DIY Deck Demo Tips & Back Patio Renovation Plan

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo

Sharing all of our tips & tricks for diy deck demo on a budget, saving money by doing it yourself including what tools we used to get out stripped screws & composite deck boards.

We have a raised deck off of our family room that we almost never use.

Although the deck looked nice, it was awkward to get to, had almost no shade & much of it was taken over by our hot tub. 

Because our backyard patio that connects with our side & backyards it was important to us to find a way that we could use & love this outdoor space. 

Our plan for this backyard space is deck demo & build a sunken patio space instead.

DIY Deck Demo Tips & Back Patio Renovation Plan

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The Deck Before

Back Patio - the plan & demo - the deck before

Our Plan to Create a Sunken Patio for the Backyard

Deck Demo

Build a Wood Retaining Wall around the Sunken Backyard Patio

Move the Hot Tub with just 2 People

Build a Reclaimed Brick Patio

Build a Flagstone Patio Walkway in Front of the Family Room Sliding Doors

Landscape around Sunken Patio

Build a Wooden Arbor for the Backyard Patio Entrance

Before we started our deck demo, we first needed to add a fence & stone walkway along the back of our farmhouse.

flagstone and stone walkway along the back of our farmhouse next to our sunken patio

Once those big DIY projects were over we started demoing the raised deck.

Deck Demo Tips

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - taking out the stairs

Over the years some of the wood had started to rot & a groundhog had made a home under our deck. 

It was not easy taking this deck down.

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - demoing deck

Unscrewing Exterior Nails

We first started by unscrewing the exterior screws holding in the composite boards with our cordless drill.

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo
Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - demoing the deck

Using a Hammer & Crowbar for the Boards that were Stripped

Unfortunately, Most of the screws holding down the boards of the deck were stripped & we had to prey most of the deck floor up with a hammer & crowbar.

Thankfully we had lots of little helpers for this job!

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - kids

Here they are hammering down the exterior screws so no one would get hurt stacking the composite deck boards.

We saved the composite deck floor boards for a future project we have planned.

After the composite boards were off, we used a sledgehammer to knock down all the pressure treated boards for the deck frame & steps.

Overall, deck demo took a lot longer than we imagined it would but we saved a ton of money doing it ourselves & we will use most of the wood & composite deck boards in future DIY projects.

Saving the Reclaimed Brick for a Brick Patio

We were very excited to find the original brick patio under the deck & plan on saving the brick to reuse for our sunken patio.

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - old brick patio

Digging out a Space for the Hot Tub to Go

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - digging a hole

The next thing we did was dig an 8 foot by 8 foot hole to place our hot tub.

Our family loves our hot tub.

Call me crazy but…we would rather not have it be the first thing you see when you come out of the family room.

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - side view of the former deck

Moving it to the side of the patio provides a much larger space to entertain.

Back Patio - the plan and deck demo - deck gone

I can not wait to be done this giant DIY project & start enjoying this backyard patio. 

Backyard Sunken Patio Reveal (HERE)

We transformed the backyard of our farmhouse by taking down a deck and creating a sunken brick and flagstone patio. Back Patio Makeover - Final Reveal / sunken patio / brick patio/ farmhouse backyard / patio makeover/ diy /fire pit / http://lehmanlane.net

We FINALLY completely our Backyard Patio! I hope you will stop by & check it out.

I hope this inspires you & answers your questions about doing deck demo yourself!

by Tara Lehman

Don’t forget to Pin & Save the Plan for our Back Patio & Deck Demo Tips!

Sharing our plan for creating a sunken brick patio and how we took down our deck #demo #deckdemo http://lehmanlane.net

Light Up the Night – Summer Garden Party

Summer Garden Tour

Some More DIY projects you Might Enjoy

DIY Flagstone Patio - I spruced up the walkway around our farmhouse with flagstone. Although this DIY project was hard work it looks beautiful & it was FREE to do! #diyprojects #flagstone #hardscape #walkwayideas https://lehmanlane.net
Sharing all the tips & tricks for how to lay an Amazing DIY brick patio over dirt using reclaimed bricks on a budget! #brickpatio #patiomakeover #diypatio https://lehmanlane.net
When we decided to create our sunken brick patio one thing that I really wanted to add was a wooden arbor entrance from the garden.  Our wooden arbor does a wonderful job of making this outdoor space feel more like an outdoor room.   This wooden arbor was fairly simple to make and we made it using scrap wood from the deck that we took down and wood left over from creating our wood retaining wall. #arbor #gardenarbor #diy https://lehmanlane.net

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