April 4th, 2018 Final UPDATE & Thank You:  
We finished up the Deck for A Soldier® project on Thursday with the electrician installing some lights in the ceiling of the front porch.  The soldier, his wife and their 15 year old son with Muscular Dystrophy are so very grateful for all that we did for them.  I would like to thank everyone who helped and donated time or materials to make this project possible. A compilation video of all photos is forthcoming. 
 
Material Donations:
  • Excelsior Lumber
  • Abbe Lumber
  • Fox Lumber
  • FastenMaster
  • Simpson Strong Tie
  • National Nail
  • Screw Products
  • Greenbay Decking
  • Trex – Railings
  • Mid State Lumber – Trex railings
  • MRS – Trex railings
  • Allied Supply
  • GAF Roofing
  • JayKay gutters
  • Zuidema Portable Toilets
  • Pinto Carting
  • Apex Electric – ceiling lights
  • Borough of Bloomingdale
  • Jeff Fleischer, Architect
  • Lunch was provided by Trex, AZEK, Fiberon, Back to Nature Decks (Mike Ebner) and the Soldier

Labor Donations:

  • C. Verblaauw & Sons, LLC:  Bruce Verblaauw, Dylan Villela, Mike DiGiacamo
  • Fiberon:  Lainie Sleppin, Dave Jarvis
  • AZEK: Kyle Garvey
  • Barrett Outdoors: Gustavo deLaCruz & 3 Helpers
  • All American Decks: Chad McConnell, Scott Nadrotowski, Leonel Enrique
  • My Deck: Ed Drake, Tyler Smith
  • Trex: Tim Schlosser, Mike Ryan
  • Excelsior Lumber: Sophia Bishop, Stacey Poplowski, Adam Spratt
  • Outdoor Escapes: Terran Certosimo
  • Wolf Home Products: Bob Lett
  • Legacy Services: Michael Beaudry
  • Back to Nature Decks: Mike Ebner, Cody Ebner, Phil Plano
  • Decks by Kiefer: Bob Kiefer, Andy Gorzillo, John Parkin
  • Artisan Builders Guild: Walter Jones, Clayton Wolfe
  • Ken Pritchard, Volunteer

Thank you!

Bruce Verblaauw – NADRA National Deck for  Soldier® Committee Chairman​, (201) 327-7864

March 21st, 2018 UPDATE: 
The NJ deck building team got a head start on the Deck For A Soldier® project in Bloomingdale, NJ late last week.  The old, deteriorated porch and roof were removed.  New footings were dug and poured so the crew could start building the new porch and roof on Monday, 3/19.
Volunteers are lined up and on site this week to help get the new porch framed and decked. The railings are expected to be installed by the end of the week and be ready to start building the roof next week.

Volunteers are on site today until the snow kicks them out.

What an amazing group of members & volunteers. We can’t thank you enough for your time, materials and efforts on this build.

Be sure to check out the gallery below of current photos from this week.

Thank you!

Bruce Verblaauw – NADRA National Deck for  Soldier® Committee Chairman​, (201) 327-7864

March 13th, 2018 UPDATE:
NADRA Members in NJ could use your help with supplies for Deck for a Soldier® build. Tear down is happening this week.

If you would like to make a monetary pledge, you can do so HERE.   The local crew can then use this money to purchase the items below as a final effort to fulfill material needs for the soldiers new deck.

The materials needed are as follows:

2 – 14” or 16” x 4’ concrete form tubes
3 – 2” x 10” – 16’ treated ledger boards
3 – 2” x 12” – 12’ treated stair stringers
3 – 2” x 4” – 12’ treated ramp
14 – 2” x 4” – 16’ treated lattice framing
7 – 4” x 4” – 8’ treated roof posts
1 – roll 12” vinyl flashing
1 – set black gate hardware (2 hinges and gate latch) for lattice access gate

5 – 1” x 12”-18’ PVC Trim Boards preferably Versatex
2 – 1” x 8” – 18’ PVC Trim Boards Preferably Versatex so it will match much of the other trim that has already been pledged by the company

Following are the pledges for this D4S Project: Thank you for your support!

Material Pledges: 

Abbe Lumber – concrete, vinyl, aluminum and pre-bent flashing, nails, PVC privacy lattice

Fox Lumber – some pressure treated framing

Excelsior Lumber (MidState, Versatex) – Fir lumber, plywood,  PVC trim

Simpson StrongTie

FastenMaster

National Nail

Screw Products

GreenBay Decking

Trex Railing

Allied Supply – porch ceiling

GAF – roofing

Jay-Kay Gutters

Monetary Pledge: $250 from: Sean Smith, Homesmith, Inc.

