Hanging In There

This will go down on record as possibly the craziest and most uncomfortable week ever. Lack of kitchen, yeah, I can deal with that. Been there, done that, know the drill. But not with all this!

Monday: Mike finished hanging all the drywall. Two or our neighbors came over and did some taping that night.

Tuesday: I had my ultrasound and found out, It's a Girl! (The pre-anticipation and post-mental overload have left me in a state of numbness all week.) Tuesday night, the neighbors were back for more taping and mudding.

Wednesday: Was a day of rest for the guys, but I still had to do a bunch of driving in terrible weather, which is always stressful.

Thursday: Cabinet arrival day! I rushed home around 12:30 to meet the delivery dudes... who delivered an incredible amount of boxes, filling the entire mudroom and living room. (As if they weren't already stuffed enough.) I opened one of the boxes after the left... the cabinets are even more beautiful then I had envisioned. And then I rushed back to work only to just barely sit down at my desk when - RING RING! Mikey's school. He was sick with the stomach flu. I had to get back in the car and go all the way back past home to pick him up and then back home... and try to take care of him in a living room full of boxes!

I was exhausted by 6pm, which was the exact time the neighbors knocked on the door. They did the pea coat and sanding with Mike Thursday night. Once that dried, it would be ready for primer and paint.

Mike cleaned up after they left and we both collapsed into bed around 10.... at which time, Mikey threw up again... in bed.... soaking everything. He had to sleep with us. (And we do not sleep well with him - he kicks and punches and rolls around like a mad man.)

He did not throw up again, but Mike and I were still exhausted when we woke up Friday morning.

Friday: Mike stayed home with Mikey, as he could not go back to school within 48hrs of the bug. Our neighbor had the day off too and the two of them primed... and then painted the kitchen. I was in disbelief when I got the pictures via text. I didn't think we'd have enough wall paint... and I was pretty sure the small remainder of the ceiling paint was unusable.

Meanwhile, I tried to coordinate cabinet installation for this upcoming Monday, (what with the amazing progress) but the production crew was unavailable. We'll have to shoot for (haha) Monday the 12th. Hopefully at least we'll be able to move the boxes into the kitchen until then. The stove and the dishwasher are both hooked up. The biggest pain now is all the boxes.

I Like to Tape It, Tape It, Mud It, Mud It

As promised, all the taping was completed on Tuesday night. I could hardly believe it. The guys worked from 6:30pm – 8:30pm and finished all the taping.

Wednesday, Mike picked up some corner beads and masking tape on his way home. Then, from about 6:30pm – 8:00pm, he and our neighbor finished installing and mudding all the corners. And, they did all the mudding and whatnot around the tub/shower. (That’s what the masking tape was for.)

I could hardly believe it. It’s looking awesome. Incredibly awesome. Incredibly fast. (This is what happens when you work with a professional.)

The two of them will be back at it tonight and probably Friday night. And that’s it. Paint-ready.

Full Speed Ahead

On most of these holiday Mondays, I feel like I’m the only one working. Yup, no three day weekend this Presidents Day. But while I was sitting at my desk, Mike continued to make progress at home, hanging more drywall. He even did some mudding in the closet.

He asked me to pickup some drywall tape on the way home, which I did. And when I arrived, I was surprised to find our neighbor pulling in almost right behind me. The two of them did some taping in the closet and then Mike continued on by himself for the rest of the evening.

I joined him after Mikey’s bedtime and we finished hanging the drywall. 100% complete.

Our neighbor will be over again tonight after work… He thinks he can have the entire room taped within an evening. A couple more days of mudding and sanding after that and we could be painting by this weekend. This, I did not expect. And I doubt we’ll have time to be painting this weekend, but you never know. Saturday night is a possibility…

It's Not Easy Being Green Drywall

The madness of the next four weeks began on Saturday, and I don’t expect it to slow down until at least 3/11. Saturday morning the electrician arrived and completed all our wiring in under an hour and a half. The recesssed lights, the outlets, the switches – everything – all set.

