Robert Clarke stands at the corner of his finished deck. Decorated with lattice, the deck now extends past his kitchen window and allows extra space for entertaining. Clarke completed the do-it-yourself project for $634.86, and he saved more than $860 by doing the work himself. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS - BIL BOWDEN)

A mere 24 hours after Robert Clarke had finished building an extension onto his backyard deck, dark clouds descended upon the nearly month-long project.

And the clouds were not alone.

On Aug. 24, the otherwise clear, sunny afternoon sky above Clarke's Conewago Township home quickly turned gray, bringing with it a barrage of hail and rain.

Clarke watched from his sliding-glass back door as the harsh precipitation pelted the deck's newly nailed floorboards creating veined streams of not-yet-dried wood stain that washed into the soil below.

"I was like, 'Uhhh!'," he said. "I had to re-stain the entire deck after the storm."

Even with the unsavory task of reapplying wood stain to a 20-by-10-foot deck, Clarke estimates he saved more than $860 by completing the project himself instead of hiring a contractor.

For a long time, Clarke said he had wanted to extend his original 12-by-10-foot deck so that guests would have a place to congregate aside from inside the house.

"The grill was right next to the table," Clarke said. "It was too close."

Clarke wasn't sure if he could physically take on the project.

First, Clarke called in a few contractors to collect quotes on the extension.

The best quote came in at $1,500, Clarke said.

"One contractor told me that if I did the deck myself, the materials would cost about $400 to $500," he said. "And he was spot on."

With the stain, the total cost of Clarke's project came

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to $634.86.

"With the economy right now," he said, "you need to try to do projects yourself."

However, what Clarke saved on money, he spent on time.

To kick off the project, Clarke contacted the township and found out that he didn't need a permit to expand his deck.

For Conewago Township, a permit is not required if the floor of the deck is less than 30 inches high, said Fritz Neufeld, the township's building codes enforcement officer.

Clarke's deck is 27 inches from the ground.

Starting Aug. 1, Clarke worked nights and weekends to complete the deck.

Often, he would climb under the existing structure and study how the original deck had been constructed. He turned to the Internet and the woodworking skills that had been passed to him by his grandfather to complete the project.

His children, Marvin Dodson and Kaiylah Dodson, helped with the rails and some other tasks.

"The whole point of this project was to save money," Clarke said.

sadkins@ydr.com;771-2047