Ipe Deck Restoration Moraga CA

 

Day 1...
This property was going on the market late 2022.
 The deck had some obvious settlement issues
 and the realtor wanted it to look like Ipe again...

The house itself had stunning ipe floors inside as well.

After lots of sanding
and structural corrections to sliding footings
I suggested a design change for the railings 
(instead of sanding 1000 balusters to bring the color back)

I proposed a horizontal railing for 2 reasons:
1) its half the labor cost of sanding original balusters
2) it looks waaay better

See that tall redwood tree?
 it's going to fall over in 2 months...

The property Nextdoor is 50' below the deck. 
A 15' tall retaining wall supports these 10' tall deck posts

The home owner was hesitant at first but loved the transformation when finished

Restored the original ipe gate

No more low spots

This is where the redwood tree is going to land...

staircase down to retaining wall

Concrete pads going in next

Resealed everything 

Ready to go on the market!

and then...

75' Redwood tree fell short of the house by 3"
Let's take a step back
and at least enjoy the irony
of a (jealous) redwood tree
sabotaging an ipe deck.
🤣

Los Altos, CA - A Custom Gardening Work Bench accessible via Bridge into Deer-Proof Plant Nursery

 Garden work bench project
Los Altos, CA

My proposed garden work bench w/ pull out shelves...

 the granite top is getting installed 

on the top half of work bench 

by 3rd party. 

Dry creek bed going around plant nursery needed a bridge incase of rain.
The dirt will be cut back to make the approach more linear.
The deer won't stop giggling until someone digs a moat
 and upgrades this to a draw bridge

My first draft of a bridge wasn't accepted
Some people were not fond of the arch
(I heard a bridge w/o nice hand railings is a jetty
or a plank)

In my never ending quest to make people stop trippin'
I changed the bridge boards to run vertical.
Don't want anywho's catching a toe
and not know'n how to swim.
SAFETY FIRST

6 planter boxes with irrigation ran into each box.
Obviously a genius built these
 bc the corners are lapped not mitered =D  

Looks like a carpenter wizard was here