Sunday was outrageously insane. Immediately following breakfast, Mike called over our drywall’n neighbor to help him measure and determine the right amount of drywall sheets. Before 10am, the whole family was packed in the truck for the weekly trip to our favorite orange-themed home improvement warehouse.

This, we have down to a science.

Upon entry, we split up – Mike with the big cart, heading for drywall, and Mikey and I in the racecar cart headed towards electrical. While Mike got the drywall, screws, mud, and insulation, Mikey and I made a return, picked up plastic sheeting, a 2’ closet light, and a pancake box for the vanity light. We were even lucky enough to score a free two-person plastic kids sled at customer service. (I guess they don’t expect to sell them this winter.)

We all met back up at the register, having coordinated our shopping list across the store via our cell phones. Immediately I asked, “Where’s the drywall?” There was none on the cart. Then I saw the forklift… with half a pallet – 20 sheets of the mold resistant green stuff. Boy, did that add up. 20 sheets plus 2 buckets of mud plus 3 packs of R15 plus drywall screws, plus all the stuff in our racecar cart. To the tune of over $500.

Didn’t matter – we were on an orange-plastic funded mission. And we loaded up everything and headed for home. Our neighbor pulled in to our driveway right after we arrived. He and Mike unloaded a few things and got right to work.

The first challenge was the vent for the fan. Mike had the distinct pleasure of drilling through over 10” of solid PT to get a hole from the inside of the basement to the outside, at the bottom of the porch. (Think a thick sill plus thick farmer’s porch construction.) His hole saw couldn’t even make it all the way from one side. He had to go outside and drill from the opposite direction.

 By the time that was done, two of our other neighbors arrived and helped bring down all the drywall. Then, they took a break to walk around and mark the property borders using all their resources – online maps, printed maps, a super long tape measure, and a can of orange marker paint. Then they made some clams casino. Then, I was sent on a beer run.

(You keeping up with all this?) Just a day in the life here in this neighborhood.

They all headed back downstairs after “lunch,” built a small soffet over the sink area to hide a pipe that just couldn’t have gone anywhere else, and then cut and hung all the ceiling drywall. All the neighbors left after the ceiling was up, but Mike and I pressed on.

I finished the insulation as Mike continued to hang drywall. He and I both put up the plastic sheeting over the insulation, an extra moisture barrier layer, and then Mike went back to hanging.

After Mikey and I had dinner, and after Mikey was in bed, Mike was still hanging. I rejoined him to clean up and we called it a night with over 75% of the room finished.

Next step, of course, da mud. But that may have to wait. Next Saturday begins kitchen demo madness. I have to first empty everything from all the cabinets and prepare the room for demo. Sunday, demo.

For the week following, we’ll be in a rush to finish the drywall, paint, and small amount of electrical in prep for the arrival of the new cabinets.

A Tub In Time

Mike is a highly distractable dude. We've talked about this before... you know, the whole, "No New Projects Until Unfinished Projects Have Been Completed" policy that I try to keep in effect? This weekend, his goal was to put in the tub. Unfortunately, he got stuck on Sunday... he wasn't 100% confident on putting in the drain and had a slew of questions. He called our plumber friend who promised he'd try and come out some time this week.

But, with plenty of other tasks to be accomplished, Mike continued on, purchasing more lumber & doors for the closet and additional plumbing parts. And that brought Sunday to a close, since we had a dinner/tax date in the evening.

So, with all this to do downstairs, plus hooking up our new car stereos, plus hooking up our new Wii, plus a whole lot of other projects I shouldn't even mention.... what the hay - the new furnace filter, the Jeep go-cart project, cleaning the carpet/couch with the upholstery machine we brought home like 3 or 4 weeks ago... ok, I'll stop there. So, with all that, I was shocked to hear that he borrowed a metal detector on Monday and was gallivanting around the yard searching for our property markers.

