Luis Faustino built a new deck by himself in his back yard last year. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

Luis Faustino built a new deck by himself in his back yard last year. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

This summer Delano is asking readers to share “My home renovation”, a home improvement project that could inspire others. In today’s instalment: Luis Faustino shares how he took advantage of last year’s covid curfew to conceive and construct a new deck and elevated garden by himself.

Project overview

Name: Luis Faustino.

Occupation: Risk specialist.

Location: Osweiler.

When did you start your renovation project and how long did it take? It lasted four Saturdays, between October and November 2020.

Why did you start this project and what did you want to accomplish with the renovation? I had suddenly more free time due to the curfew, and I was for a while dreaming of constructing a deck as well as an elevated garden.

Briefly describe the work that you undertook. For the deck: [As the ground below my property] is very full of clay and argyle, it would be very difficult to dig the foundations without machinery (which I don’t have), hence I measured up the required spaces (this would also allow levelling the deck with the first concrete degree on the back). I laid anti-weed cloth.

In Baumarkt, I ordered the rain-proof wood and the gravel stones (I picked small to medium sized--mixed--Rhine river gravel). Then it was all about fixing the deck skeleton together, and filling in with the gravel, levelling from time to time. Before the end, I laid down a gravel stabiliser grid to guarantee a solid base to the PVC decking (plug & click system). The seats were ordered online.

For the elevated gardens: First, I laid anti-weed cloth. Then I spread around red wood chips of medium size. I assembled the pre-ordered elevated garden boxes, insulated it and finally filled them with [soil].

Luis Faustino’s back yard before renovation work began. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

Luis Faustino’s back yard before renovation work began. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

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Luis Faustino’s back yard before renovation work began. Photo provided by Luis Faustino
Luis Faustino’s self-constructed deck seen during construction, October-November 2020. Photo provided by Luis Faustino
Luis Faustino’s self-constructed deck seen during construction. Photo provided by Luis Faustino
Luis Faustino’s self-constructed deck seen during construction. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

Budget? Circa €1,500 for the deck and €800 for the seats [the fire pit was a gift]. €300 for the elevated garden.

Now that work has been completed, what are you most pleased about? I am mostly pleased with having such a warm garden space, that was built (and thought out) by me. This is extremely rewarding considering that I am a city person, and was never really hands on with DIY projects. I feel that I turned a ‘bad moment’ into a personal achievement.

Luis Faustino’s back yard before renovation work began. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

Luis Faustino’s back yard before renovation work began. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

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Luis Faustino’s back yard before renovation work began. Photo provided by Luis Faustino
Luis Faustino’s self-constructed deck seen during construction, October-November 2020. Photo provided by Luis Faustino
The deck takes shape. Photo provided by Luis Faustino
The completed deck and elevated garden, ready for warm (and cooler) weather enjoyment. Photo provided by Luis Faustino

Looking back at the project, what would you do differently now? I would have planned the base of the deck differently. Would have probably built stabilisers for a longer duration.