Now I need some deck chairs or benches

Well it was a hot week thank fully I was working under a roof most of the time. So here's what we did.
On Tuesday I finished framing up the deck joists. For the last 6-8 ft I had to lay down purchased stone as the bricks were all gone. I used 1" Terra Stone which is red in colour. I will use this stone for all the areas that I do not have grass or gardens, after first laying down landscape fabric. Once this was done we started on the decking. Again I used Sienna 5/4 deck boards just like the rear deck. They went down smoothly and by the end of the day I had almost 80% of the deck covered. The reason I did not complete it is that I purposely bought less boards than I needed so that at the end I could easily calculate what I would need to finish it and not have any left over. Having a lumber yard a 1km away makes this an easy affair to go and just pick-up what you need as you need it. So after dinner spent some time installing the two front porch lights. When I bought these lights they also had a larger version I was looking at however, I thought they might be a little too big. In hindsight I maybe should have gone with the larger version but these do look nice as is. Here are a couple of picture showing the work.

On Wednesday we finished the decking and also installed a little bit of vinyl lattice as skirting around the bottom of the deck to prevent animals from entering the area. Once I install my stairs I'll also install lattice at both ends of the deck. Hopefully you can see it but I also built a small platform that sits in front of the door to break up the height differential from deck to house floor. On the whole I am pleased with the deck and look forward to sitting on it as the years go by. Here is a picture of the finished decking and skirting.

On Friday evening I spent a little bit of time taking the leftover pieces of stone from when they put the stone on the house to the road to build a small wall in the ditch around the culvert. Nothing fancy and not mortared together just placed in loosely with some pieces interlocking hopefully with the gravel behind. At least it cleans up the transition a bit from ditch to driveway and from grass to gravel. Unfortunately I forgot to let the camera acclimatize to the humid weather outside after sitting in a cool house so the picture is a little fuzzy.

So on Saturday we installed all the 1by8 tongue and groove on the deck ceiling as soffit material. Once that was complete I installed some of the red vinyl board and batten siding above the two windows and door entrance. After it was all done I swept off the deck savoured my handiwork. I am quite pleased with the finished project. All that is left is to figure out what type of railings I will install and the  install a set of stairs at the drive way end of the deck. Here are some pictures showing the finished deck.

 After all this I did a little bit of work on starting the garden shed behind the garage however the majority of that will be done later this week. As well I look forward to getting the cable company out on Tuesday to hook me up so that I have internet at the house. 

Well until next week stay cool and remember to hydrate if you are working out in all this heat and humidity we've been having lately.

Harold