John Highstreet's Carpentry

Here is a fun project completed in the beautiful Berkshire mountains in Western Massachusetts.

The existing deck was painted 1x6 pressure treated decking. It was peeling and splintering, becoming dangerous to walk on and in need of help.

 Working solo provides many challenges, such as how to move an eight person hot-tub.

The first part of this project was to clean up this area and make it presentable, I used 1x6 T&G pine for the ceiling, replaced this fan light and added metal ballusters.

Just the ceiling and light so far, but just a little bit later......

1x4 Mahogany decking, new screen door and frame....

 Nestled in the Berkshires I spent quite a bit of time without any human contact. And after getting used to all the odd sounds in the wilderness, it wasn't so nerve wracking...

There's nothing like getting those two first boards down. Each piece was cut, sanded, treated with Penofin on all sides, rubbed dry and then predrilled and hand nailed. Just shy of 4,000 linear feet of it.

The order was important; posts, bench supports, decking, rail systems and then bench seats. So easy...

I'd cut out only what I needed to as I went along to avoid walking on joists as well as keeping the deck itself stable.

Tools of the trade, that poor pillow took a beating - the nail set was hit over 80,000 times, not that I counted...

Snowfall and sunsets.

Cedar 4x4 frame with mahogany dressing.

That's me in the garage, about 17 degrees and on my way to drilling out 600 holes for the ballusters. Right in front of my nose there is a cannister vacuum with air blowing the chips off the rail.

Best fall ever.

 I also do consulting work and if you're a Do It Yourself kind of person, I'd be happy to guide you through your own project.