Really? As I said, highly distractable. His reasoning was the putting up for sale of the house next door, who uses a portion of our property for their driveway. We don't mind that they use the land - we're just not giving it up. Still I ask, really? The house just went on the market and I'm guessing it will take some time to sell, just like last time.

And he didn't even find the markers he was looking for. The detector at one point beeped "GOLD" so he got down and dug... beer can. I reminded him again how useless I thought a metal detector was in our yard. For years, previous owners had buried their trash. (That's just what they did in the olden days.) So there's a ton of junk underground. We've found car parts, dishes, bottles, cans, and plenty of other worthless junk in the ground out there - simply by accident, or by digging.


Sometimes, you just can't argue with guys. I'm just hoping our plumber can visit us soon so this weekend doesn't turn into a scavenger hunt to nowhere too.

Change of Previously Changed Plans

Yes, after some more reconnoitering, Sunday became a hybrid of the first plan and the second plan - resulting in a jam packed day of progress on all fronts.

Turns out our neighbor Richard really needed an excuse to get out of his house for a while. So he came over early in the AM to finish up the drywall in the living room with Mike. With the heat turned up, the pea coat dried in no time at all, allowing the guys ample time to prime out the entire room - walls to ceiling.



Meanwhile, I lined up a babysitter for next Sunday (thank you mummy bread) so Mike and I can tag team the hardwood. (After flooring the upstairs, baby's room, and the mudroom together, we're two unstoppable floor installin machines.) What a fitting way to celebrate VDay, right!? This tight deadline will also provide some much needed mid-week painting motivation, because it all has to be finished and dry come what may, come what Sunday.

The color will be the same... yeah, Mike again tried to convince me that the white would be better. No.

Since he and Richard started so early, Mike found himself with a free and clear afternoon. So he invited over some of his good guy friends to help him put the cab down on Dodge #2, take down the scaffolding, and load up the trailer. And believe it or not, even all that went smoothly! And now the cab is on...

The scaffolding is down...

And the trailer is loaded up with the old cab, plus some other metallic junk destined for a scrap run...

And still the guys were finished by around 5 - leaving Mike and I plenty of time to take the baby down to RI for a visit with the fam.

Everything just worked out so perfectly! I can only hope for some repeat good luck this coming week and weekend.

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Kink in the Weekend

I was right about the pea coat. That is, in fact, the next step. But our neighbor is actually headed up to Maine for a hunting trip and our other drywalling neighbor has some pressing family matters to tend to... so we're on hold for a bit. And that's fine. Both those guys are doing us such a big favor. They're allowed to take their time.

So Mike's going to take advantage of Sunday's nice weather to take care of Dodge #2, who's cab is still lifted up on that crazy contraption in our side yard. (As you'll recall, the blizzard halted all vehicle work.) His plan is to lower the cab onto the frame and move the old cab onto the trailer so it can be filled with scrap metal and eventually hauled in for scrap. And then he can take down the crazy scaffolding and clean up the side yard.

Our friend Shawn may also come by to work on/pickup our old boat, which he purchased back around the time of the blizzard, but hasn't been able to pick up due to weather, scheduling, and trailer issues.

Meanwhile, Mike will trade our Big Bear 400 quad for a new boat trailer, on which he'll be putting our new boat.... and if the trailer comes, the boat better be ours. The seller has been going back and forth - sell or no sell - for some time now. But now he wants to sell, so we've got to grab it before he changes his mind again.

Never a dull moment, right? Of course, we're both dam sick of living in shambles, so you bet your butt we're going to be working like mad next week/weekend to get it all done.

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15 Minute Man

As promised, Rich was over on Monday to help Mike with the drywall in the hallway and downstairs bedroom. And would you believe it only took 15 minutes to fix and get a first coat on everything?!

Rich was just leaving as I was getting home from work - amazing. But, it's as he said - small stuff, easy to fix.

