Custom Deck + Covered Patio

The existing deck was past saving: undersized joists, posts sitting on grade instead of footings, and a ledger fastened with nails straight through the siding - the exact detail that drops decks off houses. The owners did not want a patch on any of that. They wanted an outdoor space they could actually use ten months a year, which in Oregon means cover.

The design brief was simple to say and specific to build: a deck scaled to real furniture, a covered patio zone that reads as part of the house rather than an add-on, stairs that land where people naturally walk, and railing that does not block the view from the kitchen window.

Everything starts at the ledger. We stripped the old one, flashed the rim correctly with membrane and metal, and fastened the new ledger with structural screws on an engineered schedule. Footings went in below frost depth, sized for the loads, with post bases that keep wood off concrete.

Framing is pressure-treated, joist-taped on the tops where water sits, and blocked for the railing loads. The walking surface and railing came from the owners' selections, with hidden fasteners on the field and a picture-frame border at the edges. The stair run was laid out on site with the owners standing in the yard, not on a drawing.

The patio cover ties into the structure with proper flashing at the house connection and posts carried to their own footings. Under it, a concrete walkway connects the stair landing to the patio so winter use does not mean a mud path.

The yard sloped just enough to make every post height different and the stair landing a real decision. We mocked the landing twice before pouring, because a stair that lands six inches into a drainage path is a stair that gets rebuilt.

The cover connection to the house took the most care: tying a new roof plane into an existing wall without creating the leak we spend the rest of the year fixing on other people's projects. Membrane, step flashing, counter flashing, in that order, and no caulk-as-structure anywhere.

The owners got a backyard that works in January. The deck carries its loads on engineered connections instead of habit, the railing is tight, the stairs land where feet already wanted to go, and the covered zone has kept its furniture dry through a full wet season.

What is holding up well: the ledger detail, the joist tape, and the cover-to-wall flashing. What we would repeat on every deck: laying out the stairs with the owners in the yard. Ten minutes of standing in the grass beats any amount of drawing.