Decked out mobile home…

   OK, OK, I’ll try to stay on topic for this post. I just couldn’t help myself yesterday? Whenever I take to long a look at the system and see it for what it is, I find myself getting more and more worked up until it all just has to blow! I received a few emails that indicated I was making excuses for people making poor decisions? Not so, I blame the people that make bad decisions, myself included! It is our job to see what the scam is and avoid it. No one is going to protect us from ourselves, especially the folks that control the scam! Oh well,  I’m alright now and we can talk about a lighter subject today.

By the way, if you haven’t signed in for the email updates yet, I’m reminding you again! We’ll be having more opportunities for subscribers give aways in the near future.

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I guess, from this posts title you could tell what I was going to talk about next. Thats right, we put some decks on the house. The one pictured here is on the front, right off the living room. Its 8′x16′ and made from pressure treated 2×8′s and TREX decking for the deck surface. We decided to go with the man made material over cedar. This was largely due to the amount of maintenance that is required with the cedar.

   The TREX is a bit more expensive but the manufacture advertises it as a maintenance free material. This was attractive to us as we didn’t want to have the annual sealing that would have been needed with real wood. Between the cost of materials and our labor, we felt it would be worth the do it once and be done angle. Not to mention that there may come a day when the sealer isn’t available for one or we may not have the financial ability to purchase it for the other. It really does look good but isn’t quite the same rich effect that you get with a brand new cedar creation.

   I’m sure that others would have gone with the cedar and explained that the maintenance is over blown but we went this route. Now we’ll probably continue with it as these projects will most certainly continue. It seems that you can never have enough deck. With this one at 8′x16′ on the front and the one off the back door only a 8′x8′, we will be needing more, whether we like it or not.

   You will also notice I haven’t gotten around to putting up a railing. This and the steps are required for us to meet code and get our final building inspection signed off. Something about meeting the bureaucrats demands for my safety doesn’t get me overly motivated – you know me, rebel with a cause… Just cause I don’t feel like it right now is more like it. I will eventually get around to completing the rails and such, more for us than them but hey I can’t start anymore building projects until I satisfy the “MAN”!

   Actually, we have a few more things to punch out before we’ll be done with the building inspector. In addition to the rails and steps, I have to cut in some access hatches in the skirting. I don’t exactly know why thats important but I haven’t been singled out… They make everyone do it? I hesitate to disturb the skirting as we have only recently began to believe that we beat these pesky mice!

  Like I said we only built a 8′x8′ deck off the back door. This gives us just enough room to load and unload the car. It really looks even smaller in the picture. I wasn’t sure what the long range plan was for the area outside the back door but we had to have something in the mean time.

   We built both decks with the long term in mind. They are braced and cross braced so they won’t be going anywhere unless we choose for them too. Again, had to have something to satisfy the county but these will be a good start for our exterior reshaping! At this stage everything is exciting, even small decks. When you live in the city just about anywhere you might find yourself walking is paved. Not so at the BOL, we have hardly any areas to get out of the dirt. That brings me back to the plan for the garage/barn that will be coming up in the near future. It will be so nice to have an area out of the rain! The sun is almost as big a problem for me, I’m bald and get a sunburn almost every weekend we’re here over the summer. You’d think I’d learn my lesson?

   Thats a wrap, now you know what a “decked out mobile home” looks like. You’re right bad joke, decked out in only the truest of meanings. Its a start and as you continue to see in these updates we chip away at our projects a little at a time. We’ll get them all caught up just in time to decide to start some more. Its fun and easy to get excited over the smallest of accomplishments. Hard for us adults to say stuff like that, it always seems to take more and more to make an impression on us. This BOL has been good for me on more than one level I guess, we have to go slow. Our progress is in small bursts as time and resources allow! I guess that’s it for today – See you tomorrow!

Prepper