Hallway

Downstairs Bedroom

The two of them are getting together again tonight, first to put another quick coat on the downstairs bedroom and maybe some sanding in the hallway - should only take another 15 minutes or so. Then they'll go over to Rich's house, where Mike is helping him tape up his Jeep in prep for painting. Everybody wins - I love it!

The drywall, if finished this time around, will have to dry for another couple of days before it can be painted. It may turn out to be an all-paint weekend for Mike, who'll be painting the Jeep and now possibly these two rooms. (Although he may also help his parents, who are moving back to the Cape. If so - paint can wait until next weekend.)

And the big exciting news from yesterday - we both went to my ultrasound in the morning. And it is definitely a boy. =) We're so psyched!

"HI EVERYBODY!"

Motivation Strikes Again!

Amazing what a new blog format will do! Proof positive - this Saturday. Mike was pretty busy with winter time vehicle maintenance - you know, winterizing the boat, tuning up the skid steer, fixing the heat in my truck, putting a new chain and sprocket on the 4wheeler.... standard fall/winter stuff.

He came in around noon after finishing up the boat and I casually mentioned the hallway drywall and asked if he wanted to finish it up or if our neighbor Rich could come by soon to do it. (Since it was half done already and just needed another skim before it could be repainted for good.)

Well, somehow this led into a discussion of our downstairs guest room soon-to-be baby room and before you know it, I'm pulling out my paint color scheme and Mike's in the room inspecting the drywall! And wouldn't you know it, soon after that we're taking the old twin guest mattress and the desk out of the guest room and hauling it to the dump!

When we got back, Mike was back out in the garage to fix my heat. But me - I completely cleaned out the guest room. (save for the heavy stuff) Curtains, nick nacks, junk we'd been storing in there - everything.

Of course, it pained me to mess up the upstairs office after just having cleaned all the Halloween stuff out of there the previous weekend! Now it looks like this:


Ok, back to the bedroom:

Then I figured I might want to start a list of things we need in here. A new door for sure - this one was bought as a temp and doesn't match all the rest of the house's wood doors. Plus, it's taken a lot of abuse. We actually lived in this room during early renovations and this door separated us and our stuff from the dusty gross and unfinished house beyond.

Of course we need outlet covers - 5 of them. And one outlet has yet to be installed! Plus two switch covers and one switch for the closet light... oh yeah, and a closet light. Closet doors too.

Window trim and curtains.

Then there's the floors. Unfortunately the floor is super soft in this room. You jump on it and the whole room shakes. You can see the floor buckling - it's terrible.

That evening our neighbor Rich stopped by and of course he got all excited when Mike mentioned drywall. Especially when the two of them came in to look at the room and the hallway. There wasn't much that needed to be done. In fact, Rich asked if he could come over some evening this week! Mike suggested Monday. Great, done deal.

So in one swoop, we go from stagnation to motivation.... it's funny really. When we decide to move - we move QUICK. I think that's what has really allowed us to make such great progress over the years.

Anyway, tonight the guys will be working drywall. I have my dance class, so timing is perfect. Maybe if we're lucky, Mike will be able to paint this weekend. That's a lot to ask for a short week with Thanksgiving stuck right in the middle - but you never know when motivation will strike!

Sweet Rhapsody

Sweet Rhapsody, Mirage Lake, and Star Shine... oh yeah, and the blue is Coastal Mist, but I doubt I'll use that one.

I couldn't resist checking up on boy/girl neutral colors at Behr.com. Teal has been in my head since the beginning - I'm not a pink-for-girls and blue-for-boys kind of person... and I'm definitely not a yellow kind of person either. So when I saw this color combo, with my main color's name of "Sweet Rhapsody," I just fell in love.

Behr has sample rooms you can point and click your paint into to experiment with. I have to say I also like the idea of doing an accent wall in the darker Mirage Lake teal color. The Star Shine would go on the ceiling - appropriately.

