Controversial Hole In The Deck

I’ve been racking my brain after I ordered some kiwi vines because I didn’t know where to plant them.  They need a strong trellis to grow on and they need full sun.  I thought a good solution was to create some sort of overhead structure on the deck, since there is lots of room there, and it is much more enjoyable in the shade than in the full sun.  The problem is that I designed the two areas that are available to be ‘full sun’ areas, and I didn’t have a real good plan for modifying either area to accommodate an overhead shade structure.  This topic created marital tension when I brought it up to the wife-unit.  “You are not going to cut a hole in MY deck!”  I couldn’t come up with a better plan, and had to get the plants in soil this weekend, so I executed step 1 of the hole-in-the-deck plan and promised the bride that if it looks terrible, I’ll replace the boards so it will look like it used to.

New hole in deck

Image 1 of 4

14" x 18" hole cut near the center of the SE deck area.