Showing off my new decking

[OllieMartin]

The ground outside my back door was a patchwork of old structures and concrete, with weeds growing out of the cracks. I'd had the idea to put a decking over it several years ago, but hadn't had the spare capital to sort it.
With the few weeks I've had off I decided to use some pennies I had put away and finally get it sorted and I thought I'd share some photos with you.


The black sheet marks the position of my barbecue design that I want to inset into the deck at some point.


Half done after the 1st day's afternoon. You can see where they have laid the course of bricks for the barbecue and built the decking frame around it.


The finished decking. They've boarded over the brick course so that I can unscrew those planks as-and-when I'm ready to install the barbie.


And some tables, chairs and pots added.

It's interesting how much more spacious it looks now that it's one clear surface rather than a mish-mash of other surfaces and ex-surfaces.
It will hopefully hold a few good parties this summer.

[HeyWayne]

Quality job there dude.

Toms look good too!

When's the bbq?

Oh, and nice time-lapse photography.

[OllieMartin]

If you flick quickly between them the door closes and the camera retreats down the garden I should take more from gradually further away.

The barbecue is for summer, I'm not falling into the classic English trap of having a couple of days hot weather and hosting a monsoon-style barbie where everything is finished off in the oven!

[northepaul]

Looks good Ollie. Did they take very long to do it? (I know you had 2 photos of working in progress, but I mean in terms of 9-5 etc.)

[ginger ninger]

What an excellent job Ollie and such a difference, as you said it looks so much bigger and much tidier, I can't wait while I get my decking down.

[Bigmallly]

Nice job Ollie but I think you've pushed your luck asking your mum to do all that 'ard graft............

[OllieMartin]

Looks good Ollie. Did they take very long to do it? (I know you had 2 photos of working in progress, but I mean in terms of 9-5 etc.)

They started at about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon and finished around 5. And then arrived at 8:30 this morning and finished around 3:30pm today.

The only thing I would have done differently in hindsight is to have it a couple of inches lower. The step off the back (where there isn't an intermediate step) is just a little large, and not large enough to warrant a step. And it feels ever-so-slightly unnecessarily high. But it does line up nicely with the back door step and the fruit trough.

[Jax]

looks really nice

[Glutton4...]

Smashing job Ollie. I hope you get the chance to have loads of great parties on it.

[Bren In Pots]

Does look good Ollie, its made a really nice seating area.

[scarey55]

That's really nice Ollie. I like the tall structure at the side too. An extra outside room is always a bonus and I especially like the BBQ idea.

[elsie-scot]

Good job, but not showing OH, he'll love the BBQ idea

[OllieMartin]

Good job, but not showing OH, he'll love the BBQ idea

Well if you give in and show him, this is the barbecue design:


I posted on another thread, but I can't find it now.
The idea is that everyone can sit around and cook their own food rather than one person having to do it all and miss out on the conversation.

The problem is I'm not sure how smoky it'll get so I need to do some research into it and decide whether charcoal will be okay, or if I'll need to make it gas.

[Bigmallly]

Or a chimney.........

[binley100]

Looks great.. I'm feeling quite envious . Gas Barbies are easier we use ours all the time. Just fire it up and go , no more swearing at the charcoal .