Of course here I am thinking about paint when I should be thinking about the logical first step in that downstairs bedroom - drywall. It has yet to be fixed. Then there's the hallway, right outside the room, with drywall half done. All that should really be taken care first since it takes so long - the mudding, the drying, the sanding, the dust everywhere.

I don't know if I want to hassle the neighbors into coming over again to do it this time. They've done so much for us this summer. Although if they find out that Mike did drywall on his own, we'll be in big trouble. Don't ask - I'm guessing it's some drywaller perfectionist pride or something.

One step at a time.

Roofing Relief

With "Roofer" crossed off the immediate needs list, Mike and I were off to Morse Lumber on Saturday, roof specs in hand, for an estimate on materials.

Let me tell you, I was preparing myself for the worst... imagining a number as high as $3,000 and just as impossible. As Mike read off the list and our rep and neighbor Matt typed it all in, my heart was just pounding. Whatever it was - it needed to be done.

Then we went upstairs with Matt where his printer was... and as soon as he passed that piece of paper, I nearly fainted with joy. It was more than doable - it was under budget at just over $1500 for everything. I could have hugged the guy, I was just so psyched.

"Go ahead and deliver it on Monday!" we said.

What a relief. I relaxed for the rest of the weekend, my mind at ease. With the materials ordered, and the roofer and our neighbors available next weekend - we had everything we needed and we're going to have it done (hopefully) by the end of Sunday. I imagine it will go quick with Mike, the roofer, our neighbors Rich and Dana, and our carpenter TJ, who will come on Saturday to button up portions of the porch to prepare for roofing and help out. And me? Well, being afraid of heights and unable to lift heavy loads or successfully operate most power tools, I'll probably be sitting this one out until clean up time.

I'm in charge of clean up. Yay, my fav. Eh, it's not so bad. Whatever helps, you know?

I'm really really looking forward to the completion of the roof. It'll be another major accomplishment that we won't have to worry about again for another 30 or so years. Not to mention the advantages of porch-roof water proofing... Mike and I really enjoy sitting out during the rain storms and haven't been able to yet with all the leaks through the plywood seams.

After this - a little siding and that completes exterior work for this year. Then we're back inside to complete the mud room before the upcoming Halloween party. =)

The Roof Race is On!

What a wash of a weekend! Saturday morning, Mike and I battened down the hatches for the impending tropical storm Hanna. Then we sat inside and suffered in the 97% humidity watching movies and waiting for the storm.... which turned out to be a whole lot of nothing. But at least we got the scaffolding put away and the plywood downstairs. Not a total loss for our cleaning efforts.

Sunday morning our neighbor's nephew came by to look at and measure the roof. The good news is - he can do it and our neighbor will help out too. He measured it and told us everything we need to get. And the bad news? Well, we've got to order up all those materials. I'm not sure what the cost is going to be, but I'm sure it won't be pretty, whatever it is.

I'm not sure if we're even starting this weekend - considering the forecast already predicts rain all weekend. We'll see - they're always changing their minds mid week.

Hopefully Mike will be able to make a call into Morse Lumber to get a price on and order (if the price is do-able) the materials. The guys estimated it would only take a couple of weekends to get the entire thing done, which is great news. Fall is upon us.

Sunday Story

Dateline, Sunday June 1st..... yes, it's already June 11th - so I'm 10 days behind. And if you think I've been neglecting this blog - you should hear about all the other stuff I've been neglecting... accidentally mind you.

I think I may have perhaps reached my limit on "stuff" going on. And brain overload has caused side effects too numerous to mention. Meanwhile Mike has been taking on mad side jobs on top of his usual weekly "guy friends to visit after work" list.

On to the Sunday story.

Of course, as you know, Sunday 6/1 was Mike's bday. And even though I hadn't originally wanted to do anything, see anyone, etc etc, a couple friends asked if they could come over with some BBQ stuff for a little impromptu party. I reluctantly agreed, but then decided to stop being such a poop head and invite more people. It was Mike's 30th after all.

