Yes, the lake level is up and the humidity has been humbling, but there’s bountiful beauty to behold and so much to celebrate. Broccoli is ready to harvest, swimming and surfing sing sweet siren songs from sunup to sundown, and one of our nieces is visiting. In short, life is good.  and the cherry on top? Rosslyn’s balcony reboot is complete.
First let’s turn the clock back to March 2008 when the snowy photograph above was taken. Almost two years into our rolling rehabilitation of Rosslyn the first semblance of a balcony outside our master bedroom began to take shape.
[While undertaking our top-to-bottom Rosslyn rehabilitation back in 2006-9 we added] a third aperture on the central axis… [of the west facade, second floor] better balancing placement of the flanking windows… [while] maximizing daylight into our principal bedroom and providing access to our balcony…
(Source: TMB March 10, 2008)
Here’s what it looked like when all the work was said and done in the summer of 2009.
And a couple of summers later in 2011.
Now let’s dial our metaphorical time machine forward to October 2022 when we accepted that weather’s relentless wear and tear had gotten the best of the balcony’s decking. It was time for a balcony reboot.
The time has come for undecking the balcony, removing the failing decking to make way for new balcony decking.
Pam took charge of this project which required some delicacy to ensure thorough removal of the cedar decking without inadvertently puncturing the waterproof membrane underneath…
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With some help from Tony and Hroth, Pam made quick work of demoing the old panels and undecking the balcony…
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Now we’re ready to finalize the plan, dimensions, and materials list in order to redeck the balcony. (Source: Undecking the Balcony)
Pam tackled the brunt of demo, and Hroth undertook the early phases of this project, and then the baton was passed on to Glen who strategized and adapted garapa deck tiles from Advantage Lumber into a handsome new balcony deck perfectly coordinated with Rosslyn’s other garapa decks.
In the photograph above, you’ll note that some of the deck tiles are laid out on top of other tiles, temporarily overlapping while fine tuning was undertaken to accommodate railing posts and several roofing conjunctions.
And once the Tetris-like challenge of deck tile installation was met, Glen and Pam tackled the even more nuanced riddle of rehabilitating — both structurally and aesthetically — the existing balcony railings and posts.
Here’s an in process micro-video during his painstaking rebuild.
Much like the post bases of the boathouse gangway, persistent moisture exposure had taken its toll, so Glen and Pam began by quite literally dissecting (with surgical precision) the post bases for the balcony railing. We agonized over the smallest details, strategizing, how best to eliminate moisture exposure and entrapment in the future, while ensuring that the railings would be at least a secure, if not more secure than their predecessors.
Then it was time to rebuild the bases (once again with surgical precision) in order to re-prime, repaint, finalize installation of garapa decking, and button everything up before the onset of El Niño winter. No pressure!
Many months later the balcony tells the story of Glen’s success, complete with a happy ending.
Many thanks, Glen. And Pam. And Tony. And Hroth… Sometimes it takes a village!
What do you think?