Creating Design and Building Excellence in
Decks, Arbors & Backyard Living Spaces
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Why Should You Use Us
This is a temporary page and will be updated as time permits
Please read this very important page
This page was started to help out very upset homeowners who called asking why the deck had failed that other contractors had built for them. So I went out and took pictures to help them visually understand why their decks built months prior were failing or not built up to the quality building standards that they had hoped for.
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As of late, I have gotten so many calls from homeowners with projects that have failed. This page will help you to understand the intricacies of building a new composite or Ipe deck, which is very very different from a redwood deck. Below, you will find what can go wrong and the right way to build a beautiful new deck.
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When we used to build only redwood decks, there wasn't such a problem because the top redwood boards are structural, meaning they are very strong. If some of the deck framings below were bad, out of level, warped, or spanned too far, the top structural redwood planks would hold everything together and hide the problems.
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Now, because composite and PVC decking is made with plastic, have no structural strength, and mold to the framing, they show anything wrong with the framing and are not forgiving. These decks don't usually fail until months after completion when the wood framing dries out, warps, or bows. The contractor is long gone, leaving an eyesore and very upset homeowners. I am showing a very small sampling here, but it will give you a very good idea of the problems (pictures on the left column) versus what great design and craftsmanship (pictures on the right column) should look like.
On the left column decks that other contractors have built. Fixing problems accounts for 28% of our business.
On the right column are decks that we built. They give great examples of what craftsmanship and design should look like.
This deck waves. The girders under the joist are too far apart and the joists warped.
Ipe hardwood decking straight and level.
This deck waves from a contractor not designing the framing right. Enlarge to get the full scope of the problem.
This is what a perfectly level Trex decking should look like.
This deck dropped an inch over an 8 foot span. The Girder spans were wrong and the pressure treated framing failed. One of the inherent problems with standard pressure treated framing is it warps and makes the deck wave and warp.
I invented what I call cross framing. I have not had a single problem with warping in 10 years once we implemented cross framing.
This deck dropped over and inch and bounced as you walked across it. Composite decks have to be framed different than Redwood decks.
You can see in this close up there are no waves and this deck is 100% level.
Enlarge the picture and you can see all the screw holes. Someone did not take the time to do it right.
Tthe screws become close to invisible. Can you tell why you can't see the screws in our decks?
Not only are the screws done wrong but the breaks in the decking are in a row so they are visible. This is what happens when someone uses the cheapest route in designing decks.
Enlarge the picture to see how designing a deck the right way leave no breaks and perfect screws patterns.
This deck was built so the screws don't line up straight and were screwed in too deep.
I looked at 2,000 pictures of our work to find an obvious picture of breaks in decks. I could not find one. This deck had random breaks but you can't see them.
This deck was on a 15 million dollar house. The deck was a $100k Ipe deck and the contractor could not even build a simple deck parallel with the pool, then left a huge uneven gap. Even big name contractors are not immune to doing bad work.
This owner needed space badly so they wanted a deck built parallel to the pool, not easy to do. It did not vary more than 1/4 of an inch the entire length. Look at the clean round cuts. From a craftsmanship point of view it is perfect.
Here is an IPE deck done wrong and it cupped. I see so much of this with IPE decks. Enlarge the picture to see how bad of a problem this can be.
You are not supposed to install IPE decking this close to the ground, but clients still want it so I have come up with a process that has close to eliminated the usual cupping
These steps are built about one inch out of level
These step a both beautifully designed into the deck and level.