But when I told Mike we were all having a party, he was not too enthusiastic about it. "I just want to get work done," he said. Well, then I threw my arms up and thought, "Why do I bother?!" But it was too late to cancel - it was already Friday when all this went down.

You know the story of Saturday. (see previous post) So we'll skip to Sunday.

Mike had me up at around 7 or 8 and we began ripping siding and shingles off the house - just like before, except higher up. (Because now the guys needed something to attach the roof of the porch to.)

I commemorated the occasion on one of the walls with a note and a smiley face.

Around 9 or 10, TJ and Paul had arrived to help us out. Meanwhile, our neighbor Rich brought over his staging for us to borrow, which really helped out on the higher, 8' sections.

Soon after that, I had make a Home Depot run for plywood, tyvek, and lead flashing. And I was not happy about it. The party was supposed to start around noontime and the house and porch were both in shambles and I had to leave my post to go out.

On top of that, the bill for all the materials was outrageous. Do you know how much a 12" wide roll of lead goes for now adays?! $140!!! I nearly died and prayed that this one roll would be able to get us through.

When I got back, I discovered that the guys had appeased the porch gods with some lizard torture.
And I suppose anything to bring some good luck....

Then I had to go on a beer run. Awesome. I was thrilled, as you can imagine. Meanwhile the guys put up plywood and began attaching beams to the posts.

The party started around 1:30, 2ish. And the guys were still working. I didn't even take these pics, I was too busy trying to apologize to everyone that the bday boy did not want to stop working. Despite the construction underway, the guys hung out and watched as Mike and TJ and Paul continued working. Us gals took our drinks to the picnic table in the back yard to at least get out of the kitchen.


The guys just really wanted to get all the plywood on and make the front of the house water tight. That was their goal. So they kept at it. I'm not sure what time they finished up, but at that point, we brought the picnic table on the porch and were finally able to all hang out together.

Here's the finally tally on trash:

And then we tortured the lizard some more...

And of course we had some good food courtesy of everyone (who each brought something to eat or drink) and our neighbor Dana, who made clams casino and jalepeno poppers.

So all in all it turned out to be a really good time and everyone said they had lotsa fun. Plus we got all the plywood attached.

A couple days later, Mike and I stapled on the Tyvek - and that's still at the point we're at now. We took a break last weekend due to extreme heat and did other fun stuff - like a dump run, scrap metal run, Rich's bday party across the street, drive-in movie, boating....

This weekend it'll probably be back to work though.

And that's the Sunday story. For all the pics, check out MYSPACE

Memorial Madness

Whatta weekend. My brain is 100% mush at this point. I've barely been able to function - let alone think intelligently about anything.

As you know, Mike ordered materials last Friday. They were delivered first thing Saturday morning and the guys arrived shortly after to begin framing the porch.

And I was even pleased at the bill for all that PT - it was less than I had estimated. Always a great way to start the day. Plus the weather was gorgeous - perfect in fact.

It was just incredible to see it all take shape. It quickly became apparent that this porch was going to be awesome. It would be tall, wide - commanding I'd say. It's going to totally change the dynamic of the house.

The guys made fast work of the framing and were finished by the end of saturday.

Here's the view from the side - just look at how big this one portion will be. Still no steps though....

Speaking of which, I've got to give props to this little blue Rubbermaid step stool, which has been our main means of entry into the house since the house lift of 2005. After all is said and done, I'm going to email Rubbermaid and congratulate them on manufacturing such a rugged plastic step stool. This thing has withstood time, weather, and hundreds of ups and downs. It's been buried in snow, drenched in rain, stomped on, fell on, blasted with the rays of the sun.... and still it survives. It doesn't even have one crack in the plastic! And to think, this step stool actually came with the house.... so who knows its actual age and what it had to endure before Mike and I subjected it to the elements.

