I’ve been out of commission for a couple of weeks. This latest project has taken all I’ve got!

If you’ve been with me for any amount of time you’ve figured out that our deck is our happy place, and for both of us, time spent outside is shared time. But our deck desperately needed some love and a fresh approach. Well past time actually.

We knew the first job on the list was the removal of the Wisteria in the NW corner of the deck. Did you know Wisteria is considered an invasive species and, there is starting to be a movement to outlaw it. I get it. When we first built the pergola, I planted the Wisteria. I had romantic visions of purple blooms dripping down thru the splats. Creating shade, and that wonderful charm of the south, here in Nebraska!!! Well 30 years later it only bloomed a half a dozen times, and had to be trimmed constantly. You could literally watch it grow daily. Heavy on the pergola structure, the husband was having to get on top of the pergola to trim every year. The more we trimmed the faster it grew. Approaching 70 last year we knew it had to go.

This caused me all kinds of angst. I was worried about losing my shade and the softness it brought to the corner of the deck where I have my fountain.

Last summer it was our intention to redo the deck surround. It’s not just simply a railing, but a mood. An exterior room that gives us a bit of privacy from our neighbors, and makes morning coffee the best way to start the day. As I write this, I’m in this space.

The husband was actually on the ladder last summer when he heard the sirens and got the call from me that I had been in an accident. I was only slightly banged up and my car did everything it was supposed to do and all was well. But being hit by an uninsured motorist and all the added expenses of not planning on buying a new car at the time, we decided to curtail the deck surround for the summer.

Which brings us to now. I have been pondering this surround for several years in my head, trying to look at it in a fresh way. Searching for new ideas and coming up empty handed. So in the end we took our good idea from 30 years ago, simplified it a bit, and rolled it out again.

The first thing we did was make sure all posts, joists, and stringers were structurally sound. This deck was built correctly with proper footings etc. We built it ourselves but, we had the benefit of my dad’s expertise, and he was with us the entire way. When we realized we needed to add the pergola, a few years later, we poured separate footings added the long post structure and then attached it all to the deck so everything is still solid.

The surround not only gave us some semblance of privacy but also took care of the unsightly area under the deck. Our deck is only three stairs down to the grass. The boards on the old surround were cedar and boy did they exceed their shelf life. Gothic pickets were the picket of choice back in the day, and needing to be 10′ tall on the west side of the deck, I would have to cut each one of those gothic pickets myself. In removing all the pickets 86 to be exact, we discovered the tole 30 years of wind and hail, snow, sleet and gloom of night can take. These boards were light as a feather, and dry as dust. My intention was to salvage them for siding on a very small shed we want to build, but it was clear they were toast!

I placed an order for lumber to be delivered and thankfully the grand boys were able to help the husband, bring the wood to the backyard. I was conveniently at Home Depot buying more saw horses when they delivered the wood. Got me out of that chore! We got it all stacked up on a piece of plywood and saw horses, in the back yard. The first thing I did was create the radius for all the boards for the surround. This was very scientific. Taking a glass out of the kitchen cupboard I used that as my template! Well, it did take me about 3 different glasses to find the right size. After marking all the pickets I used my jigsaw to cut them. Using some 60 grit sandpaper and my orbital sander I then sanded down all the radius’. Then we had to pause for the rain. Tarped up and bundled, things stalled for a couple of days.

When the rain had stopped we brought up the miter saw, created another cutting surface on the deck with the new saw horses and an old door and let it rip. First up was putting up the strapping that the pickets would eventually attach to. Working a section at a time we used 2×2 treated lumber for this as the cost of Cedar was thru the roof. I’m not at all crazy about the color but I will just let it weather.

We had the shadows from the old pickets on the base of the deck so picket placement was easy. I still had to determine how far above the top strap the tall pickets would come, so it was a bit of trial and error. A foot seemed to be the sweet spot to help block the sun, so that was the magic number. Because the ground wasn’t level we had to measure each picket to the top of the top strapping and add 12″. We then made sure each picket was plumb. I could only get 8 and 12′ boards at Home Depot which made for a fair amount of waste. Wielding the 12′ boards around was no fun. Making sure I didn’t smack them into the ceiling fan, or the husband for that matter. I’ll admit during this project there were many times I would have loved to smack him over the head. Colorful language and many Poppy words were used. After we got the West side done we again had to pause for weather.

The previous surround had two sections of 3 2×2’s. We simplified a bit by only using two sections with 2 2×2 strapping. We lowered the height of the low pickets a bit, to create a bit more openness and to make leaning over the rail more comfortable. No one leans on it but, I occasionally will look over to check on plants. I was tired of being stabbed by the point of the gothic picket at 42″.

On the front of the deck with the new design we decided to open it up more by removing 2 of the tall pickets. The gardens are more mature now and it is nicer to have a bit more visual.

There is still much to do in this deck refresh. We will probably be at it most of the summer. The pergola needs to be power washed and a few repairs made. I have done a lot of transplanting of perennials and have my fingers crossed. And we are putting a bed to rest for the summer. More on that later. It is all a work in progress.

Til next time

Thanks for stopping

Shelley