Mind if I dismantle the deck?

I called Tim at work on October 29th to ask him if he minded if I started ripping apart the deck. "Sure, go for it." Not knowing how motivated I was to get rid of the expansive grey deck with rotting stairs, I got to work right away.

First, I started by turned off the breaker to the electrical work and began removing the non functioning lights.

Next came the lattice bottom border and railings, then I started prying up boards. This is when Tim came home and was dumbfounded that I had gotten this far.

The next morning, a beautiful fall day, we got to work ripping up all the boards. Tim was using the pry bar while I pounded back the nails and sawed some of the pieces in smaller chunks for easy transport.

By the end of the day, nearly all of the pieces were removed and relocated to the alley for easy pick up. We saved some of the larger beams and better pieces for future (yet to be determined) projects. Within 1 week of posting "Free lumber" on Kijiji, all of the wood was gone and avoided the landfill!

SOOOO happy the ugly deck is gone!

Repurposing

Being on a very tight budget forced us to be creative and thrifty with what was already on our property. One of the first repurposing endeavors we undertook was using the boards that were ripped up from our flat deck to build raised beds where spruce roots would have made gardening challenging.

From the fencing that was around the garden to keep out the dogs who previously occupied this lot, we made tomato cages.

The planter boxes near our back entrance were falling apart (especially on the bottom) and were a sad shade of grey. Everything about this place seemed to be grey: interior walls, garage cabinets, ALL of the concrete, and deck. To add a splash of colour to the backyard after repairing the boxes with leftover laminate flooring and lining the inside with a plastic mattress cover, I painted them lime green.

The largest repurposing project is yet to be discussed....stay tuned!