Deck plans completed? Check. Permit acquired? Check. Materials scheduled to arrive this week? Check. But one thing still stands in the way of this project moving forward: the old rotting balcony.
We attacked this assignment very methodically. I laid out a bunch of tools (crowbar, sledgehammer, power drill). I lugged over my ladder (for easy climbing up and over the side). I had music playing (see the ceramic pig on the windowsill?). I had Sherry on standby (she was inside watching Clara but ready to lend a hand/take pics at a moments notice). You know, the works. I figured it’d be a very careful process of prying off boards and observing how this previous structure was created, so that I might learn something for my new deck.
Well, methodical quickly went out the window and my demo “technique” rapidly turned into this:
So I pretty much just pulled and pushed back and forth on the railing until the whole outside edge of the balcony started to twist off from the two ledger boards affixed to either side of the house (so it wasn’t scratching the house, just grinding against those ledger boards flanking each side that I’d also be removing).
Before long, the entire thing had flipped over and completely pulled off the house. What you see below is the underside of the balcony floor (the top of the railing has twisted over to be on the ground).
Once the bulk of the structure was out of the way (which took all of 15 minutes – no tools required), my task turned to removing the various boards that had attached it to the house.
There was this ledger board that was bolted into the brick on one side…
…and this other one that seemed to be just nailed into the siding. From what I’ve been reading, this isn’t recommended. For one, you’re apparently supposed to remove any siding that’s in the way so you can attach the ledger boards directly to the home’s rim board. If I’m losing you on any of these terms, this is a helpful chart that has helped me keep things straight.
The other thing that I’ll do differently is install some metal flashing to help keep water from rotting away at the house. This previous installation didn’t have that, so the board and the piece of wood siding were both pretty rotted. But I was able to clear both away…
… to expose the rim board of the house.
Thankfully the new deck will run where that entire bottom strip of wood siding lives (the part that’s good and not rotted to the left of the part above), so it will be coming out. Which means I can reuse it for some of the rotten part above the missing siding strip that you see here. In other words, we’ll be reusing good wood siding that needs to come out anyway. And we’ll be adding metal flashing this time- so none of that nasty rot will plague us again.
Oh, and here’s the progress shot that we shared on Thursday.
This is me tapping the joist loose that sat closest to the house (the other joist came down with the railing). It just sat in the metal hangar, so all it took was a light nudge with the rubber mallet to get it out. No giant sledgehammer required (darn).
In order to remove the ledger board from the house, I broke out my wrench to loosen the hex nuts that kept it screwed tightly into the brick. You can see here that flashing wasn’t used and that this board too has seen better days.
Once I got it removed, you can see the bolts that are still set in the brick. I’m leaving those in for now. If I can’t reuse them, at least maybe I can get some tips for my new bolts by removing them once all of my materials have arrived.
But anyways, by this point the whole balcony was officially gone. Well, actually it’s officially sitting in a trash pile behind where I stood to take this picture. But we’re not thinking about that yet. Let’s just focus on the progress for now. That and our sliding door to nowhere.
I’m a bit anxious / excited to actually start construction. Materials should all be here within the next few days and I’ve got my dad scheduled to come help us get started later in the week. He built the deck on the house that I grew up in, so we thought it’d be helpful to have him around. Hope he doesn’t mind that we demoed without him! So by this time next week we should at least have enough going on back there to report back to you guys. We wish we could say we’ll be back with finished deck pics in three days – but HGTV, we’re not. Haha. We’ll definitely be tackling this project in stages – probably over the next few weeks. But you know we’ll keep you posted! And hopefully by sharing each stage of the process with pics and details it might help other folks out there who are planning to dive into deck-building someday.
Has anyone else demolished something lately? Or do you have a great demolition story? Were you ever surprised by how something was constructed – like a deck floor that flips up when you tug on the railing or rotten wood due to missing flashing?
Spring says
My demolition story:
When I was about 11 my dad was living with my mom’s mom and her current husband (long story, don’t ask). Well, Dad and Pete decide to knock down the wall between the kitchen and the living room. It wasn’t a support wall, it was just there and in the way. I’m not even sure when they decided to do it all I know is that in the morning (or early afternoon, when I woke up and dragged myself out of bed, the wall was torn down and the debris was entirely removed. I’d stumbled out in my groggy state, walked right through where the wall should have been and it wasn’t until I’d grabbed the milk until I realized that something was missing.
