The new deck is completed!

The old deck, while it had a great view, was impractical because we could not access the deck without going through the house and this made it impossible to contract with a snow removal company to clear the deck during the winter. The old deck planking was also composed of an inexpensive pine that splintered easily and required annual sealing and painting. And last, but not least, was the fact that the old deck rails were 6 inches apart, which is 2 inches more than code.

The new deck now wraps around the south side of the house and meets up with the driveway so it can be accessed without having to go through the house. We chose Trex as our deck planking due to it’s durability and the fact that it’s practically maintenance free… a big bonus for a rental property. We also picked out some really nice metal rails (up to code of course) that allow you to choose a custom center-piece. We were split between the elk and the mountains so we chose both. Lastly, and almost as important as the direct access feature, is that we had the contractor build in a space for a hot tub! The previous deck just didn’t have room for anything bigger than a 3 or 4 person hot tub, nor was it designed to support the weight of one, and when you’re renting a home to between 12 and 17 people… well that just wouldn’t work. The new deck has been designed to support as large a hot tub as they sell and provides us the space to have one installed.

Now we just need to figure out which hot tub to buy.