Deck Evolution

Apparently, when Darwin first proposed evolution he was aware it would be a slow process, but he had little idea just how slow. To say the same about us & our deck would be grossly unfair, but there is a flavour of slow evolution about this project.

A couple of weeks ago we finally got the call from Rob, our friendly welder, to say that he could start work on the steel frame. This took about a week (see Pippa inspecting the quality of the work on the left), and he was gone by Tuesday of last week. Nat set to work painting parts of the frame on Wednesday, and Ella & I finally kicked off laying the timber on Friday afternoon, after I collected her from pre-school.

As with any new project, there is a learning curve. By Saturday morning I had Patrick to help with this learning (good to have an experimental physicist on deck [haha] for this part; not to mention Susie looking after the children). Conan came around later in the day to apply number theory to optimising the use of the timber. By nightfall, there was enough decking timber down for Conan and I to perch on the edge and drink a beer, but it all seemed a little pathetic in proportion to how sore and tired my body was!

Another full day's week on Sunday, this time we had the ultra-efficient Nat drilling boards, while the kids were eliminated from the equation with a visit to Nana.

So, a full weekend into construction we now have enough timber laid to reach one of our two front doors (provided you are able enough to vault a metre up onto the deck). The kids seem to like it so far, although the jury is out as to whether it's a playground or a catwalk (see below). Stay tuned for progress ...