Watching three guys make short work of my ugly, drab deck is probably some of the most fun I will have all year.
Seriously, I pulled up a chair, sat at the window and enjoyed the show.
I don't know why I thought they'd use a crowbar to pry each board up. Good thing I wasn't doing this job. A chainsaw is so much quicker.
The first step was a slice out of the middle. Chunks of the deck came up and out surprisingly easily.
Plastic covered the ground under the deck, which explains why all the water would pool in the yard near the garage whenever it would rain.
The step was the last bit to go.
All gone!
What emerged under the deck wasn't as nightmarish as I'd envisioned. A great number of plastic toys, a very old soccer ball, some caution tape, more plastic tarp, and lots of black, sludge that looks like dried tar.
Today, in the hot sun, the yard looked pretty trashed. The coneflower, a few black-eyed susan and the false lupine were temporarily replanted where they won't be in the way.
The place is a muckity-muck mess.
The concrete steps that were built with the house will be covered by the new steps that will be built out of composite wood–zero maintenance.
The old deck spends a few nights in the garage before it will be hauled away.
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