Front deck - in

We proceeded to cut and install the noggins over the next few weeks, with Charlie getting paid at a rate of 30p per cut noggin. Each was  bespoke cut because the sleepers are irregular. We started hanging them using nails, only to find the plastic joists bounce nails out. After investing in a magnetic "hold that nail in place" tool, things did speed up, but it was still slow going. We persisted throughout the late summer/early autumn doing a few noggins every now and then, until we were interrupted by the Garden Office project.

So this spring, with just the roof left to finish off on the office, work picked up on the deck again. Dave abandoned noggin nailing in favour of noggin screwing. It still required a pilot hole to allow him to screw the joist hangers on, but once that was done, it was a lot easier for him to actually hang them. Dave could therefore progress at his own pace adding noggins and then following with planking as complete runs of noggins were completed. The Neoplanks are held in place by clips that screw to the bearer then click in to the side of the planks, so it went down quickly and was relatively straightforward. Dave also added underdeck LED lighting along the front edge (he only forgot and had to remove planks once) which looks nice.
We had decided over the previous few weeks that rather than use bamboo screening for privacy we'd go for some low (head sticking over) fencing. Fortunately, someone on the village facebook page was asking for bamboo/reed fencing so we got rid of that lot without too many problems. However, by now, we'd emptied and sold the caravan, Tomas had moved back in and with me moving out to the cabin office, we felt another skip coming on, to get rid of excess caravan and camping equipment, some of the leftover materials from the cabin build and some other stuff that had escaped the previous skip. We stuck with a 6 yard this time, and used the metal fairy trick again. Metal fairy wasn't as successful as last time, but two of the three tents went, along with most of the gazebo poles and the garden/caravan toys. My old desk chair was rejected on numerous occasions!