No more splinters

Here's a little review on Home Depot's version of Deck & Concrete Restore.  It's called Behr Premium Deckover. 

Our rental home's deck was in sorry shape.  Below is a picture of the deck when we bought the house.  Since the picture, Steve had to replace 4 more boards (not cheap at $10/piece) and many more wouldn't have lasted through the winter.  It was one sorry huge deck (~400 sq. ft).  Our tenants let us know that they had gotten many many a splinter throughout the summer. 

So, we were left with several options:

1. leave it be.  Have spangry (splinters+angry) tenants (not to be confused with hangry:)
2.  tear out the deck and figure something else out.  lots of work and who knows what sort of animal skeletons we would unearth in the process
3. fix/replace the deck

We have friends who used the Restore product on their dying deck with great results.  It looks good but we opted for the Behr line of product as it goes on slightly thinner and doesn't require you to use all the special rollers and stuff to apply it.  I thought it would more closely resemble paint or stain than the Restore product and might go on more easily as it is thinner.  You do have to clean it first with wood cleaner and let it dry well.
Since we didn't take this project on until late in the summer, we got cursed with rain, rain and more rain.  So our tenant (who is awesome) actually did everything.  While it cost a pretty penny at about $300 for the project, it is guaranteed to prolong the life of your dead deck by 10-12 years and it required no sweat work (other than a drained bank account) from us.  I wish I could accurately report the color we chose but can't-I think it was espresso or coffee or some lovely morning beverage. 
Wist I had more pictures but this is it-the tenant actually texted it.

A truly dry basement-fixing from the outside

One reason (there are not many right now) that we like our basement is that it is pretty dry.

ugh, what an unfinished mess

There is just one spot where the water just pours in (well, not really pours but there is definitely a pool of water after a heavy rain).  It has really been buggin Steve.  So, last night he decided to tackle it.  You know, rainy season here comin' real soon for those folks who don't live in these parts.

it's dry right now but this is our not dry spot...right at the bottom of the stairs and near the washer/dryer...can't tell you how many times my socks have gotten wet as a result of rain pouring in

Steve pretty much figured out that the rain is coming in from right below our back door threshold.  We don't need a permanent solution as we plan on replacing the deck next summer....it's truly horrid.

area that needs some sort of weather protection

project manager

 SO we decided that adding some flashing might help repel the water away from the house & basement.

1. Steve first used a skil saw to cut down the wood just in front of the threshold so that he could insert the flashing there

  2. He then played around with several different pieces of flashing that we had on hand to figure out what would best repel water away

Steve used tin snips to cut the flashing to size...he used several different pieces to stretch the width of the deck as it was too difficult to bend and fit on an `8' piece...he overlapped the pieces when he installed.  We may add some caulking for extra protection later just before we put the deck board back on

3. Steve then bent the flashing so that he would be able to put the deck board back on later.  He used some blunt nose pliers for this part

aren't you done yet?  I'm bored.

4. Then found out that he bent it the wrong way-oops! and not fun, so rewind and restart

5. Used some roofing nails we had on hand to attach the flashing

Tonight we need to rip down the deck board a bit using a table saw so that it can fit back in place and accommodate the new flashing.  It is just sort of resting in place right now (So Porter can get out his doggie door which is just to the left of the back door).

The basement was dry this morning after some night rain!