A Big, Sprawling Deck (Deck Rebuild)

I've always dreamed of having a big, sprawling deck. 

A place where the whole family could sit outside, relaxing as the sun warms our skin. 

A place where we can enjoy meals together as the warm breezes rustle through our hair. 

A place to sit and enjoy the sounds of the birds chirping while watching the kids playing in the yard.

However, a big, sprawling deck was not an amenity that was included in our new house.

Instead, we were graced with this tiny little thing...

(and an unfinished yard full of weeds!)

An itsy bitsy little deck only big enough to hold a chair or two, a BBQ, and a toy for the kids. 

And heaven forbid we try and put more than 3 people on it at a time!

Our plan from the beginning has been to rebuild the deck and extend it to the edge of the house and bump it out so that it is wider as well, thus tripling the size!

So after lots of planning and researching (luckily, the hubs is a civil engineer!), Jacob put the plan into action about a month ago. 
I helped out when I could (those dang kids keep me pretty tied up), so the poor guy had to build almost the entire thing by himself. 
And that's no easy task when you are building something that is suspended 15 feet above ground!

The old deck came down...

(Lots of cool, weathered wood pieces for future projects!)

And the new deck frame went up...

Then decking was laid...

After rebuilding a large wood deck at our first house years ago and having to re-stain it every single spring, we decided that the next deck we built would definitely be made using Trex. 

Trex is a wood-alternative made of 50% recycled plastic grocery bags and 50% reclaimed wood and it requires no sanding, staining, or painting EVER.

Unfortunately it's about 3 times the price of wood decking, but luckily Jacob was able to get a smokin' good deal on it through a contact at work.

We also made the decision to go screw-less, meaning no screws are visible on the decking. Instead, we secured the decking to the joists using Tiger Claws, which are hidden deck fasteners.

It turned out fabulous, but boy, were they a total bear to install! 

About a third of the way through installing the decking, we almost threw in the towel and used screws to finish, but we ended up persevering and are so glad we did!

To attach the decking to the 'claws', you have to repeatedly ram a sledgehammer against a 2x4 board to bump them into place.

Not only was that physically exhausting manual labor, but it was frustrating as well. 

Every time Jacob got one end of the board set into place, the other end of the board would pop off of the clips. So I ended up holding the boards in place while he wailed away with his sledge hammer. 

Once a board was in place, Jacob would hammer the clips into the next board and I would follow along with the drill and screw them in. 

It took forever and a day to complete. And it was super HOT out.

After the decking was (finally) completed, we installed all of the railing. The addition of the white railing (also Trex) really gave the deck the wow-factor we were after.

And that's where we are today...

We still need to add the stairs that lead from the deck down to the backyard. 

The two long white posts (see picture below) are part of  where we plan to build a pergola over the top of half of the deck to provide a little shade and a place for me to hang some plants and other cutesy stuff :)

Something kinda like this one...

Source: Just Beachy

Even though it's not completely done, we are already enjoying the deck immensely, trying to soak up every last bit of summer.

Linking up to:

Simply Designing: Simply Link {Party}

Sat. Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Catch as Catch Can @ My Repurposed Life 
Sundae Scoop @ I {Heart} Naptime 
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch