I told you I was going to build a deck. Did you believe me?

The ultimate goal of a Tiny House, is to have space outside to spill out into. We have quite a bit of land. So I thought, why not make the most of it. 

Step 1 is building a deck. 

Roping my trusty cousin in again to come help build (I owe this man so many favors I dread the day they come due) we jumped right into it. 

Now I’ve never built a deck before. But 1 quick YouTube video later and I was down at the hardware store buying cement (I have a cement mixer, and I am surrounded by free aggregate), screws and decking timber. Keeping with my philosophy of “reduce, reuse, recycle”, we actually picked up about 50 recycled power poles cut into 1.2 meter long posts. 

I roughly measured out how big I want it and then plotted out where all the posts should go. After that it was as ‘simple’ as digging holes for the posts. Funny thing about digging into loose gravel… even with a post hole differ, the holes just fill back up again. It wasn’t very fun to be honest. 

We painted the posts to ensure they remain waterproof. Then plonked them in the ground, mixed and poured cement footings around them and got them somewhat level. After they dried it was back to YouTube to work out the best way to level a deck using string lines. Then we marked the posts and cut them to height. 

It was relatively straight forward after you have a nice large even surface. Everything just becomes laying down and cutting wood and decking to length. The deck took us about 2 weeks to finish using what little time we have available outside work and play. But my goodness it made a difference! 

Its huge too. About 10 meters x 8 meters (80 meters squared, or 861 square feet). Its far larger then the physical size of the Tiny House. But it now gives us the ability to start moving living spaces outdoors. It also gives us a buffer between the dirt and gravel, and the inside of our house. 

Next is some sort of gazebo, even if its temporary. Then, who knows, maybe an outdoor kitchen.