Thank you! Yes, it has been very well planned out, drawn to scale on the computer, mapped out, redrawn, measured, remeasured, procrastinated a couple times and now finally work in progress!
Just putting up the ledger board was an all day undertaking. Consider measuring the places to drill into the studs on the side of the house, marking the the holes, drilling the wood, marking the house, and then climbing a ten foot ladder with a 13' piece of lumber and bolting it to the side of the house by myself! I had to get creative, but I managed! I had to carry it up the ladder and back down about 6 times, then paint it, then bolt it in place for the final time. I started at about 9 am and finished at about 6 pm, but I wanted to be sure I drilled all the holes in the right places the first time out. For some of the studs I found that I could remove a light switch on the inside and find the stud, then measure from the door or window and make my mark on the outside...no guessing!
I still have a lot of lumber to buy, and lots of painting to do, but I'm close to getting that done. I'll do the diagonal supports this week (if I have time) and then next week start on the top. I plan to run the electricity from the house (the exterior light boxes) and install an outdoor ceiling fan at each end and separate lights for the barbecue grill since I seem to grill in the dark quite often.
Once it's done....par~tay time!