haven't decided if I'll be able to reuse the boards or not. I have a bit of an idea to build a holding pen for our garbage bins to keep the raccoons from knocking them over, but am not 100% sure this will work. That can definitely wait until I've recovered.
* As much as I don't want to pay for a completely new unit, with these heat waves, which are probably going to be more and more common, I just don't know how long we can last without AC. And I'll have to pay to have it fixed before we try to sell the place regardless...
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