All Decked Out - Part 2: Can you dig it? I knew that you could.

As referenced in All Decked Out (Part 1), I bring you the follow-up "Can you dig it? I knew that you could."

The time for digging posts has come and gone and we have succeeded. We started digging the posts under the screened porch, the first two of which were real easy. And then we started on the 6x6 post. That bad boy was set in a slab of concrete nearly three feet square and at least 6 inches deep! 

And in the process of digging the 6x6 we also found out that the "band joist", to which all of the underlying 2x6 supports of the deck are attached, was also full of termites. But we kept at it and finally got enough cleared away for the contractors.

As we learned from our great contractors at Affordable Remodeling Solutions (I link this as though any of our readers live close enough to hire them), "code" dictates that the support posts be set in concrete 16"Wx16"Lx12"D. As you can see from the photo above and those to follow, whoever built our porch and deck had little regard for the "codes". The last post shown in the following photos was a real pain. As you can see the cement went a considerable ways back from the post. What you can't see is that all of that lies under the deck in an area no more than 2 feet high at best. It was messy work, but last weekend the crew came in and replaced everything with wood that has a 25 year warranty against insect damage. Now we just have to put dirt back in the holes!