Labor

Lainie – Fiberon

Gary Daley – GreenBay Decking

Pete Miller – MidState Lumber

Gus & Help -Barrett Outdoors

Excelsior Lumber Employees

Greg Hartmann – National Nail

Ed & Help – MyDeck

Joe. O – NJ Custom Decks

Josh & Vincent – FastenMaster

Bob Kiefer – Decks by Kiefer

Deck Remodelers

Legends Built

If you feel moved to get involved with this build, please reach out.

Respectfully,

Bruce Verblaauw  ​- NADRA National Deck for a Soldier® Committee Chairman​, (201) 327-7864

 

March 7th, 2018 UPDATE: 
CALLING ALL NADRA MEMBERS – Builders, Reps, Everyone!!!!!
As most of you know, we plan on starting the New Jersey Deck For A Soldier® project on March 19, 2018.  This is a replacement of a wrap around front porch with a roof over it in Bloomingdale, NJ.  Because of the porch and roof configuration, this will be one of the most labor intensive Deck for a Soldier® projects to date.  We will be starting with demo. on Monday, 3/19/18 and expect that the job will take 1.5 – 2 weeks to complete.  We will need as much help as possible from everyone involved in order to spread out the financial burden of the labor volunteers.  If you can help, please get back to me with information so I can try to set up a schedule and not have too many helpers one day and none the next.  I intend to have my guys there on the first day to get the demolition done and then we will step in as needed along the way.
Again, please help us out on this one as much as possible.  This soldier has been injured in combat and an outstanding member of his community and deserves our help.
If you would like to make a pledge for labor and/or materials, please click here: http://bit.ly/NADRAD4SPledgeForm.
 
If you would rather, you can email me at
bruceverb@njdecksandrailings.com or call me, this is my cell phone # 201-803-2909.
Respectfully,
 

Bruce Verblaauw  

​- NADRA National Deck for a Soldier® Committee Chairman​

C. Verblaauw & Sons, LLC (201) 327-7864

February 15th, 2018 UPDATE:  

The New Jersey crew is making some headway.  The building permit is in hand & the town graciously waived all related fees.  This is a wrap around porch and roof on a home in Bloomingdale, NJ. The soldier was honorably discharged with a severe back injury after serving two tours in Iraq. This Veteran has been commander of VFW and American Legion posts.  He has attended over 2000 Veteran funerals.  We are currently looking for labor and material pledges from NADRA members. Following are some of the materials we are in need of for this build:

  • 2 – 14″ – 16″ concrete form tubes
  • 24 – bags concrete mix
  • pressure treated 2″ x 8″ lumber
  • 300 – 320 sq. ft. of composite decking48 – 50 lineal feet of railing,
  • 6 – 8′ post wraps
  • Fir framing lumber for the roof and ceiling
  • plywood, felt paper, roof shingles, gutter and leader pipe,
  • PVC trim for fascias and beam wraps, flashing
  • vinyl siding
  • PVC lattice
  • hardware, nails and screws.

These materials are all approximate, we will supply exact amounts in the near future.  To make a pledge for material or labor, please click here:http://bit.ly/NADRAD4SPledgeForm.  Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to working on this build with you.

January 18th, 2018: UPDATE:

Call for Action!

The Northeast Region is getting things in order to start a Deck For A Soldier® build in New Jersey.  This is a wrap around porch and roof on a home in Bloomingdale, NJ. The soldier  was honorably discharged with a severe back injury after serving two tours in Iraq. This Veteran has been commander of VFW and American Legion posts.  He has attended over 2000 Veteran funerals. He has a son who is wheelchair bound with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.   We will be submitting the permit application in the next week or so.  We are asking for labor and material pledges for this project.  Following are some of the materials we will need:

Their deck is in bad shape and needs to be replaced.  This veteran has done two tours in Iraq and has been commander of VFW and American Legion posts.  He has attended over 2000 veteran funerals.

  • 2 – 14″ – 16″ concrete form tubes
  • 24 – bags concrete mix
  • pressure treated 2″ x 8″ lumber
  • 300 – 320 sq. ft. of composite decking48 – 50 lineal feet of railing,
  • 6 – 8′ post wraps
  • Fir framing lumber for the roof and ceiling
  • plywood, felt paper, roof shingles, gutter and leader pipe,
  • PVC trim for fascias and beam wraps, flashing
  • vinyl siding
  • PVC lattice
  • hardware, nails and screws.

These materials are all approximate, we will supply exact amounts in the near future.  To make a pledge, please click here:http://bit.ly/NADRAD4SPledgeForm.  

Thank you for all of your support!