I initially received three estimates, the first was a decent price to change the obvious (about three rows of wooden planks) but told me he didn't know what he was going to find underneath those planks and the price could go up. I followed up with him to see if he could give me an estimate for redoing the whole deck but he never replied.
The second estimate told me it was obvious I needed to redo the whole deck as he could see the wood underneath was rotted and dead and would need to be replaced. So the price went up understandably.
I had a third estimate from the same person that did my master bath reno which turned out amazing. (Will try to get on that blog next.) He gave me an estimate for a brand new deck and a price to put in a stamped concrete patio. The latter, he said would be easier up keep.
Now that got my wheels turning and decided I wanted the patio and threw out the idea of the deck for several reasons. Wood termites are common in the area and I didn't want that to be an issue again. Second, I like the idea of a ground level area for privacy in both the backyard (harder to see from the street) and in relation to the windows at the back of my house which you are able to see into while standing on the deck. Now, this will not be an issue.
I ended up getting one more estimate last minute that ended up being significantly less than all previous. He was hired! I chose him off of Angieslist.com and I read a bunch of his reviews so I felt certain of his work.
Here are some pictures of the before and after's as well as in-betweens.
You can see the broken stairs here.
A different angle.
Close up of the stairs.
About 7 years ago I tried to refinish this deck on my own. I stripped it, sanded and painted it myself. Not really knowing what I was doing, this is how it looks after that amount of time.
Detail of the second stairs.
This is how it looked when I came home day of demo. Surprise! Cement stairs under the deck that need to be demolished too. And a whole cement patio that went under the house. Interesting.
There apparently was a door here that led from the kitchen to the backyard?
This is after my patio guy demo'd the stairs for me for no extra cost. And the exterior wall was finished. I had to have one guy come in who created the wall and another guy that did the painting. Even after all of this was added on, the price of the whole project was still more inexpensive than the other offers.
Here are some pictures of the work after the first day of creating the patio and new stairs.
The new stairway down to the ground floor.
Another view.
Another view.
This is the day they laid the cement and stamped it. It looks dull because they put a special powder over it while it dries to create the coloring.
Still has that powder creating a dull appearance but for the most part finished.
After they washed off the powder, it is usable and almost finished.
After 30 days, they came back once to add a sealer and it was finished. It was suggested to reseal every so often to keep up the looks and protect.
Thanks for reading!
