Things Fall Apart

On June 10 I took on a small repair that was not on my master list. I end up doing a lot of things that are not on my master list because, as the poet said, things fall apart. Call it entropy or the karmic hammer, but our world of order tends to disorder. This particular bit of chaos was a rotten plank on the west-side deck of the cabin. The board gave way when I stepped on it while hanging up my beach towel after a brisk, refreshing (and short) swim in the 60 degree water.

This project became a priority since it was an obvious safety hazard and a family with young children was arriving the next day.

I checked the remaining boards on the deck and it was good news--still fairly sound, maybe 3-5 years before the whole deck needs a remodel. I took a quick look around my lumber piles and found a 2x4 that would work as a replacement.

Removing the old board was a snap since Jim (Betty's brother) used Phillips head screws to secure the deck when he built it, lo so many years ago. My Ridgid right-angle impact driver is amazing in its ability to remove old rusty screws without stripping the heads.

The new board was a couple inches too long, I could have cut first and then install, but I decided to install first and trim off the end in situ.

Good as new! I'll give a free beer to anyone that can come here and tell me which board is the new one (must be 21 or older to play, odds of winning 1:1).