While looking for a lake house my husband and I had several things on the want list. We wanted a good view, a location that wasn’t very busy so our kids could play out in the water, some minor work that we could hire out, and a dock. Our fixer upper hands are currently full so wanted to hire out as much of this as we could.
Well three of those boxes were checked. We are not water front but do have a view. Although it is better in the fall, winter, and early spring it has a view the entire year. It needed some minor work, some of which we are hiring out and others we are doing slowly. It needs to be updated but that can wait several years before we get to that. The location on the lake was not our favorite as the area is very busy with one of the more popular coves near by. As much as we wanted an area that wasn’t busy, as our kids get older they will love being in the place where everyone will be.
One of the most important details is that it has a dock. If you are friends with me on social media and you have seen my pictures of the lake, most of those are taken from our dock. The lake has some of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Now I should start by saying we only have 30 feet of water front property, although small, it suits our purpose. Most of our neighbors have beautiful docks maintained properly. It is clear that, like the house, our dock had been long forgotten about. Our dock is stationary so it doesn’t bob up and down with the water change. As the water goes up and down it will in some instances get very high and overtake parts or all of our dock. We have literally seen all the wood on the dock float above the metal platform while the water was high. The metal railing on the dock was some ugly green color but rusted in most parts and the swim platform was completely missing. While the water was low we could see that structurally our dock was strong but it needed some maintenance.
Originally, last year we had intended to do this part ourselves as it didn’t look that difficult and we only intend to fill in the swim dock, but we were lacking on time before the busy season and asked if Kenley Patterson would be able to do this. So thankful for him because this project took on a life of its own. After getting the swim dock replaced we loved the look so much, we had Kenley replace the large platform, then the walkway and stairs, had him clean and repaint the metal rails and finally replace the roof. Our neighbors were texting and complementing the work being done all the while we were stuck in town. When we were finally able to get a weekend back at the lake I was astounded at the change. It is clear we made the right choice giving the dock a huge facelift.
This past winter the water level was so low we were able to get a good look at all the structural supports. Although almost all were still strong and in good shape there were two that needed some minor work and many of the smaller cross braces were rusted through and needed replacing. We once again called Kenley who was able to handle all the work. He legit brought out a welder on a boat and fixed all of it. I can not imagine how long we would have been on a waitlist to get this fixed and thankful he was able to once again jump in and help.
Christina
Coffee and Construction Dust 