All Hands, No Deck

Yeah, well, I suppose it was inevitable. Once we'd had the necessary work done to repair the deck on one side of the house following our termite problem already discussed, it was always on the cards that it would serve merely to show just how awful the rest of the decking on the house was. And lo, it came to pass.

For the price of a high end, very-nicely-loaded-thank-you BMW 3 series, we are now having the remainder replaced too. Yes, yes, I get all the arguments about how it preserves the value of the house and makes it more appealing when you sell, but then to my way of thinking so too would parking that same BMW in the driveway and throwing it in the with sale. Such logic, alas, doesn't seem to be universally appreciated so a new deck it is then, dear.

Caution? More like a bloody great wealth warning!

Deck Update

Some of you may be wondering what the update was on the termite saga at home, first discussed here.

The good news was that we avoided having to have the whole house tented. There were very few signs of the little blighters when we pulled off part of the siding and accompanying trim-work, so the bug-man said we were OK with spot-treating those areas.

Bad news was that we had to demolish a double-decker, err, deck to get us here. Debris neatly piled in the driveway and pictured above shows the result. Just to add to the repair cost, the joists forming the deck were simply the house joists extended outwards. Yup, the deck was, in part, holding the house itself up ...

(There are bits of the upstairs bedroom by the end wall I tend to now tread upon very lightly indeed these days.)

Still don't have an estimate for slapping all this stuff back together but my guess is another $6k minimum. Therefore, may have to considering eBay'ing the dog's collection of deer bones you can just see being modelled atop the electricity meters. Feel free to make a "buy now" proposal if you are so minded!