Should the zombie apocalypse happen I’ll probably sleep right through it.
BTW, having the wall removed really opened the house up. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, that’s hilarious!
xo,
s
Tracy says
John went all “Mike Holmes” on that deck!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that he did.
xo,
s
Janna says
My favorite demo was the sunday afternooon when we literally pulled our entire back half of the house off. A couple of chains and a skid loader! That was FUN to watch! Here’s a few pictures of the event: http://www.swooninteriors.blogspot.com/2011/12/heres-update-on-our-exterior.html
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- that is CRAZY INTENSE! What a huge project!
xo,
s
Natalie says
Last week my dad started working on adding a patio to the back of my parents house. It seemed like rounding up all the supplies to dig/form it up took the longest. Luckily my dad has access to a backhoe.
Also make sure you lock those patio doors! Our family had an incedent about 18 years ago that we still talk about. And with my dad redoing their patio you can bet it was brought up several times in the past week! Since you guys inspired me to start a blog I wrote about it here: http://greennackeacres.blogspot.com/2012/05/caution-caution-caution-caution-caution.html
YoungHouseLove says
Ouch!! My shins ache for your mom! Caution is right! Those doors are locked up tight!
xo,
s
Nora Rose says
Super excited to see the progress! :) Slow and steady keeps it suspenseful!
Rosanne says
Wow John, 3 posts in a row…it that a record for you? Are you feeling okay Sherry :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yes, no worries! I’ve been working on a little project of my own. Details tomorrow or Wednesday!
xo,
s
jeannette says
1.
this is fabulous.
2.
you ARE so big and strong.
3.
i’m stunned that the deck wasn’t nailed down on the door side, as well as at all the weirdness around metal flashing et al that you uncovered.
4.
i dote upon these pedal to the metal posts, with pictures of scariness.
5.
one of the subthemes of many of your scariest (in a good way) posts is the courage y’all get from really thorough internet research (RTIR).
6.
i hope you will write an essay some day on RTIR and how you determine which are reliable sources and who are not. like a true greenhorn, i just got totally burned by eHow instructions to make a PVC arbor. totally written by someone who has no clue.
7.
the whole idea that the real straight skinny for DIY is on the internet is kind of liberating. i just watched a vid on how to repair chair rails — very simple — which was a recurring fight in my parents 50 year marriage (it was a honeydo daddy never did). so in a significant way, there are major savings and also peace in the valley, thanks to good internet research.
8.
party on.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, love it all.
xo,
s
Kristin H. says
HAHA! This comment caught my eye and it may be my fav comment ever. “8. party on” should be the new sign off to any awesomely long comment.
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, agreed. Party on.
xo,
s
Cherri says
We recently upgraded our veeeery old kitchen with new cabinets and countertops. We had a 12-inch soffit above the existing cabinets and desparately wanted to tear it out so we could go with taller cabinets, but had no idea what was inside it(like plumbing,etc.). There was a small round opening on the outside of the (brick) house where a kitchen vent once exited the house. My husband got up on a ladder outside to try to look into the opening but it was too small to actually put his head inside. Ha! So he stuck our digital camera into the hole, aiming it toward the length of the soffit and using the flash took several photos. We did a little happy dance when we looked at the pics and saw that the soffit was completely empty – thus we could tear it all out and get the 42″ tall cabinets. Yey!!
YoungHouseLove says
Yay! So excited for you!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Some people would leave that slider with no deck and call it the “mother-in-law” door.
YoungHouseLove says
Hahahahahahahaha, thank goodness I love my mother in law- or I’d be tempted to try it.
xo,
s
Alison says
Wow!!! Tearin’ it up!!!! I think you should play a game, find the pig in your project pics;)
Sandra says
That deck looked like it came down waaayyyy too easy. Sometimes I’ll work on something on my house and wonder at how it was built. Like since they didn’t bother to use screws to hold the wood deck together, can they be tructed to out the right number of beams to hold up the roof? My husband actually wants to re-support our deck just to be extra safe since nails can only do so much when wood starts to warp with age.
