Stop the Insanity

As I sit here on a lovely August morning at my kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee, the beautiful morning stillness is pierced by the sound of my neighbour sanding his deck.  He's been at at all day every day for a week now.  Yesterday morning when i went to walk the dog at 9am he was at it and when I went to enjoy a frosty beer in my yard at 5pm he was still at it.  A belt sander, a palm sander, a high pitched whining angle sander, this guy's got them all.  He did this 2 years ago as well and re-painted the deck in bright white - top surface only, so you can imagine the appearance after a year or two. Right, most of the paint had flaked off.  This is a 20 year old builder's deck made of utility grade spruce lumber - the worst lumber possible for an outdoor application.  Builder's usually subcontract the decks to some low bid unskilled crews who slap them up on move on.  This deck was supported on 6x6 untreated posts resting directly on soil.  Its about 4 feet off the ground.

A few weeks back this neighbour decided to put a pool on his deck (pictured below on the lawn).  I estimate this pool to be 10' diameter by about 2' of water.  On the deck.  With 5 adults in it.  So water weighing in at 62.427 Lbs per cubic foot and if we calculate the volume of the cylinder Pi x r2 x h we have 157.079 cubic feet of water for about 9,806.010 lbs of water on the deck - a dynamic load as well plus the weight of the humans frolicking in the water. Thats 4.9 tons of water by the way, yes water is heavy.  Heavier than most people realize.  When I saw them doing this in the afternoon I have to say my jaw dropped a little as I stood there observing their actions.  I thought "thats not good"  "that can't possibly hold that weight for very long" "I should say something"  Then of course I thought "nah, they're enjoying the cool water on a hot day with salsa music blaring, they won't listen to chicken little (me)"  So I shook my head and walked away.  Later that evening around 9pm while I was sitting at my kitchen table I heard a loud crack and roar.  I knew immediately what had happened and I jumped up, grabbed my phone and headed out to the yard to snap some pictures. I have a video too which I'll try to get into a subsequent post.  

I'm happy nobody was in the pool when the deck collapsed (the main beam broke) but right now after days of the incessant whining of my neighbour's power tools I'm having dark thoughts.  I'm sure I could plead justifiable homicide

I wonder if he didn't want splinters puncturing the liner? Well, he doesn't need to worry about that anymore!

Just think, now you'll have the pleasant sounds of the demolition.

I wonder if he didn't want splinters puncturing the liner? Well, he doesn't need to worry about that anymore!

Just think, now you'll have the pleasant sounds of the demolition.

No, he's rebuilt it. He had a contractor come and jack it back up and put some slightly better footings under it - still inadequate in my opinion, and now he's sanding the s@#* out of it trying to make it a ballroom. If he valued his time even at minimum wage for the money he could have gone and bought some nice synthetic decking and never had to sand or paint again. He's driving me nuts Back when I was much younger I was an apprentice carpenter and one thing the journeymen said to me was "we're not building a piano" not to mean that we should be careless in our work but rather that you put the materials and labour into the project commensurate with the intended purpose. This guy's trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and I know that it will look like hell again after one winter season.

I couldn't manage to post the short video clip but its just the view with the water pouring out and the neighbour's daughter on the phone calling her parents for help.

I know how aggravated you are, but from my perspective as I was reading of the aftermath I couldn't help but laugh at the insanity of it.

If you send me the video I'll put it in my dropbox for folks to see. But I'll remove it in a few days to reclaim the space. I can PM you my email address. Let me know.