Patio Progress, part 2

this is what it looked like before- the deck blocks are just hanging out, asking to mangle bare little toes

Friday I squared off the frame. It's still not quite as square as I wanted (you can see the bobble in the frame on the outside long section), but at least the frame now extends to the edges of the concrete deck blocks. I didn't want them being super visible because they're ugly, but they also could be a hazard to people's toes.

To build out the frame, I screwed 2x4's onto the existing 2x6's. I couldn't use more 2x6's because the existing 2x6's are resting in the grooves of the deck blocks. The 2x4's are resting on the top portions of the deck blocks, with small spacers placed underneath to make up the height difference (only about 1/8-1/4 inch).

hard to tell from this angle, but the deck blocks aren't hanging out anymore,

the bobble in the center of the frame can be seen though

Then we went to Lowe's and bought 12 pieces (it's a manageable number of boards to move from the lumber cart at Lowe's onto the utility trailer, then off the trailer and to the patio) of 10' decking, which ended up giving me 8 rows with a small piece on the 9th row. I would have liked to have one solid piece of decking across the whole width, but I would have had to buy 16' boards and cut them down to 14', and we don't have any way of hauling lots of 16' boards home. So I went with 10' boards and alternated the joints so they weren't all in the same place.

four rows of decking installed,

plus a better view of the deck blocks

I only managed four rows on Friday before calling it quits to make dinner. I finished using the decking I had on Saturday afternoon during River's nap. If it hadn't started raining we would have made another Lowe's trip so I could do more on Monday, but that didn't happen.

eight rows of decking installed

I'd hoped to completely cover the section closest to the house, but didn't quite make it

I will say that the bending, straightening, and twisting did not make my hips happy, and led to some soreness Saturday morning during the race. Definitely a tactical error on my part to aggravate my hips right before a 5k. Live and learn, though, right?

it's starting to look like a real deck!

can't wait to use the power washer to clean all that red mud off the lower portions of siding and the doors- it won't be an issue anymore since the mud is now covered and won't splash up onto the house

I'm using our Kreg deck jig to fasten the decking to the joists, and it is easy to use and gives nicer results than just screwing in each board from the top. I had to do that on the board closest to the house because there wasn't clearance for the drill, and you can really tell the difference.

Keeping in mind that I have to keep the amount of wood I purchase at one time manageable, I'm hoping to finish the decking after two more trips to the hardware store. If I can, one of those trips will also include the wood to finish the pergola.  My goal is to finish the deck by this Saturday evening- hopefully the weather cooperates!