Our house was built during the 1950's and so was the brick and cement front porch. Cement, brick and mortar being what they are (and the salt we have to throw on the ice on the steps didn't help either), the bricks were crumbling, the mortar was crumbling and the cement was pitting. Whee.

So, we decided we'd remove the old porch and build a new wooden deck. Yes, we know, brick and cement lasts longer. We decided we'd like the look better. So off we went September 4th, 2003, to the City Hall to find out how much it costs for the privilege of letting the tax assessor know to rejudge your property value. $46 later we were in business. We also found out the holes had to be 42" deep to meet code. We were assured this was not deep enough to breach the mantle and hit the earth's hot, molten core but we were less sure.Running total: $46

So, here it is, porch in place along with some shrubs we're not terribly fond of either.

Part of the process of doing this new deck was getting rid of the shrubs so on Monday, September 8, Jane and her sister Jodie attacked the shrubs. In the course of a few hours, the shrubs were no more. A $20 departed with her for her help. Running total: $66

The week passed, Jane's mom (Jeri) and dad (Wayne) came over Saturday with some tools to help get the porch out. I wish I'd taken a picture of the sledge hammer I was using. We began taking the porch bricks out and then found that in 50 years, the sand and dirt had settled enough that the porch was hollow.

In fact, after breaking off the corner, 3 good hits was all it took to bring the rest down. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to beat the s*** out of a piece of concrete with a large maul...

A short while later, the concrete was off to the side out of the way, allowing us to clean up the rest of the former porch site.

Ah good, time for a surprise -- the brick of the porch has cement blocks (at least 3 layers deep) stacked under it! I guess it shouldn't have been that surprising but at first it looked like we might have to dig them out. In the end, the holes we need for the 4x4 deck support are going to miss them.

Hmm. Mailbox was next to door, above porch ... mailman can't get there ... what to do for now ... ah yeah, hang it off a piece of trellis for the deck!

And here we have the final pile of rubble. The plan is to throw the lava rock from around the shrubs and this crumbled concrete under the deck. It's what professional builders do (bury the junk at the worksite) so it should work for amateurs too, right? The brick, on the other hand, will be used to make a new path from the driveway to the steps coming off the front of the deck.

And the clean site ... ready for construction. Post holes go in this Tuesday, inspection by Wednesday and construction begins on Thursday. By next weekend (20th, 21st) we should have a completed wood deck!

And finally ... Jane and I standing on the site of our future deck!

Later we all went to Home Despot to pick up some of the building supplies -- cement, deck screws, lag bolts, rafter trusses, and other small items. Running total: $155.98

Update: 9/16
Post hole digging day arrived, meaning it was time to rent the post hole digger. I was at work while Jane, her dad Wayne, and her dad's friend Leonard did all the labor (good planning!) They got the work done in under 2 hours and called the inspector, for the inspection we were told would be done "within 24 hours" "within" turns out to be "at least" because they said they could not be out today (and weren't). Running total: $209.34

There is also now a large pile of lumber sitting in our driveway which represents everything except the posts, rails and spindles that go on the top of the deck. Those will be gotten later. Jane, Wayne and Leonard went and got the rest of the lumber today. No pics, piles of wood are largely boring unless you're a tree. Running total: $644.72

Update: 9/18
Wayne and Leonard came over today and construction really began. I was prepared to be happy if the posts got in the ground, the stringers strung, and the joists hoisted. Instead, we not only accomplished that but got 3 of the 8 deck rail posts in place and got half of the decking put on. We still have to buy the rail and spindles that go between the posts. The weather forecast for tomorrow includes rain so this may not get finished until Sunday. Pics will go up as soon as I get the energy to do so. Running total: $852.44

Update: 9/19
Wayne and Leonard were back again today for the next day of deck construction. The rain that was promised arrive in the form of a gentle mist that made us all damp for the first hour of the day. The rest of the deck rail posts went into place as did the remaining deck top. We built out the stairs as well. A lot more purchasing went on today including the final purchase of rails and spindles. This was easily the most expensive part of the deck and involved trips to Lowe's because the style and selection at Home Despot pretty much sucked. Running total: $1181.37

Update: 9/20
The last day! Today involved getting the last 2 posts in for the step rail, putting in the facing board and lattice work on the deck, and doing the damnable rails. Doing rails without pre-drilled holes sucks for the flat rails. Doing rails WITH the pre-drilled holes sucks for doing the diagonal rails. It doesn't seem to be the case that anyone carries the same style of rail with and without the pre-drilling which would have been very helpful. All that remains now is for us to get the inspection (a formality, we hope), dig the garden beds, bring in dirt for the garden beds, construct a side walk, get a new porch light, get a new mailbox, et cetera. Ack. The largest portion of the labor is over though. Everything else can be puttered at. Final (?) Total: $1,214.36

Update: 9/23
The city inspector has been out, he's looked over our construction, he's given us our little piece of "approved" paperwork and told us to enjoy our new deck. It's legit!

Update: 10/1
Today we finally got the chance to begin work on the brick sidewalk. We've been busy with some very boring flower bed work -- tilling, throwing peat and manure on it, tilling again, putting the rock edging in place, etc. There will be some pictures once it's all done and some fall annuals (mums) are in place. It will really be colorful in the Spring when the bulbs come up.

Update: 10/12
Long, no update. We've pretty much finished the landscaping but I keep forgetting to take pictures before the sun gets high in the sky. What I've got below are 2 pics taken before we finished the walk. It looks much better now -- the step landing goes out as far as the sidewalk does and we've filled dirt and sod back in around the edges of the steps.

We also spent some time today putting up Halloween lights! Here's a pic after dark without a flash. The lights are orange and purple. Halloween is one of our favorite holidays, even before Christmas. We always make sure to give out full size candy bars to the kids who stop by.

Update: 10/16
Well, this is possibly the last update I have. The two pics below show the final project for this year. Next year we have some grass to seed and some ground cover to plant, but there probably won't be pics of it -- I've bored people enough at this point. ;)