thehouseofbing.com
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, thankfully our inspector warned us this deck was no good (it was easy to look at it and see it was in rough shape) but thoroughly checked out the house and the addition (which we believe were built a lot earlier than this balcony, which seemed to be added on a decade or two ago while the rest of the house was built in the 60s/70s). Very solid construction. Whew. We have owned two brick ranches, and when it comes to construction we love how sturdy they are!
xo,
s
Ally says
I’m gonna call John “The Preppy Deck Builder” :)
(Look at his demo ensemble…it’s straight outta the pages of J. Crew :)
xox
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- that’s hilarious.
xo,
s
Kim says
An easy way to remove moss from bricks: get a sprayer, like the ones you would use to spray weed killer on your lawn (if you do that-we don’t). Mix bleach and laundry detergent (still experimenting with proportions) Spray and let sit, then hose off.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Kim!
xo,
s
Beth says
My fiancé bought our house about 3 years ago from a realtor who had flipped it. Last fall, we decided to make a few additional changes to the kitchen and to our surprise, we found one electrical outlet behind the backsplash, and another hidden in a corner behind a cabinet. Upon testing, we found they were both still live! It made me even more happy that we had decided to renovate so we could properly disconnect and remove those fire hazards. It really makes you wonder what people are thinking!
YoungHouseLove says
Woah- that’s crazy! So glad you found them!
xo,
s
Julianne says
I wasn’t sure which post to put this in but chose this one since it’s about rotting. We had a lovely weeping cherry in our front yard that sadly had a 45 degree lean so we decided to cut it down. We got started and realized the roots were rotted and so shallow we could tip the tree – just like your deck. Scary! Glad it is gone!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- that’s so scary! So glad you got to it in time!
xo,
s
Kelly says
Yikes. That deck looked scary. I’m so glad (and excited) for your new one. I always wondered if that area was going to be used for a hot tube. Although as unsturdy as that deck looked, I don’t know how it would have supported a heavy hot tub.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes the previous owners mentioned wanting to someday add a hot tub out there! Could have been messy!
xo,
s
Tambryn says
We started tearing out “decorative” wood framing in our basement this weekend. We found some unfinished patches and a bit of water damage, but nothing too scary. I’m excited to have the 1970s-style pet-hair gathering wood framing out of the house, so any drywall patching is well worth it! So far you can just see the before and during pictures at http://tambrynandmarc.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/basement-breakdown-it-begins/.
YoungHouseLove says
Looking good! You guys got so much done!
xo,
s
Shannah @ Just Us Four says
It must be demo time! We took down a wall in our unfinished basement over the weekend so we can re-route the stairs a little.
Can’t wait to see how the deck building goes.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! I love demo week. Good luck with the stair project!
xo,
s
Lauren@FilingJointly says
This is exactly why I do not go out on older decks here in Chicago (there have been some fatal collapses.) So so scary.
Also, I’m afraid of heights and get crazy height-induced vertigo so I also do not go out on my own new metal balcony.
It’s where my husband goes to escape me.
YoungHouseLove says
I’m totally afraid of heights too! Thankfully this guy was only a few feet off the ground (but that’s not to say I didn’t scream like a girl when I’d tiptoe out there to pick some basil or something, because I did – oh yeah, I’m owning it, haha).
xo,
s
Lauren@FilingJointly says
Haha I’m so bad that I even get anxious when other people (my husband, my friends, birds, etc.) are out on balconies.
Like I freak out if I come home and my husband has our dogs out there with him. He’s always like “Lauren, they’re not going to just decide one day to take a running leap over the ledge.” But I’m of the school of thought “Better Safe Than Sorry, What if one of them saw what looked to be an extremely delicious bug flying by?”
My husband says if he had a superhero power he would want it to be flight. Which I do not get at all. Like if I had a superhero power I’d want it to be the opposite of flying, the ability to always keep my feet firmly planted on the ground. Also, I’d want to like, sneeze diamonds or something.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I would want to read minds. I can’t imagine how much fun that would be. I always wondered what my teachers were thinking about when they were just sitting there gazing while we took exams.
xo,
s
Sabrina says
Wow! That was easy. This weekend we have been demo-ing our “finished basement” I emphasize that because they did a poor job of it. Hidden pipes that were leaking, mice bodies galore as well as their poop, black mold. Ugh! I kept hearing the hubs give a little shriek every time he pulled some insulation out of the ceiling lol Now it is all cleared out and smells 100% better. Now to de-mold and put up new insulation, drywall, paint………..Oh boy!
