The Great Hunter and I picked a great week to take on a repair project on the deck. The deck is about 30 years old, but since most of it has always been under the roof, the only problem we’ve had is with the ends of the boards. A couple years back, I got the bright idea that I wanted to put a floor on the deck to make it look more like a room. We put down plywood and I covered it with a peel and stick tile. I didn’t think about water getting under the tile (which it did) and rotting the boards underneath (which it did). That was our first deck wood redo a couple years ago. but at the time, we only replaced about six or seven boards.

Our repair project this time was to replace three more of the deck boards that had the most end rot and the larger (I called it a face board) board on the outside which also had a considerable amount of rot. And of course, the stair. We’ve had to replace that wooden stair about four times already. It was never built right and we’ve tried some Clampett measures (what I call fixing something that really isn’t fixed right) but it was never solid.

There is a large board on the outside; I called it a facer board but I don’t think that’s what it is really called that we needed to replace. We made a trip to our local Lowes Home Improvement store and bought one 2″x12″x16′ board to replace that one and three 2″x4″x16′ boards for a whopping $93!

We worked on the deck for several hours a day during the last week and although it was nice and sunny, it was really, really hot. We’re talking upper nineties and yesterday, when we finished the project, it was 103°!

We still have several other repairs to make, but they will come after vacation next month.

I’m truly amazed, (and thankful) that the Great Hunter is physically and mentally able to take on projects like these and do a good job. Many, many men his age (77) would not be able to do what he does. I guess when you rob the cradle to marry, it keeps you young. Wink. Wink.