When I bought this house 5 yrs ago I knew the deck would have to be done over. I just chose to ignore that little problem until now. There were other, more important things that needed attention first...like replacing the furnace and the roof...which have both been done. (I'm proud of that even though I didn't do the work myself).The deck (and the fence too) had been painted some kind of puke color and that paint was peeling badly. I remember wondering why anyone would allow a color blind person to pick the paint color...it was that ugly. It was a relief to see it peeling up so much. That way I knew it would come off easily. Or so I thought at the time.
I now know that truly ugly paint knows it's ugly and feels unwanted. Therefore it refuses to leave the surface it's on. This paint thinks it has squatters rights. The big peeling parts came off easily but the rest of it is hanging on for dear life!
Out come the palm sander and the fight is on in ernest. (who's Ernest?) I was picking blueberries when the project was started. It was Justin's idea to start it..he thought it could be done in a weekend. Silly boy!
When I came home I found my nephew Jake and his girlfriend Stacey working their butts off on that deck. But where was Justin? He had a previous commitment to play basketball with some friends. Jake and Stacey had actually stayed to work with neither of us there. What a team!
KC (Justin's girlfriend) and I joined the group and started doing our part too. There was paint and wood dust everywhere. And determined faces on all of us. But still the going was very slow. That paint will just not give up!
That was a few weeks ago and the deck is still not paint free. Between the effort it takes, the other chores that need to be done, and the unending rain storms, it's been a very slow process. (and lets not forget I'm still going to physical therapy too). The "kids" as I call them have been great. They kept showing up for the first few days and they've worked very hard each time. But lets face it, it's going to be several more weeks before just the sanding work is done. And now that we've settled into another rainy period...nothing can be done until the deck dries. It's difficult to work in between rain storms but that's the way it has to be done.
So we're still plugging away and hoping for a nice sunny streak of weather to work. I'm hoping I won't be stuck doing all the work myself. It's hard to keep anyone motivated on this kind of project. The only one that seems really motivated is the ugly paint that's still remaining!
The pictures above are of the deck when we started and Jake working with one the sanders. Hopefully, in the not too distant future I'll have some pictures of a beautiful, newly stained deck to post. And a picture of a pile of "I give up..I'm ugly" paint chips to prove I'm the boss of that deck!!
