Shuffling the Deck
I believe this story will complete my deck analogy repertoire. I have “hit the deck” and “decked the haul”, so now I am shuffling the deck. To begin, a status report on the work. As of today (Tuesday, March 2nd) I have a perfectly smooth, perfectly sloped deck of hardened mud or mortar that will allow water to flow away from the house and over the front edge. It looks and feels amazingly sturdy. The fascia is sealed with something called Bitchathene, which is a bit of a bitch to put on since it is a heavy continuous roll of rubberized mesh that is placed over the wood and below the precisely fitted sheathing pieces of siding. This thing is precision built to say the least, and it is a testament to what patience and money can do to build things that will endure (which I am certain this deck will). They have also applied up against the house, layers of mesh and waterproof sealant to cover all the flashing where the deck meets the house in its irregular pattern. Today they will apply the waterproofing over the entire deck surface rendering it olive green (apparently a more expensive but better waterproofing than the stuff that was red). This happens just in time for a 97% odds rainstorm perfectly timed for tomorrow, as though it was God’s way of testing my newly waterproofed deck.
Handy Brad had me put my eye to the sight line on the edge of the deck to show me just how perfect he had made it. It is impressively flat. I bet that if I set ten ball bearings on the deck at the house, they would all flawlessly rolls towards the outer edge both smoothly and with little or no divergence. We will see for ourselves tomorrow when the rain begins and the water finds its own level. Obviously we are hoping there will be no puddles on the deck. He is currently putting on another layer of the waterproofing with a roller and with the two-hour drying cycle, it should be ready for the rain yes tomorrow. Meanwhile, Dave and Rich have permanently attached the siding on the fascia and have marked all the spots where the railing clamps will be going. They have also drilled all the holes for the low voltage lighting fixtures that are going on the fascia and will attach the fixtures after they have painted the siding. We have decided to go with a contrasting walnut brown paint for that fascia siding on the theory that the contrast to the deck and pillars (not to mention the house) will match and compliment the palapa and generally look very tailored.
All that Dave has left to do when he finished with the fascia is to put up the Densdeck gypsum sheets underneath and seal and fire-rate the deck. Once that is up and painted (along with the restuccoed pillars), we will wave goodby to Dave sometime next week. Handy Brad will start laying the tile once the rain stops and by Thursday at the latest. He just picked up a pallet-full of tile (512 square feet) so he has about another third of a pallet to pick up as well and then he can do what he was born to do, which is lay tile. I sense that the actual tile laying is like everything in life, a minor task compared to all the preparation that has come before to make the surface perfect for laying the tile. The tile is a very nice non-slip natural beige tile with the sorts of imperfections in coloration that make it look a lot like stone. It is in one by two foot tiles and looks like it will go down quickly and smoothly (he says with great optimism). It also looks like it is relatively easy to cut since the non-slip nature of the surface would seem to nicely hold a line. We shall see.
When that is done and the rail clamps are put in on Monday, the glass will be ordered and the guys can replace the deck furniture, which means we can reclaim our dining room and our garage. The palapa will get lowered and the stucco patches and painting will happen here and there. Then, after Handy Brad demolishes and removes the laundry room in preparation for the new installation on March 18th, he will be tasked to go take a few weeks off. In the meantime, the new front door will get put on and hopefully painted and we can take a well-earned break from all the household projects for a brief interlude.
I am debating what I will be most pleased with. Will it be seeing the completed deck? WIll it be sitting out there again enjoying the sunset and the cooling night air with the fire pit cranked up? Will it be seeing all of my new outdoor landscape and deck lighting in full deployment, showing off the deck and the surrounding downhill landscaping? Maybe its just the knowledge that we have gotten all of this behind us since the day I walked out and fell through the deck tile and began this odyssey? I know I won’t miss going to the bank each week and mustering out several thousands of dollars for payment to the crew and for an endless array of materials.
It so happens that on Friday I have Joventino coming back to the property to work on the yard. I started to do some weeding yesterday and wore myself out quickly, so I will be happy to assign him to weeding and pruning duty as well as to spread the three yards of mulch I had delivered to the front of the house. I am having 1.5 yards of pebble river rock delivered on Thursday in a super-bag, so he will have the goods to repair and tidy up the back path around the house. I know that the deck work is not 100% done yet and the smart move would be to wait for that before laying down new stone, but I’ve got him on Friday so I decided to have the stone delivered anyway. That path has taken a beating so this should at least get it back on track to repair.
In addition to all this, I had a meeting with a “door guy” who came to look at the front door to see if he could reasonably expect to install a slab door without having it pre-hung. He came with top quality leveling equipment (even Handy Brad, the level bubble guy, was impressed with his gear). After taking a few measurements, he deemed the door jam fit to be retrofitted. He looked at my lock set and deemed it high quality and good to go. Net, net, he will send me his bid and some sense of when he can do the job (its a one day job) tonight so I’m expecting this to get done next week. It so happens that nephew Jason is coming on Saturday with the mosaic that will adorn the front door. He had talked to me about what he has in mind, but we will not see it until we see it, so hopefully it is to our liking. My guess is that it will be, as everything he has done for us to date is very much to our liking. It will be a fun surprise.
I find myself feeling very self-satisfied that finally the work of the deck and a few other miscellaneous tasks are drawing to a close. I will miss seeing Dave and Rich every day and will be happy to let Handy Brad take the much-needed time off that he deserves. As a thank you, I gave each of the three guys a two-day gift certificate stay at the Lodge at Red River Ranch, my favorite Utah lodge that is right out of a Ralph Lauren ad. I’m hoping they all like the gift and take full advantage of it. It is my way of sharing one of my passions with guys I have lived with for fifteen weeks now. I may be shuffling the deck too much by going from employer to friend, but it is the sort of thing I always do and almost always feel good about my decision to do so.