Monday, August 07, 2006

It's Only Money

So I went out over the weekend and spent a whole lot of money (by my standards anyway).

The deck off of the living room here at Moneypit Estates has been deteriorating for quite some time. It was bad when I bought the place 20 years ago, so I reskinned the deck with some nice cedar decking. But the underpinnings were rotting out, so it was time to start all over.

While Mrs A. and I were in Mexico I had N. tear the old deck off of the house. He thought it might be a good idea to run under the deck, hammer on the support beams and run out before the deck fell.

Of course that didn't work, and the deck fell on him and he ended up in the Emergency room. Luckily there were no major injuries. I pointed out to him that there were several lenghts of chain hanging in the shop that he could have used to PULL it down with, but he kinda got the "Deer in the headlights" look.

Shortly after that, he flicked a cigarette butt into the pile of debris from the deck, and set it on fire. Luckily they managed to put it out before the house caught on fire. The only casualty was my old yellow cooler.

Saturday we finished up cleaning up the boards from the old deck and got them neatly stacked in the back yard. I plan on using them to build raised beds in the back yard to plant vegetables in.

So Sunday after church, we went down to Lowe's and sat down with the computer and plugged in my design and it spit out the bill of materials.

I about had a heart attack when I saw the bottom line.

$6746.17 of my hard earned dollars just for the materials.

Luckily we have been saving for this for over a year and already have the money set aside.

Wednesday they are delivering the wood. Then comes the hard part: turning a pile of lumber and hardware into something approximating a deck.

6 comments:

Rick said...

I know the feeling. I rebulit my deck 6-7 years ago for around $3500 and thought I got off easy.

On a totally unrelated note, you goin' to prison on Saturday? (How's that for non-sequitur?)

Al said...

I fully expect that Mrs. A. and I will be incarcerated on Saturday.

Daphnewood said...

Al, that bill sucks. I know renovations take money but yikes! I liked how you called your home "Moneypit Estates". That was such a funny movie

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

"Deer in the headlights" look

Anymore, that's about the only look you'll find on my face...;)

And that IS a BIG chunk of change, isn't it? But it'll be worth it in the end! :)

Al said...

Daphnewood: the last time I built a deck was like ten years ago. Lumber prices have gone through the roof (bad joke, snicker)

PQ: If it goes to the house, it will come back when & if I sell the place. Meantime, I get to enjoy it!

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