YoungHouseLove says
Whew- that is an insane amount of work. We salute you and the hubby.
xo,
s
McKenzie says
We recently did a project just like this. I refer to our old deck as a “deck”. It was TINY. And poorly build. And even more poorly taken care of! We ripped the old one out, and built a much bigger, much better supported and much prettier deck! We finished and attached the stairs last week. I have a one year old son who taken to going up and down, up and down, up and down! I took a cue from you guys and built him a rock box this weekend. Between the deck and the rock box he is in 7th heaven over here!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahooo! Clara got some quality rock box time this morning. Love it! And that deck sounds amazing.
xo,
s
KiTx says
Demo story (although it’s not a home demo): When my then-boyfriend/now-husband and his roommate were moving out of their last college apartment, we realized his flimsy Walmart desk was in such bad shape that it wouldn’t be worth moving to a new place. So what did we do? Obviously what any 22 yr olds would do- we threw it over the third floor railing so it could smash on the concrete below. Things we didn’t think about: we were throwing it on to the concrete right in front of the parking garage exit. Once the desk basically exploded on impact, it took us a good 30 minutes to sweep up all the screws and sharp pieces so no one would get a flat tire exiting. But hey, it was awesome to see. =)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man that sounds intense! So glad it only took 30 minutes to clean up and no squirrels were harmed. Haha.
xo,
s
CohoesMom5 says
Congrats on the balcony being so easy to remove. Don’t forget to add weedpaper and gravel underneath your new deck to keep out the weeds and animals. Lava rocks or sharp gravel (not pea gravel or river stones) work best to keep out the animals.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, thanks for the tip!
xo,
s
michele says
Great Project! We demo-ed some rotten wood this weekend too- it had been used to line planting beds and was full of bugs. I’m curious what you will do with your wood trash pile. I looked into it and it doesn’t look like its an acceptable material to take to my county- so I am left with finding a landfill, and paying for disposal, which I’m not thrilled about for a couple of reasons.I’m pretty sure it was pressure treated so I don’t know if burning is an option either. Any ideas?
YoungHouseLove says
We are having the same issue! We’re thinking about trying to freecycle it so someone who needs it for a project can grab it for free and it won’t end up in a landfill!
xo,
s
Aislynn says
I’m glad the demo went smoothly! I’m looking forward to seeing the progress photos for the deck :)
Flashing is definitely a good idea! There are some great products out there for it – like BlueSkin and other membranes you can put behind to keep the water from getting in! We see a lot of that up here (in Ontario). Just be careful with metal flashings – especially if you’re using PT. I’ve heard some crazy horror stories of metal/PT contact from builders!
Can’t wait to see more pictures!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tips Aislynn!
xo,
s
Carli says
Looks so good all cleaned out!! Excited to see what comes of this space. And ‘HGTV, we are not’ haha. Great line. And so true! Those tv shows tend to set unrealistic expectations for all of us about how long home transformations actually take. I prefer blogs like yours instead. Keepin’ it real. The best policy :) Good work guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Carli!
xo,
s
John says
Suggest you use a membrane flashing that adheres to the wood and then screw the ledger board over that with aluminum flashing over the ledger and turned up 8″ under the siding. Hold the siding slightly off the deck to prevent water penetration. The joist parallel to the sliding glass door could be held off the wall an inch, to allow water to drain thru the deck, no flashing would be required. You can find details on a website. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks John! Thanks to inspections we have to follow code, so it means we have to use the flashing since they’ll be checking for it!
xo,
s
Amy Knisely says
In our old apartment (where my husband was the property manager) we were charged with installing new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom. When we pulled the toilet up we noticed the u-bend was just a piece of bent iron pipe that was nowhere near the correct size. Needless to say, we fixed that right away and luckily it was before we moved in and had any “issues.”
YoungHouseLove says
Eeks- so glad you caught it!
xo
s
Samantha says
I wasn’t sure if you had posted this before, but I had a quick question.
How far from your house is your deck going to end? My fiancee is thinking about adding a deck to our sunroom and is looking for any info about them.
