FINISHED AT LAST

The deck and railing are done!!  We finished the bulk of the work last week and installed the outside speakers and solar lights yesterday.  The project lasted a total of 51 days of which we only worked part days a few times a week.

The stairs were an interesting challenge to build starting with 3 stringers cut out of a 2X12.  Each stringer had to have identical cuts in order for the steps to be level.  After that, it was straightforward to attach the boards and fascia.  We also put fascia all around the deck and underneath the walkway and had just enough material to complete the job.

Next phase was installing the railing and that went really well.  We had the plan made when we ordered the materials so we followed that starting at the long end of the deck.

Once the posts were in, it was easy to cut the rails to fit and then snap in the pickets using the pre-cut spacers.  The only calculations were to evenly set the spacing of the end pickets and that worked out well in all the sections.
The final phase was the installation of the railing on the stairs and that took a bit more work.  We had to cut the end posts down to an appropriate height and we had to attach the rail fasteners to the posts.  Both the line posts and end posts had fixed fasteners.  Also, the stair pickets are angled for the slope but they fit very well.

We are pleased with the result and have been able to enjoy the deck with family that visited earlier this week.  While they were here, we hiked on the old Kettle Valley rail-bed which is visible from our house.

We also went out on Christina Lake even though the weather wasn’t the best.  They tried out tubing for the first time.

We’re still golfing a couple of times a week and now doing other small projects around the house and yard.  So nice to have a variety of things to do.