Lower Deck

To complement the new improved steps and to facilitate trouble free partying, today we built a temporary lower level deck. We used the timbers from the old roof as joists and overlaid it with sheets of 18mm OSB (oriented strand board). This seemed to be the cheapest form of sheet building material available. This also gives us an opportunity to consider decking as a material for permanent use in this part of the garden.

The joists were levelled (actually with a slight down-slope away from the house) using pieces of timber, stone or breeze-block, and the sheets screwed on top with decking screws. A minimum amount of sheet cutting was done so that we have the opportunity to sell on the sheets when we are done with them. However, what cutting was required necessitated the addition of a circular saw to the toolbox. Just an excuse really....

As you can see, I had some helpers :

It took up the bank holiday Monday too, and we finished, just, before it got too dark to see :

By the way, if you have noticed the conflict between the dates quoted in the text, and those on the photographs, it is because my camera is broken. The LCD sceen has packed up, so I am relying on the viewfinder. The date is set wrongly on the camera, but I can't see the menu options to change it. In fact I can't change any of the options at all - I am stuck with whatever settings were enabled prior to the demise of the screen.