Today, Kate and I un-built a deck.
And when I say un-built I literally mean we went through the motions of building a deck but as if we were in rewind. It was a slightly strange process as I am used to at the end of the day being used to look at something I have made, while today I was left with a pile of lumber - the pieces of a deck that we had taken apart.
This deck belonged to one of our Workfest participants. He built the deck with his dad who is a carpenter several years ago and it was one of the last projects his dad was able to do before he became ill and therefore he has strong ties to it. This participant in particular is getting a two bedroom addition on his house to accommodate his family of seven. They're currently living in a 3 bedroom trailer which as you can imagine is quite cramped. The bulk of the work on this job will be accomplished during Workfest - CAP's alternative spring break trip for college students. However, in order to get ready for Workfest, we had to prepare and mark out the area for a foundation which unfortunately needs to go where the deck currently is located which meant the deck had to go. However, our participant didn't want the deck destroyed as it was still in good condition and it held a lot of sentimental value for him. So instead of demolishing it, Kate and I, with a little bit of help from Tony, took apart the deck screw by screw, one plank at a time. Luckily, it was built really well and was not too complicated to take apart. We even managed to save every board we took off (except for one piece that Tony broke). The wood was in such good condition that we will be able to rebuild the deck once the addition is built.
Following are the photos of my day in order from start to finish.
The Un-Building of a Deck
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| The deck before the dis-assembly |
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Halfway done removing the decking boards
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The bare joists
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Taking apart the joists
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| The pile of lumber and the posts with concrete still attached |
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