YoungHouseLove says
If you click the link in the first sentence to this post (the one about planning), I think our renderings have measurements for ya!
xo,
s
Kayla says
Maybe I’m mistaken but I feel like its been a while since we saw a “Dude get on that already” project. I miss those!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks for the request! I actually did one last week with a clipboard I had sitting around in the playroom since last fall! Here’s the link for ya: https://www.younghouselove.com/2012/05/duuude-lets-go-boarding/
xo,
s
Emily says
Did you find any critters? I remember having a very real fear of the under-deck-area as a kid. I still gravitate toward houses that either have ground-level patios, or decks with enough elevation that nothing kind hide under it. Thoughts on critter prevention with the new deck?
Emily says
kind = can. Random typo!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny. Oddly enough we didn’t! Some wasps were circling for a second, but thankfully there was no nest – they must have just been checking out John’s muscles.
xo,
s
Heidi P. says
Haha I love the sliding door to nowhere. I almost think you should keep it that way just ’cause it would be funny ;).
The fact that it came off without much work – yikes!
Natalie says
It seriously looks SO much better already! I can’t wait to see the deck progress! Just in time for summer – nicely done! :)
Cassie says
This is a little off topic but what is the deal with Young House Love paint colors for Benjamin Moore?
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s that post for ya: https://www.younghouselove.com/2012/03/gimme-gimme-moore/
xo,
s
Lindsey says
We have been doing far more demo in the past month than we had planned, that’s for sure. We bought a rad little 50’s rambler and were going to fix the things that “needed” fixing and live with the rest for a bit (per the advice on your blog!) before making any major changes. BUT…then we found moisture in the walls of the family room, with piles of dead moisture ants. And then there was the lovely black mold behind the drywall in the kitchen. And then a moldy bathroom ceiling from an improperly placed fan. We did find some amazing 60’s wall paper up there, too. Good thing hubby is a contractor! :) We’ve just started a blog of our own to update fmaily and friends on our progress…and I hope there is progress soon. At 31 weeks pregnant with #2, I am ready to move past demo!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, so sorry for all the setbacks Lindsey! Good luck with everything!
xo,
s
Holly says
Yep, as soon as I finished the paragraph of your prepping for removal I thought to myself “Please say they don’t have what happened to us…”. And you almost did!
Our 1970ish home purchased in 1997 came with a huge 15×30 back deck that was unfortunately not only dated with the uncomfortable and oddly shapped built-in bench seating, but also just in bad condition from 25 years or so of unprotection from sun, rain, wind & ice.
After a few years we were finally able to start the rebuild process and not only did we find none of the posts were set into concrete footings but that the entire deck was only attached to the SIDING of the house with 4 nails. That was one nail for every 7 feet or so for a 30 foot deck just over 6 ft in height from the ground..WHAT?!
We were shocked, and then thought of the family get-togethers we had the years before and how that deck could have come down at any time.
After the initial shock wore off we were glad the “new” deck was being done and would be attached to the house and ground correctly for years and years of good use.
I love the new plans and know yours will be WONDERFUL when it is complete!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s so scary! So glad you got it rebuilt!
xo,
s
Kerri says
We have a little deck off our front step… not very functional and the step is quite long. We are planning on demo-ing it at some point. I would do it myself but I am scared for what bugs and other things might live under it… yuck.
Looking forward to the next steps!
Pam the Goatherd says
That’s really scary how easily that came off the house! Glad to know you didn’t trust it from the get-go!
No demo-ing going on at my house right now. All my time is currently consumed by taking care of baby goats, milking goats, and cleaning up after 80 baby chicks who are currently living in my brooder coop. Will be moving poultry fences this week. Does that count as demo?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- totally counts!
xo,
s
Kelly says
I actually just semi-demolished our master bath. Well kind of. There really wasn’t much real demolition–just removal of the wall cabinets, towel bars, and base trim. Plus we have a ceramic light fixture dangling from the junction box on the wall. So it feels like the chaos of a renovation zone. Our project is much more simple than yours though–just painting and installing new baseboards. But also working around a two-year old’s sleep habits. I actually just posted the start of the project on my blog today: http://www.hellodesignmeetlife.com/2012/06/04/another-project-begins/)
Good luck with the deck! I’ve never tackled or even dealt with that type of project professionally. Looking forward to learning through your efforts. =)
YoungHouseLove says
Looking good! You got so much done!
xo,
s
JG says
You might want to pour some “wood hardener” on the rotted bit of your sill if it is at all punky. Warning- it smells terrible!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip!
xo,
s
Tiffany says
Good job on the demo!! Can’t wait to see the deck.
