A Room with a View

The owners of this home in Cornelius, N.C., had a beautiful lake view, but their rotting wooden deck, in desperate need of replacement, marred it.

"They wanted their new deck to be virtually maintenance-free," says Dave Young, a sales consultant with Archadeck of Charlotte. Young, who sells, designs and manages projects, drew some deck plans and elevations for the homeowners by hand. Building setbacks for lots on Lake Norman meant that the new deck had to maintain the previous footprint.

"If I would have changed anything about the footprint I wouldn't have been able to add a deck back there," says Young.

Changes included thin aluminum balusters that allow more of the lake to peek through and gates to keep the family's dogs from bounding onto the deck. The homeowners also wanted to replace the latticework with louvers.

"It's always a good project when you have that 'wow' factor," says Young. "The owners were very particular about that look, and it was terrific to be able to achieve it for them."

Five weeks after signing the contract, construction began. Two weeks later, the young homeowners had what they wanted. Subcontractors, managed by Young, demolished the existing structure and replaced it with a two-level 527-square foot deck made of Trex composite decking planks in Winchester gray.

"It's maintenance free as far as painting and staining, but like anything it gets dirty and you have to clean it," says Young. He adds that just a garden hose, deck cleaner and brush can do the job.

The contractors used pressure-treated, kiln-dried after treatment Southern yellow pine to frame the deck and build the rails. The entire project added up to about $20,000.

Lake living requires a moisture-resistant deck