We've been chipping away at our 6kw solar PV grid tie project for about a year so I figure it's time I document this process for others who may be interested in this type of thing.
The original plan was to simply replace the outside deck (faces due South) as all wood pieces were crispy critters! All 2x6s were splitting and splinters were common to the point where our daughter wasn't thrilled about walking around or playing. The hand railing felt less than solid to me. We took the opportunity to extend the deck until it met up with the front porch, built a stem wall underneath for a future storage/shop room and tidied up few other things.
Building the deck extension and the room required the removal of a fair amount of dirt and exposing the foundation a little bit. Thanks to the help from the local Mud members (Lynn, John, Paul, Cy, Rudy) this project slowly became a reality while I learned quite a bit about general construction processes. My wife was a big help and our six year always wanted to "help" out. My friend Ken helped out with tools and advice. My neighbors just watched, usually bewildered.
Dirt removed:
Our daughter removed the entrenched air out of the cement. She helped as much as she could and I loved it.
After replacing the deck and admiring our handy work while mourning the loss of cruiser $$$ in the process
I came up with the idea of a simple deck shade structure that attaches itself to the house. The thought of our expensive wood getting fried in another ten years wasn't all that appealing and we wanted to protect the south facing windows (which are trashed due to the UV) and the wood siding.
The original plan was to simply replace the outside deck (faces due South) as all wood pieces were crispy critters! All 2x6s were splitting and splinters were common to the point where our daughter wasn't thrilled about walking around or playing. The hand railing felt less than solid to me. We took the opportunity to extend the deck until it met up with the front porch, built a stem wall underneath for a future storage/shop room and tidied up few other things.
Building the deck extension and the room required the removal of a fair amount of dirt and exposing the foundation a little bit. Thanks to the help from the local Mud members (Lynn, John, Paul, Cy, Rudy) this project slowly became a reality while I learned quite a bit about general construction processes. My wife was a big help and our six year always wanted to "help" out. My friend Ken helped out with tools and advice. My neighbors just watched, usually bewildered.
Dirt removed:
Our daughter removed the entrenched air out of the cement. She helped as much as she could and I loved it.
After replacing the deck and admiring our handy work while mourning the loss of cruiser $$$ in the process
I came up with the idea of a simple deck shade structure that attaches itself to the house. The thought of our expensive wood getting fried in another ten years wasn't all that appealing and we wanted to protect the south facing windows (which are trashed due to the UV) and the wood siding.
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We were thinking of a simple shade structure using shade sail to primarily block out the sun. From the beginning, we 10' high 4x4 posts for our hand railing.
What a racket. We'll be doing the windows ourselves over time is what I'm thinking.
I guess watching how to youtube videos is not enough to make good bends instantly. 
