Decks

Warm summer days require an ice cold beverage and a beautiful deck to enjoy your drink and bask in the warmth of the sun or for jumping into the pool. At Home & Hearth, we work with our customers to build their dream deck.  All of our decks incorporate best practices that may cost a little more, but make for a much safer, stronger and long-lasting investment. We work with the industry’s best manufacturers like AZEK, Trex, Timbertech, Wolf and others who offer a broad range of colors and features, so your deck will be one you’ve always dreamed of! We can provide you with information about the many different manufacturers and decide what product would suit your needs the best.

Some of our core features include:

• Fully supporting all joists with a solid beam with direct load transfers to the earth – we never rely on hardware alone or the railing posts to hold it up.
• Use of approved, galvanized hardware for all critical connections.
• No nails! We rely on construction screws and bolts driven by hand to hold framing members together as these have far superior holding capacity and do not come loose over time as wood shrinks.
• Fully-boxed railing posts securely bolted into a pocket on the inside of the rim joists. Some builders simply bolt the posts to the exterior of the rim joist, but that makes for a much weaker railing that becomes wobbly over time and can often fail completely. Our technique ensures the railings will always remain solid and safe.
• Properly-protected deck-to-house connection. We either install the ledger board with ¼” spacing off the house to permit airflow or with self-adhering butyl flashing tape to prevent moisture becoming trapped between the deck ledger and side of the house. Such moisture eventually rots the sill of a home.  Additionally, we install approved metal flashing over the entire ledger-to-house connection and up the wall under the siding to keep the connection dry in the first place.
• Intermediate span support and blocking. We don’t believe it’s a good idea to put excessive load on the house and endeavor to make our decks effectively free-standing by incorporating additional support under the deck close to the house when possible. We also install bridging between joists at mid-span to minimize “bounce,” give the deck a more solid feel and prevent twisting of the joists over time.
• An upgrade path. Thanks to the methods described above, should you ever wish to upgrade your wood deck with new railings or decking, you can do so very easily! Just unscrew the decking, and the rail sections and the posts and framing will be ready for reuse even decades from now!

Aesthetic options can range from led lighting on your deck, to a fire pit making, to built in seating and storage – all making your deck an inviting and excellent extension of your home for living and entertaining!

To see just a few of our gorgeous decks Click Here!

We’d be happy to talk with you about your project, large or small. For a free consultation fill out the Contact Form, or call (413) 382-7837.