We've been talking about our deck for a long time. It's old. It needs to be replaced. This year, it moved to the front of the priority list and we contracted with a builder to rebuild it.
(Yes, we talked about doing it ourselves, but luckily, Chris agreed with me that it was better to let a professional handle this one.)

In order to save a tiny fraction of the total cost, we agreed to do the demolition.

Maggie, Katherine and I started today, intending to remove the lattice work around the bottom edge of the deck. Because of the many nails and screws that were exposed, I didn't let the girls do too much and Katherine quickly got bored. But Maggie was persistent that she really wanted to help.

After we got the lattice off, we decided to attempt removing the railings. Chris got us started and pretty soon we were pros. We made a great team with Maggie using the socket wrench to loosen bolts and my 'strength' to remove the railings.

Because the deck is so old, it didn't take too much effort, and soon we had all of the railings off!

Once we hear a firm date as to when the construction will begin, we will remove the rest of the deck. But for now, it's been declared a work zone and the kids are not allowed back there anymore. Unless, of course, Maggie wants to get some more work done!

Video of Maggie's glee while demolishing the deck.

last section of railing to come down

DONE! she got that last section down!

we laughed that she only had Dora gardening gloves to use - we need to get her some real work gloves!

Look at my tools! Fun times!