Deck the House - Episode 1 - "D-Day"

When we moved in to our house, we basically gutted the interior and replaced everything: paint, carpet, baseboards, lights, outlets, thermostats, fireplaces, windows, etc. The one major item that we haven't tackled yet is the balcony off of the dining room. It certainly needed it. The railing was rickety at best and some of the floor boards were mostly held together by moss and douglas fir needles. You can see the old deck in this picture:Saturday we began the process of replacing and expanding it. It currently is 13.5' x 7' with cantilevered 10x2 joists, 2x2 balusters, a 2x6 rail and 2x6 floor boards. It is going to be 16' x 12' with two posts supporting the extended area. I dug footings and poured cement for the posts a couple of weeks ago. The plan was to demo everything but the joists, since they are basically an extension on the house floor joists. I am going to attach the new 12' 2x8 joists to the existing joists and the new joists will be supported by a 16' 4x8 beam which will rest on the 4x4 posts about 9 feet from the house. I had hoped to get the demolition completed in the morning and begin construction on the posts and beam in the afternoon, with hope of starting to attach the new joists before it got dark. I completed the demo early enough (thanks to help from the boys) but I had to take the scrapped wood to the recyclers and purchase the new wood, all of which took longer than I had thought. The weather this week is supposed to be very nice so I hope to make progress before Ma's brother and his family come to visit.
For now, be careful going out of that door. The first step is a doozy.