Manly Task #45

When we first moved into the house, we knew that eventually we would want to build stairs off the back deck.  It came in handy with Avery and Lil being young that they could hang out on the deck but not run off into the back yard.  The time came for us to build the addition and I started shortly after summer break began.  The planning took a while but I wanted to make sure it was done right.  I also put the plans through Georgetown Township to make sure all was done the right way.  We began the first part of the project on August 16th.  I did the building in small chunks.  I did the main support pole and platform framing first.  Digging a 4' deep hole was
a back breaker literally.  Then I realized that I would need to dig two more and decided to rent a pole hole digger for the other two (worth every penny).  I had to custom build the stair stringers because the deck was too far off the ground for a stock board.  I placed three cement bricks to support the stringers and dug the bottom deck pole holes.  The stringers were mounted and I put in the floor boards/steps.  The railings on the inside were a interesting since the rail ran up to the deck.  The finished product looks great.  I ended up building a gate out of spare parts left over and and it is a solid piece of work.  The deck was finished at the end of September.

Total cost: About $500