When we moved to our house in 2004, the red-stained deck was too much of a contrast with the white vinyl siding, so we painted it white too. Then, with the addition of the garage and porch less than 30 feet away, it became too much white. We removed the rails, which is allowable since the deck height is less than 30 inches, and will replace the white decking with the same gray composite we installed on the porch. Dana suggested we expand the deck toward the driveway, and this web page will show the progress.

Last updated 6/25/07

I removed grass and added a gravel slope to our house to keep water away.

April 2005

The backyard as it appeared during the construction of the garage.

July 31, 2006

Most of the rails are off, and I've begun building the stairs toward the garage.

March 9, 2007

With my back to the garage and my two supervisors watching me, I installed the composite stair treads.

March 10, 2007

The stairs are complete and the rails are gone. Bambi doesn't know which stairs to use.

March 10, 2007

This view shows which direction we will be expanding. The deck will go to the end of the house, approximately 28 more feet.

March 10, 2007

The deck is a framed.

March 14, 2007

This is a floating deck; it rests on cinder blocks as opposed to being mechanically anchored to concrete piers or attached to either the house or the other deck.

March 14, 2007

The dogs were a big help when it came to unloading the lumber.

March 10, 2007

The deck now extends to the end of the house. We added a privacy panel at the end, bought a grill, furniture and lots of flowers.

Dana's flower garden.

We put in pavers between the garage and the house, in addition to a birdhouse.

Another view of the backyard.