After the porch steps are finished, it will finally be able to retire to the normal step stool life - giving me the occassional lift to be able to reach the top shelf in a cabinet.

Watch it break when I go to step on it tonight....

Anyway, back to the madness. I woke up on Sunday morning and kinda trudged about the house, cleaning this and that and whatnot. Then Mike got up and immediately said, "What are you doing? Get ready! We have to leave!"

I think I actually replied, "Huh?" And then he explained that the guys were coming back to work and we needed to go to the Home Depot to get decking. Oh! I had no clue work would be continuing on Sunday.

What's more, Mike didn't think they'd get so far in one day - he hadn't ordered the decking from Morse on Friday! And although I wasn't mad, per say, I immediately knew that going to the DeepHo would be utter hell. Not only that, I knew I was about to waste a whole boatload of money - it made me nauseous. I couldn't stand that thought. I was about to purchase stuff at full price that I could have gotten from Morse at a discount. A lot of stuff. I could have given my left arm for a damn coupon I was so frustrated.

But it couldn't wait. The guys were coming. We had to do it.

The Home Depot on Memorial Day weekend. Hell. 100% hell. First off, there's two million idiotic do-it-yourselfers (even though I'm one of them, I still can't deal with the crazy other idiots) and then there's about 3 million employees floating around, not being helpful.

So we go over to the decking section. We need 36 16' and 19 14' long pieces. That's a crazy amount, so we brought two carts.

Well! First off, there's a forklift parked right in front of the 16' pieces. Next to that, there's two carts filled with trash. We moved the two carts of trash - but of course we couldn't move the forklift. Mike starts picking pieces. It's a long process.

Then, all of a sudden I turn around and our second cart is gone! Somebody walked by and just took it! I kicked myself for not putting something on it. So I had to go and find another cart.... all the way out in the parking lot of course.

I got back just in time to see a bunch of employees just hanging out in our section. One employee guy said to us, "Sucks that the forklift is there." And he did nothing to move it - or find someone to move it. Then he asked us how many pieces of decking we needed. We told him 36 16' and 19 14'. He told us they didn't carry 14'. Great. At this point we had only picked about 20 of the 36 16' pieces. And then the guy walked away, on to be of no help to somebody else I suppose.

Finally we had our 36. And we had no clue what to do about the 14' ones, so we just decided to purchase these and come back later when we had figured out what to do. Then when we got back to the truck, it was time to load 'em up.

Despite the fact we have a full size dually dodge diesel pickup truck - 36 16' PT decking is a lot to handle. As we stacked them, they kept wanting to slide off the tailgate where we had them hanging off. So we had to keep strapping them down every time we had a large bunch that I couldn't hold back all by myself anymore. Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

So to recap - we overpaid, we had a bitch of a time picking, they didn't have the 14' length, the place was crowded, the employees were totally unhelpful, we had to load our own stuff.... utter hell.

But when we got back home - finally - the guys got right to work.

Our neighbors even came over to help - we had too many people and not enough work at one point! Imagine that. And with so much bending over going on - TJ just had to pose for some silly crack pics.
OMG - we could have died laughing at this one.

By the end of the day - when we ran out of decking - we were nearly to the front door. Everyone was pretty hot and tired anyway, so we decided to quit for the day. We enjoyed the rest of the evening sitting on the deck with some drinks. Mike and Paul christened our half done porch by lighting off a few firecrackers. And then a couple of our neighbors lit some off.

All in all - a productive weekend. Next weekend - more progress is planned. More materials are needed of course. I'm not sure how much we're ordering this time. And I think we still have to go to the DeepHo for the rest of the decking - or else it won't match what we already have. Urg! Just the thought of having to pick 19 more pieces just kills me... and if HD doesn't carry 14' - we have to buy 16. And that's a cost to waste ratio that does not make me feel warm 'n fuzzy inside.

And yes, it is preferable to go straight 14' instead of breaking it up into smaller pieces and patterning it. (This is for the shorter section by the french doors.)