Breaking Ground on Art Barn Deck

The men of Passerino Painting and Contracting dig holes for 6x6 posts that will hold up our new Art Barn deck.

It was a little more than one year ago when we began putting together plans for Better Farm's new Art Barn. Continuing from those ideas (several new banks of windows and sliding doors, gallery walls, track lighting, and recycled spray foam soy insulation), Passerino Painting and Contracting stopped by the farm yesterday to break ground on the Art Barn's brand-new custom, second-floor deck. Spanning more than 26 feet by 12 and overlooking a lovely natural amphitheater, this is going to be our new outdoor concert hall: bands on the deck, crowd on the hill...

The materials.

The decking material we decided on is MoistureShield, environmentally friendly composite decking that utilizes 95 percent recycled materials. Here are some fast facts about this company:

• No new trees are cut down to make MoistureShield Decking.
• Their process stops more than 270 million pounds of trash from entering landfills every year—that's 36 football fields of trash, each stacked 10 feet high!
• They save more than 5.3 trillion BTUs of energy per year.
• MoistureShield's process saves 1 million gallons of gas a year.
• Not only does a 12´ x 12´ MoistureShield deck save 110 gallons of gas, but it also reduces greenhouse gas by 619 lbs. CO2 equivalent.
• The plastic and wood A.E.R.T. recycles annually is comparable to taking 54,000 vehicles off the road.

Here's what goes into each board of MoistureShield:


The deck is going to run up the side of the barn:

Then across the entire back of the barn:

And overlook a natural amphitheater behind it:

As the guys get the deck in ship shape, we're going to bring in a friendly neighborhood goat to clear out all that brush and burdock (seriously). Stay tuned for more photos!

To schedule an estimate for one of your at-home projects, contact Passerino Painting and Contracting at passerinojm@gmail.com or (315) 783-3994.