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The company that I work for is struggling lately and that has resulted in temporary furloughs. With the unpaid time off that I now have, I decided that I could take on the big project of rebuilding my deck. The deck is as old as the house built in 2001. In addition, it was built poorly and cheaply. I performed some small repairs and maintenance over the years. I could have continued with that to extend the life a bit but decided to start from scratch.
Youtube videos are great at convincing you that anything is possible but often omit the unexpected challenges. Knowing these can be deceptive, I contacted 3 professional deck contractors. Only 1 responded and they quoted me around $20k. That is a considerable sum for me. I could do it myself for about 1/10 of that price (plus some blood, sweat, and tears). Why not give it a try?
During the construction, I'm learning a lot about deck building and maybe something about myself. Perhaps this is part of a mid-life crisis to want to build something. Or maybe I just want to get some new tools and feel manly. Self-psychoanalysis isn't productive and it doesn't matter anyway. I need a new deck and I don't want to spend a ton of money for it.
The furlough won't be long enough to finish the entire deck. I'll have to complete it over nights and weekends for the next few months. I can accept a slow pace so long as I can finish it.
Youtube videos are great at convincing you that anything is possible but often omit the unexpected challenges. Knowing these can be deceptive, I contacted 3 professional deck contractors. Only 1 responded and they quoted me around $20k. That is a considerable sum for me. I could do it myself for about 1/10 of that price (plus some blood, sweat, and tears). Why not give it a try?
During the construction, I'm learning a lot about deck building and maybe something about myself. Perhaps this is part of a mid-life crisis to want to build something. Or maybe I just want to get some new tools and feel manly. Self-psychoanalysis isn't productive and it doesn't matter anyway. I need a new deck and I don't want to spend a ton of money for it.
The furlough won't be long enough to finish the entire deck. I'll have to complete it over nights and weekends for the next few months. I can accept a slow pace so long as I can finish it.
