MAKING PROGRESS WITH GRAND DECKS

Making progress on a deck doesn’t look like this, but the ending does.

Inspector dog agrees.

Three picture framed sections? Check.

Boards fastened without anything showing? Check.

Railing is sturdy? Check.

But what did it look like before?

The house was owned by a nice couple who had plans that almost worked out.

What those plans were I don’t know, but they had eight dogs that used the original wooden deck as a pee-pad.

It had a green sheen when we moved in.

It had a hole in it once I power washed it and fell through. I was not making progress on that one.

I didn’t actually fall all the way to the ground, but one foot broke a board and one leg went down to my knee.

That was enough for a red flag and a rebuild. (Hey Mark)

My buddy drew up a plan. (Hey Al)

We replaced all of the wooden boards with composite figuring we were set for decades.

 

Decades Later

We used boards rated for use on twenty-four inch centers so we didn’t replace the joists, the support under the boards.

We didn’t add more to make it a 12″ center because the decking was heavy duty.

Twenty years later the decking sagged and the screws fastening it from the top started lifting up.

Another red flag moment that sent us into the bid process for a renewal?

Failing railing.

 

 

Grand Decks answered the call.

 

Choose Grand Decks when you’re looking for a reliable local deck builder with proven experience in professional deck construction and deck installation.

Our licensed and insured deck contractors bring over five years of hands-on experience building custom decks for homeowners in the area.

From new deck builds to full deck replacements, we combine skilled craftsmanship with dependable service you can trust.

Experience the Grand Decks difference and start your custom deck project with a local deck company that puts quality first.

 

The Grand Decks Experience

We met the guys in the field, the sales guy, the manager, and the crew.

Everything began on the start date with the crew.

If you’ve ever worked blue collar you know how important the crew is.

I was a hod carrier in my mid-twenties. Hod carrier? From Google AI:

 

Being a hod carrier (also known as a bricklayer’s tender or mason tender) is widely considered one of the most physically brutal and demanding jobs on a construction site.

It requires immense physical strength, stamina, and resilience to keep up with the fast pace of masonry work.

 

It was all of that and I pushed the pace since I was in such good shape, but my co-worker couldn’t keep up.

He was tired in the morning, weak in the after noon, and got in the way in between.

I asked the bricklayers to find another place for him. Turned out he was one of their neighbor’s kids and had to be on the job site for good relations.

I worked around him until they had to fire him because he was going to hurt himself.

I thought of that kid when the crew came to work.

The crew was one guy, a whirlwind of a guy with immense physical strength, stamina, and resilience.

If you’ve worked on a deck then you know the amount of packing, carrying, toting, lifting, kneeling up and down, it takes.

It takes one guy if it’s the right guy, and Vadym was that guy.

Like a seasoned athlete he moved with a certain precision with little waste of motion.

I sensed a man locked into the task at hand, and that it didn’t include the small talk.

Maybe six feet tall, one hundred ninety pounds, in one day he did the work of three men.

The old decking and railing off and out, old joists removed, bingo, bango, bongo.

 

An Artist’s Picture Taking Shape

Every joist top taped to prevent rot, off-set bridging set, and the leveling.

Based on the evidence of forensic deck analysis, my old deck was made by timber framers who had a grasp of the concept, not so much the execution.

The man from Grand Decks turned navigating the joists into a ballet.

He used the pile of tools he brought to the job like an orchestra conductor, and it was a big orchestra.

Non-stop, day after day, step by step, this deck engineer produced a beautiful vision.

 

 

See the decking, the gaps, and the railing.

One man did it all. All of the joist hangers, all of the post fabrication.

This isn’t a kit. Everything came in straight stock and Vadym worked the wood and metal like an architect who knew how to build what they drew.

 

Engineer? Architect? Artist?

At the end of the day everything is capped and fastened from one end to the other.

Earthquake proof. (Hey Alex)

Picked up and swept by the young new guy. (Hey buddy)

Now you may ask, ‘Blogger D, what’s with the big pump post for Grand Decks?’

 

 

Well the wife and I are baby boomers who met forty years ago as Portland baby boomers in NW Portland.

We a well seasoned married couple with two millennial kids who keep a sharp eye out for noting our behavior, which we encourage.

‘How we doing, boys?’

 

They see memes like this and nod.

So we’re making progress on ridding ourselves of some things. Who needs three deck tables? What is this, the Titanic?

I’ve always thought of builders as magicians who make things out of a pile of what looks like debris.

In the end it turns into something magnificent.

Where does it begin in America? Where should it go?

I plan on building more things with my kids the way Grand Decks and Vadym did the deck: with patience and no short cuts.

 

PS: 

We won’t handle anything more times than we have to.

We’ll stage material and tools according to use so we’re not stepping over things.

 

PSS: 

I will call Al Wheeler in Redmond if there’s a problem I can’t figure out. Everything can’t be answered by a Youtube video, or a Facebook expert.

Somewhere down the line when they visit their own grandkids and do some work themselves they’ll remember their old man?

Noooo

They’ll remember their fathers in-law who can do things better than me.

We can all learn together. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

What’s yours? Are you making progress?