When we first moved into the row house, we had what was called a parking pad at the rear of our house. I say "what was called" because the space was advertised as such, but in the real estate flyer, a Mini Cooper was pictured out back. While we both drive compact cars, there was certainly no way that we'd be fitting either of our cars in that tiny space, nor was it ever our intention.
Let's take a look back to what things were like on the day that our initial patio renovations began.
We battled designer concrete with a jackhammer, erected a cedar pergola and fence, and finished the space with new pavers. For the past two years, we have been enjoying our patio and deck as shown below, but we were craving a more open and contiguous space.
Our original plan was to lower the existing deck and build a stair that ran the width of our yard. In addition, the air conditioning unit, that was precariously positioned on a steel platform attached to the deck, needed to be moved. Ultimately, we decided to remove the entire first floor deck and use the existing concrete pad below it.
Over the course of two weekends, we removed the entire deck, had a new air conditioning unit installed, and gave away most of the deck boards and beams to others via Craigslist. We did, however, save some of the wood to patch our roof deck and to build our new stairs.
Aside from the new air conditioning unit, this project has cost us only around $100, which was spent on wood for new stair stringers, screws, and many brackets to help construct the stairs.
Generally, the space now looks much like it does in the last photo, but the pile of wood is significantly smaller, the concrete pad is much cleaner, and the stairs have been finished and closed on the front. Our next steps will be a trip to the dump with the remaining debris and painting the concrete pad.
Already, it feels much bigger than it was, and we're excited to make this renovated space our outdoor oasis.