Decked Out
We have long known that the steps on the east side of our house have needed replacement. This is mostly due to the fact that they were crumbling, sometimes right underneath our feet, and getting worse as each year went by.
Couple this with a bad appearance, an old-fashioned railing, a patchwork patio and sidewalk, and a weather-beated privacy fence and it was certainly one of the less-appealing aspects of our otherwise cute abode.
Moreover, it had become a safety hazard, especially carrying a small child up and down the steps in the dead of winter, snow and ice covering it in slippery bumps. So, it was decided that they must come out and be replaced,
and a deck might be just the ticker for replacing them in a fashionable and useful manner.
Now, whoever originally poured the concrete for these steps should really be congratulated, as it was about the hardest element known to man. Instead of cracking and splintering like normal cement does when you whack it
with a 20 lb sledgehammer, the tool simply bounced off with barely a thump. I sweated and swore and smacked and swung for several days but to no avail. Concrete blades in the circular saw, cold chisels and a hammer, and singing high opera notes did no good. In the end, I had to rent an electric jackhammer from Ace Hardware in Charles City ($65 for a day). My father and my friend Paul helped out the first night getting started on the behemoth.
Here Dad hammers away while Paul works on helping clear the debris broken loose. Despite the fierceness of the hammer, the going was slow and methodical.
Running a jackhammer was a lot easier than I thought. There’s a sweet spot to it where you want to be pushing down hard enough, but not too hard. Not enough pressure and it bounces all over; too much and it can’t pound the concrete correctly. Other than that, it doesn’t necessarily take someone built like a brick shithouse to run, although after doing it for hours on end, you gain an acute understanding of why most jackhammer operators are burly folk.
This was our progress after the first night of work for about 2.5 hours or so. The original plan was to only knock down the top step and leave the rest underneath; however, once we got the top step out of the way, we found that the wall of the house was rotted out and we’d have to at least get that exposed, which is what we did.
A hefty pile of debris after the first night. This also includes the flat concrete pad that was around the steps, which I broke out with a sledge earlier in the week.
The lovely wall we were greeted with once we broke out the steps. It’s clear through into the crawlspace, which probably explains why there was practically a breeze coming from the crawlspace this past winter.
Half done! Dad and I got the wall repaired, posts set, and joists hung all in a night, then he showed up the next morning and kept going. I overslept and woke up to find it already half done. He’s the industrial sort!
Another view of the half-done.
The privacy fence side of it all done.
All done! Up the stairs.
Side of the stairs.
East side of the deck.
North side of the deck.
Modeling the new deck with my son.
Down the stairs! Since this picture I have replaced the brick at the end with a board walkway. Tres pretty.
The decking on the north side.
East side decking.
And the final pile of debris, which hasn’t left yet but hopefully will soon!
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