With a Little Help from our Friends...

I did mention in my last post that there was more crazy busy times to come and we just came through a couple more of those days!

Just to back up a little....We did a complete tear off and rebuild of all our exterior decking twenty two months ago. This link  will take you to all the fun and games of the demolition experience!  The picture below is just a sample:

The rebuilding was done shortly after by professionals in the late summer and early fall of 2010. I did have a blog post on that as well but it seems to have disappeared off of Blogger! (I would not have deleted that!)

The fall rainy season started with a vengeance right after they completed the work so all the planned sanding and protective finish coat didn't happen.  The next summer, for various reasons, it didn't happen again. I think it was all about our attention  and money being redirected to the drilling of a new well and then  all the plumbing that goes along with that! A good reason, but still the deck needs to finished properly to protect the investment.

Various health and joint issues for both of us meant that kneeling, and a lot of bending were pretty much out for both of us and we would have to either hire painter to come and do it or simply learn to like the grayed cedar look.

Enter the Friends....

Lynnette and Ngaire had come to help with getting all the new cords back onto my Woolhouse Tools loom recently. This was amazing all by its self.... but when they were leaving that day, they also volunteered to come back and paint the decks!  No small feat as between upper and lower portions, it measures up as roughly 1400 to 1450 square feet! (just the size of it all has been an intimidating factor for Hubby and I).
They assured us that they had a system of the three of them working together in a 'tag team fashion' and they could get it done in two days and with two coats.

We were speechless at this generous offer.  There is only a short window of warm sunny weather to get it done before the rains fall again and so we booked it for mid August, amidst busy schedules for both families.
We crossed our fingers that the weather would hold and also not be too hot.

They arrived bright and early this past Thursday and got to work right away while we had shade around the house.  We had had the decks power washed by Colin and generally cleared off. We had lost all the grayed wood and were new cedar wood bright again.  Choosing a colour for the semi transparent stain was difficult as we did not want to go with the orangey cedar tones or the brassy yellow tones. We choose Behr brand  stain in terracotta and even lucked into a sale, with a mail in rebate! Out of ten gallons we bought, it was like we got two gallons for free.

The weather held and  were some of the hottest days this summer! They moved from place to place depending on the sun and worked in shadier spots as the day progressed. Being surrounded by tall trees was an advantage for once.

Here's Lynnette and Bruce working on the front porch.

Michael admiring his handiwork on the stairs.

Ngaire, being a garden faerie sitting in (and on) the marjoram under the stairs. Sorry for the fuzzy picture but its the only one I have of her working for some reason.

Here's Bruce doing the scary ladder work on fascia boards. (Not too bad for a guy about to have knee surgery in early October!)

The second coat went on much quicker and Michael started about 7 am the second morning! Its a good thing too as it turned out to be an even hotter day that the one before. They were done ahead of lunch time and  I had cold cuts and salads all ready to go. That was my main job ... feeding and refreshing the troops! I had made up a lot of salads and soups from scratch and even the ice tea was home made.

The decks still need some minor touch ups and some awkward spots need a second coat but it's minor stuff. There's even a gallon of stain left.  It has a 72 hour cure time so its sitting the time out and is even dog  free for a couple more days. It looks amazing!   (I must admit that we will now have to change the colour of the house fascia boards and belly boards to black and most likely even the window trims. The fascia boards  and gutters need replacing anyhow. Then it will look like we actually had a plan!   :)

We have all the hanging baskets back up again but keeping the decks clear for now. We look like we're ready for what is left of summer in grand style!