*Video Transcript*

Good Friday Morning!

Backyard Brian here.

I wanted to take you along on a tour with me. This is something that I do each and every day since I meet with clients all around the area. Part of what I wanted to share with you before I do that though is something that is really important to me and our team. I often talk to folks who spend a lot of time and effort trying to get help with their projects at home. I realized that we can help with every project. We can’t help remodel your bathroom since were specifically trained to help you with your deck and backyard structures. One of the reasons my team and I get up every single day is because we believe getting housework done should be hassle-free.

However, we think it’s really important that you are treated well; you are called back; that somebody helps you; that you get a price; and a reasonable amount of time. I recently talked to someone who took two years to try and get their housework done. We were able to get it done for them a couple months from when they first contacted us. As you get into Spring this week you may be outside in the warm weather looking at your deck. I’m going to show you a little bit about this deck that I’m standing on. One of the first things I want to show you is that this deck is kind of long and narrow and is about eight feet wide, which looks great initially. However, the reality is that, if you set a table anywhere on this deck, you don’t have room to walk around.

While this is a great deck for one or two people to sit out having a group of friends would not work too well. And in the middle of the summer, it’s going to get hot and sunny since there’s no shade here. Sometimes we help with shade and sometimes we help with expansion. However, there are a few things that we can remedy. The first is that we’ve got pressure-treated lumber that’s probably about 15-20 years old. And pressure-treated lumber is designed to last a long time. This was installed with some good screws and is holding down, but it will weather over-time. It’ll chip, crack, and probably lose a few chunks, which will cause it to not look very nice.

So, there’s a couple of options available. We can replace this with new material, – new wood, – and that will last another 15-20 years. We can also put down a composite decking. If you want to know more about that, just go back and watch last week’s video. I talked about some of the different materials, but this is the floor decking. In this case, either a cleanup & stain or a full replacement will definitely be in order to freshen up this deck’s visual appeal. However, the more important thing I wanted to show you is on this railing. If you can see right here, the spacing between these pickets is pretty wide, and it’s actually surpassed building codes. Current building codes are designed so that children and/or small animals won’t fall through or get stuck. These are way too wide and don’t meet current building code. A child could easily get his head through here and get stuck, and we don’t want that to happen for you and your family. We don’t want your small dogs to fall through this. This is an area that definitely needs some upgrade to get it in line with current building codes and make sure it’s safe and strong. Now, this railing is pretty strong. You’ll see a video that I shared earlier this week on our Bear Creek homepage featuring a really weak railing, which is an issue that we see a lot. But this one is in decent shape.

Look around your deck, and see if you’ve got questions or concerns about your deck project; whether it’s safe, needs help in any way. We can come out and inspect it for you for free. We’ll take a look, and I’ll give some pointers on potential repairs or how it could better suit your lifestyle.

If you want something ready to go when summertime hits, now’s the time to be talking to us. We’re starting to book those springtime projects as the weather gets nicer. I know it’s still a little cold, but give us a call soon and we can make sure things are ready to go! I hope you have a great time this weekend with your family. Summertime barbecues will come soon enough! Have a great weekend! Take care.

Backyard Brian out.