And I actually have a very recent demo story, our home was destroyed on March 2 of this year…only our walls were still standing. A track hoe and 20 minutes later…our former home was a pile of rubble. The rebuilding has commenced…and we hope to be home by November. :D
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that sounds intense! Good luck with everything!
xo,
s
John@Our Home From Scratch says
Thanks for that flashing link! Very helpful. I’ve helped build a couple decks in my day, but wasn’t exactly sure how to do the flashing. Interested in seeing the rest of this project progress. I’m glad that balcony wasn’t a couple stories up, didn’t look like it would’ve been very safe! You should check out This Old House’s website (like you haven’t already)… they have a whole series on terrible construction practices found during home inspections… it’s pretty ridiculous/funny.
We’re deliberating when to do a deck. Looks like it most likely will be next year. I get to stand back and watch you guys do it first. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for recommending that series! We’ll have to check it out!
xo,
s
Jeff Patterson says
Great job John with the deck. Glad to see nobody got hurt while it was in use. Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress.
Rebecca says
Geez, add me to the “can’t believe it came apart that easily, couldn’t have been safe” crowd!
My in-laws just started demoing the second-story porch on the back of their house. Same story–poorly constructed, the stairs to the backyard are un-usable, pretty ugly space…my FIL is a mechanical engineer, so he’s in heaven designing the new back porch. They’ll be doing a lot of work, and I’m sure we’ll be invited for parts!
Jen Wilhelm says
Wow, I can’t wait to see what the end product looks like! I haven’t touched my backyard since I first bought my house a year ago (it’s currently just a dirt lot) so this gives me some inspiration to get off my butt and work on a patio. :)
Sam says
We demoed our deck recently too! Then we had to wait a couple weeks more for the permit and now we are finally rebuilding. We had some scary moments too and our deck was a lot bigger (30×14 feet)whoever had built it didn’t tie in the concrete wall to the footing below (which is why it was leaning quite a lot). So scary when you find out something that is walked on and played on by kids wasn’t as solid as you thought. :( Anyways you can check out our demo at http://kozykabin.blogspot.ca/2012/04/demolition-day.html
Love your blog and look forward to reading it every day! Thanks for all the tips and inspiration :)
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow! That’s a crazy amount of work!
xo,
s
Mindy says
Can’t wait to see it when it’s done!
Chelsea says
OK, so this is off topic (except that you do have a video clip here, eh?), but I was wondering how you organize your home videos (see, random!)? We are hopefully starting a family soon, and my own random home videos are my favorite to watch! I searched and found that you have a flip and use imovie to edit, but how are you preserving them for Clara? Do you burn them to a dvd? If so, do you burn random videos or just the ones you put together for Clara’s birthday? Do you reccomend the flip?
Sorry so many questions! Blog post idea? Ha!
You guys just plain rock for letting people pick your brains all the time and for answering all the random comments!
YoungHouseLove says
We always feel safest to upload them to a third party site (like youtube or vimeo) – you can put on privacy settings so others can’t see them, but that way if your computer crashes or your house burns down you have it all! Hope it helps. And as for the flip, we love it! We have a Flip HD and use iMovie to edit stuff and it’s all pretty simple. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jaclyn says
Something I’ve been wondering for a while now…how do you take pictures in order to tell a story? When I travel, I try to take lots of pictures so I can share the story afterwards, but I find key shots and moments are always missing, making the story incomplete. Do you just take pictures every 5 seconds, or do you have a method of what to take pictures of so that you can adequately tell the story later? Would love to learn how you do this!
YoungHouseLove says
I have no idea! Haha. We usually try to take photos of each step of something we’re trying to demonstrate (ex: sanding, priming, painting, after pics). Sometimes we miss things and just use words to connect the dots. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jackie G says
Was that just what all dads had to do in Burke? You had to know how to build a deck in order to get one? thats how we got ours too. Hahaha if only my Dad was close to you guys he’d love to come help build another deck : ) My husband and dad have plans to rebuild the one in Burke this summer!
YoungHouseLove says
Maybe, Jackie! My dad said there was some guy in our neighborhood who drew up plans (he was an architect or something) but didn’t do the construction. Perhaps your dad got the plans from the same guy!
-John