Deck the house

We are alive and well in Healdsburg. Fall is upon us and somehow it is October first, I don't know how that happened. Now that the house is bank financed and some of the external pressure is off, we have managed to take a day here and there and actually discover where it is that we live. Boy were we surprised to discover that San Francisco is only an hour away... who would have thought! We have had guests stay with us, and although it is still a bit on the rough side, no one is complaining, well, not too much anyway. Our work on the house has taken us down two paths. The first is a mad attempt to get our belongings out of storage so that we can continue to cut expenses. We have brought many boxes over from the big unit and yet it seems as full as ever. It is time for action! In two weeks we are going to rent a big u-haul, load everything out of the big storage space and bring it here. Sort through it, keep, donate, dispose of, or yard sell everything! We are penciling in four entire days for this task, and hope to accomplish the impossible by the end, an empty and no longer being paid for storage space! So mark your calendars....

BIG YARD SALE OCTOBER 13TH AND 14TH, in the front yard

The second focus for us has bee Decking the house, but before I go into that we have...

- A Word from our Sponsor -

It is always fascinating to run across your house in an old photograph, or newspaper, or even old postcards. It has come to our attention that the house is also now in paint. Landscape artist John Farnsworth of Healdsburg, has been spotted lurking behind the trees across the street, with paint brush and easel in hand, paint flying everywhere as he madly captured our home in oils. Our home and other of John's paintings will be available to view during ARTrails in Healdsburg, October 13-14 and 20-21. Visit John's website for more information...  farnsworthart.com

I hope we get a super, super discount on the piece, I mean we didn't call the cops or anything!


We have been building the deck that wraps around the side of the house and across the back. Part of the super structure was built a year and a half ago so that we would have access to the back door and the electric panel. And now we are continuing down the west side. Eventually it will look something like this...

 The double doors are the doors that go into the Dining room, which currently have a nine foot drop outside of them, but not for long!

Building deck supports means getting to play with...

BIG BOY TOYS!

What is it about a cement truck that is just so irresistible!

Footing were the name of the game, nine of them. Six smaller for the secondary support near the house, and three large and serious holes ten feet out.

Cement poured, supports removed, cardboard forms stripped away, and then onto beams, timbers, joists, and a gazillion blocks. The blocking is to support the deck boards which will run perpendicular to the house, as opposed to parallel to the house which is most common in deck construction. We are applying the top perpendicular to the house as a nod to a traditional porch, except that this one is so sturdily built that when we finally get that helicopter we will have a place to land it.

The low cement wall in this shot is the original support for the old porch, the city would not let us use it.

The super structure is now ninety nine percent finished, and next comes the positioning of the base posts for the railing, followed by the prestaining, on the underside, of the clear redwood that will be applied to the top. This redwood top cost an absolute fortune and I now have even more respect for recycled, and reused lumber.

In the next few weeks, pictures of the stained redwood top... but we don't dare walk on it... no footprints allowed!

#bobvila