The Deck Saga Continues

So it turns out that according to my mentor, the white stuff underneath the orange stuff which was underneath the tiles has to go. We need to get down to the plywood underneath before we move forward. Simple enough, but once I started to lift off that white stuff, my Mentor said it looked like asbestos. Damn! In all honesty, I can't imagine why they'd put that under a tile deck, but once the seed of doubt was planted, it was all over. We took a sample to Home Depot and surprisingly the guy had no idea, so we're on to our next plan. Talk to the guy that put it in.

I contacted SG about it and he said he did not install it but the name I threw out sounded familiar. Of course MG would know, but calling her could kill me, so I contacted the tile guy, instead, and believe it or not, his wife said he was in Alaska fighting fires. Apparently it's something he's done for the past 20 years, but he'd be back next Wednesday. How crazy is that? So we wait.


In the meantime, some issues that my Mentor brought up. He said the metal trim along the edge of the deck was done wrong. It's supposed to prevent water from going into the house, i.e., stream it onto the deck where it will run onto the ground. Since the deck is sloped into the house, it fails on that count. Also, the water barrier was laid behind it, so water simply run down between it and the house, and where it contacts the tile, it's supposed to angle and bend so that water runs over it and onto the tiles. Instead it is simply flat and channels water into the crack. Poor design. I'll have to rip that out, as well. What else is new?

Talked to Mentor today and it seems as if concrete is the way to go. We can shape it, give it the proper pitch, finish it so it looks beautiful, and then we don't have to worry about laying and cutting tiles. I like all of those qualities. And to add a cherry to top, it would probably end up being cheaper. Enough said.

We're also having issues with the lights in the school room, they don't work. Mentors friend, Home Improvement Dave said it was probably the dimmer, they go out all the time, so I went with that, but Mentor said he didn't think so. So he came over, pulled it out and checked it, and then said it might very well be the dimmer. Hello? So now that it's out, I need to get a new one and then put it in. Mentor said he'd do it, but he's charging us and I'm acutely aware of this, so I'll give it a go myself.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.