Our Standard Railing consists of a 2x4 stringer, on edge, and on the inside of the posts, at the top of the posts and one a few inches off the deck floor. Then we use a 2x6 as a Top Cap and site-cut 2x2's for the vertical balusters. Total rail height is 36".

The 2x4 stringers being on the inside (the deck side) look better, more finished, and are stronger and safer than doing it any other way. Code requires that rails are at least 36" tall but we can certainly make them taller if you are willing to pay the difference in the materials and if you let us know, in writing, during the design phase (before the contract is made).

This rail has been stained (WE don't stain). But instead of our wood 2x2 balusters we can use Deckorators brand "Traditional" aluminum balusters. They screw on to the back of the stringers. These only come in one other size, so if you want taller railing with these balusters, we have to quote you for them and you HAVE to let us know before we order them.

These balusters come powder coated in black or bronze (seen here) and are the least expensive aluminum baluster on the market. One less thing to stain and provides more view than our 2x2's.

Our trademark Bench & Table Set. We inherited this design and are the only ones around here that seem to be able to build anything like it. The height of the backs of the benches is the same height as the 36" railing.

The backs lean back at a comfortable angle and the entire thing only takes up 6" of deck space in front of the railing.

The design allows for tables and other things to be integrated seemlessly and all work together in function and form. The height being the same as the railing means everything works out perfectly together. It's comfortable to rest your arm on the Top Cap while sitting on the bench. If you want taller railing, that will throw off the way everything works together and you probably wouldn't be wanting benches at that point anyway.

Garden Benches have no back. They can be placed where you need seating or just need to keep people from walking off the edge of the deck w/o obstructing the view with railing.

They are sturdy, strong, and can be built around any angle of the deck. A hole in a bench, and a block wtih a hole in it on the floor, will hold an umbrella to provide shade for your seating.

A Wrapped Bench is a bench with a back that wraps around cut-off corners (angles) of the deck. There are compound miters involved in this bench and this is where you find out who is truly a carpenter.

All our Benches with backs are bolted to the outside of the deck frame. And they even look good from the back!

We can do built-in tables, bars, plant shelves, or grill tables nearly anywhere. Any table that isn't the corner table of our Bench Sets is considered an "extra table".

Extra tables can be nearly any shape or size. These two are duplicates of our Corner Tables. Since there is a bench on only one side of them accepting their support arms, they each need an angle brace on the other side.

We often need to build Trap Doors into the floor of our decks. This one is for the pool skimmer. If you've got a spigot, a valve, a clean-out, or anything that will be covered by the deck but you may need to get to it, we'll just make a Trap Door!

This one has its handle carved out of the end of the center board as a simple recess big enough for 4 fingers. But some Trap Door panels are not at the edge and we have various ways we incorporate handles. Or, if you may never need in it, we may screw the panel down so you just have to unscrew it and pry it up to gain access.

Solid Skirting is just privacy fence pickets installed vertically under the deck frame and extending down to the ground. Anytime we do skirting, we also include riser boards on the stairs. Skirting is super solid and far more durable than lattice.

We always include an access door when we do skirting. We try to use black hardware when we can find it. If the deck is so low that you may never go under it, then we may just screw on several of the fence pickets so you can gain access if you need to w/o tearing anything up.

Wrapped Steps are any steps that wrap around the outside (seen here) or inside angles of the shape of the deck. You can see this step wraps around to the right until it dies-out into the slope of the yard.

This was a yoga studio that had wide, platform Wrapped Steps. And a wrapped garden bench too!

These Wrapped Steps are technically zig-zag steps. Sure, stuff like this costs a little more to build. But we don't charge much more than straight steps because if wrapping them benefits the entire design & function of the deck, then it's worth it to make it affordable.

Steps may need to "die-out" into the skirting or the ground. In this example, the top step is simply angled at each end (the right end dieing out into the deck frame). The other two steps turn and angle back toward the skirting.

These Straight Steps that are square and have a railing on the left end. But they are recessed and die out into the deck and skirting on the right end. 

These steps are recessed into the deck. A dedicated area is then created for the grill on the right and an area for a table & chairs on the left.

Recessing these steps created two pedestal-type areas. Plants, statues, whatever you want to place there.... This is what this client wanted. We build what you want/need that serves your purposes.

These stairs are partially recessed. Sometimes it's best to let the stairs take away a little of the unneeded deck area to avoid them going so far out into the yard. Just all depends on the overall design and planned use of the deck & yard.

An Open-Rafter roof means that you will see the framing. There is no ceiling. You will see the rafters and the roof decking on top of the rafters. But we use grooved siding for the decking which looks far better than regular plywood. This one is a Gable Roof.

This one is a Hip Roof. When we do an open-rafter roof, it looks good without the higher cost of having a ceiling. There are other important things you should read about our roofs in the Our Jobsite Practices section.

A finished ceiling means you will not see the framing. It is quite a bit more costly to do it this way, and can lead to things we don't do such as caulking and painting. But we can build anything you want and are happy to do it! This roof was built with scissor trusses so the ceiling would be vaulted, but not vaulted as high as the rafters were.

For this one we did a flat ceiling with beadboard and staggered trim. The posts were also wrapped and had cap & base. We're happy to do this for you too. Just be aware that all untreated wood outdoors has to be kept caulked and painted or it will deteriorate. For those who are curious, that is a hanging double TV mount.

I have no idea why it's called a cricket. But a "cricket" is a small piece of roof built to shed water away from or around things that could hold water & rot on the main roof - like a chimney. You can see that this house had nothing behind the chimney before. Water was just sitting there. After we added the roof over the deck (that plywood-covered gable), we added a cricket.

Here is a finished cricket. You can see how, as the water comes down either slope of the roof, the cricket will shed it around both sides. You would be amazed if you knew how many homes have nothing keeping water from sitting behind chimneys. This is another example of how the building code is failing us.

We like to do metal roofs just like our other roofs - with the grooved plywood as what you see when you look up. But sometimes to stay within a budget we'll propose a Simple Metal Roof. This is where we just put 1x4 strips across the top of the rafters and screw the metal to the strips. But as you see, we even make this style look good.

Here is a close up of what you see when you look up at the bottom of a Simple Metal Roof. All colors of roofing metal are white on the bottom (unless you get galvanized, which will be silver). If you don't mind this look, and you don't mind how LOUD the rain will be, then this better-budget version may be right for you!

A "cantilever" is a horizontal member extended into space. Here, the deck framing is cantilevered over two girder beams so that the deck protrudes 2' further than the deck supports do. This one allowed the stairs (barely seen to the left) to come down and not have the people run into a support post.

Lots of things can be cantilevered. Here, we placed the railing post in the optimal spot to allow use of all the deck space and then cantilevered the top of the rail over to prevent access onto the roof.