SW Portland Deck Remodel

In this project in South West Portland, our clients had a very dangerous, 50 year old deck with quite a few structural, safety and environmental protection challenges. It was a safety hazard for anyone walking on it, due to the many rotted holes and broken boards as well as failing railings. The deck was approximately 600 sq ft and 75 feet long. Part of the deck ran very close to the house as well as the tree protection fence we had installed as per city code. There was also a large tree within 4 feet of the deck perimeter which required us to collaborate closely with the Multnomah county planning and zoning department, our architect, structural engineer and our Oregon state certified arborist. Coordinating between these stakeholders ensured we fulfilled Multnomah county’s environmental requirements. We very carefully deconstructed the deck beams and posts to save the tree protection fence on one side and prevent damage to the house and windows on the other side.

Once we had ensured that the new footing placement did not damage or destroy any critical roots that could cause the tree to die and fall on the house, we began to build the new 240 sq ft deck. In order to miss the critical root and save the tree, we had to change the new footing placement and had reduce the number of footings from 3 to 2 because of the presence of a critical root. This required us to re-engineer a much larger and longer beam than previously used. On the deck, we used:

• Synthetic Azek grooved decking

• Concealed fasteners

• Alumarail railing system

The project had some additional fun and challenging structural issues with a 26' long, approximately 1400 lb beam that had to be hand carried by six craftsmen 200ft and down a 45 degree stairway for installation. Once the beam had been moved into position, the installation of the beam required extreme precision as there was only approximately 5 inches of wiggle room. We had to lift the beam onto the new posts without hitting the original existing post next to it that held up the roof overhead. We had to flatten the ground and install a thick plywood base to be able use a material lift and then have six craftsmen carefully and safely guide it into position.