We long ago had to declare defeat in our War Against The Squirrels and replace the outside stairs leading to the cells adjacent to Mater Dei. They have resisted the squirrels teeth, although some squirrels, perhaps to spite the loss of the wood staircase, have a regular penchant for visiting when Gertrude lets them. Actually she has been seen chasing chipmunks and rabbits. We are hopeful squirrels won’t be too far down on her list of animals to conquer.
Now the deck outside the Mater Dei kitchen succumbed, but mainly to wet weather and less sunshine facing north, causing the wood to crumble away even after pressure cleaning, staining, caulking, painting etc. We chose again to use a composite material, like the outside stairs, giving the traction of wood but the resistance of plastic or vinyl and utterly too soft for squirrels to sharpen their fangs…uhm…cute little teeth….on.
We are very grateful to the benefactors who enabled this needed work to be addressed. God Bless Y’All!
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- Wood rot samples. If you look closely you will see a ten inch wood screw.
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- Removing decking in preparation to repair and replace the supporting wood supports underneath that had rotted.
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- See from below we learned why parts of the rotting beam hadn’t given way. A steel beam was inserted into the main wood beam for added strength. [RIP a power saw blade or two]
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- Can you imagine cutting through a wooden beam to discover this? The other half is still in the main support beam that didn’t need replacing.
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- The floor is finished using a composite that should survive Tennessee wetness longer than ordinary wood.