Lee’s Summit decks

Deck used to be a somewhat generic term, similar to a commodity like sugar or salt. Gone are the days of a 12’ x 12’ square deck made of cedar or treated lumber as your only choices. Today’s decks come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and materials. Choices seem to be limitless and new materials are always being introduced. New choices include tropical hardwoods that hadn’t been well known, thermally treated lumber, composites, and PVC’s. Railing, spindle, and lighting options add to the ability to customize a deck that is all yours.

All of these options can be confusing. It is wise to seek the help of a deck building professional to help sort through the maze of products and the prices associated with these products. Are you concerned with durability and maintenance? What about a natural wood deck or a composite deck? Is price of the material used an object or is the aesthic appeal more important. Do you want hidden fasteners? How long are you going to remain in your current home and how much do you want to invest in a deck? What will my deck add to the value of my home this year? What about five or ten years down the road? Will my deck add to the salability of my home in five or ten years? These are just a few of the decisions that need to be made. Every product has advantages and disadvantages and it is our job to point these out and help you make an informed decision on a very important addition to your home.

Quite a few people like the idea of a glassed in room for additional living space to replace their deck.  With operable screened windows it seems a sun room would have the best warm weather and cool weather use, therefore extending the usability even beyond a screened room.  Some people call this type of room a “three season room” and some call it a sun room, but whatever you call it, it can add a great deal of usability to your back yard space.   As with many remodeling projects the details of design and construction mean a lot.  The amount of sun and shade on your site need to be evaluated.  For example if multiple windows face south or southwest with little shade the room will be exceptionally hot in July and August in Kansas City.  There are many ways to mitigate this in design and construction, but if not considered it can drastically reduce the utility of such a room.  In addition a typical all glass sun room with 80-90% glazing surface can be very cold when facing north or northeast in the cooler months because it doesn’t get the amount of sun it needs to warm the room in cooler temperatures.  Multiple design choices can control the above issues and make the room more comfortable and usable, but the goals of the end-user must be considered in detail since different people have  different ideas on how they plan to use their room.  If you are considering a sun room, three season room, or even a room addition, try to discuss your normal plan for usage.  Will you use it 12 months of the year, or only 6?  The difference between these plans calls for some detailed design and construction changes.   In this type of room, one design does not work for everyone, and your long term satisfaction will hinge on the thoroughness of the design and construction process.

Decks Overland Park

As 2009 draws to a close and the holidays are at hand, it’s also time to think about spring. In my backyard the iris’s had just started re-blooming and my neighbor’s Magnolia tree had flowers. It had been so warm that the plants thought it was spring and got me thinking of spring also. Even though you’ve just put away your outdoor furniture and put your Overland Park deck to sleep for the winter, it’s also time to start thinking about next year. Design time, preparation of blueprints, procurement of building permits, and homeowner’s association approval all must occur before construction can begin. Most reputable contractors schedule 1-3 months in advance.

The wise person plans ahead, and if you are in need of a new deck or screened room now is the time to plan your project so that it will be ready for warmer weather. Too often people go out on their decks in May and start planning their Memorial Day celebrations or the wedding of their children that is arriving soon and find that the repairs that they had made to their old wooden deck haven’t made it through the winter. In addition, there are new repairs to be made.

February and March also bring the home and garden shows to town and announcing the arrival of spring. Start now and beat the rush for your new deck and enjoy it the first of spring.

Many people are interested in adding  three season rooms or sun rooms to their home.  An additional room can serve many functions, including entertainment, dining space, children’s play space, office space,or just a fun outdoor space for the entire family.   I field many questions about the design and construction of outdoor  sun rooms/sun porches.  Today the market is filled with companies advertising  rooms made with prefabricated aluminum covered panels.   This type of construction may have its place, but almost always results in an “added on” type of look.   One of the most common questions I field about sun rooms  is “how can you make the room look like it was built as part of our house?”   There are many design and material issues that need to be addressed in order to make a new room look like part of the house, and each one should be planned in detail to support the overall goal.  In a custom designed sun room the room can be tailored to the homes aesthetics and materials. In addition the room can be tailored to match the sun exposure of the site.  Exterior  sun porches have completely different  characteristics when placed on the southwest side of a house than if  the room is facing north or east.  The solar heating and cooling factors are drastically different and will change the comfort and performance of the room, especially if not accounted for in the design.   When these issues are not properly addressed the room can literally bake at 120 degrees or more in the summer and freeze on the mildest of days in the winter.  In future blogs I will address some of the issues that impact design and usability of sun rooms and three or four season porches.

One of the most rewarding things about being a home remodeler is the feeling of reward I receive when we complete a project for our clients.

Although this positive feedback is always rewarding it seems to be specially noticeable with screened porches, and so I enjoy designing and building them a great deal.   Of course one always has a goal of the client feeling very positive about the outcome of their project but there is something about a screened porch addition that seems to bring out the best feedback from people, especially once they see the finished product  exceeds  their expectations.   Since a screened porch offers more design and construction variation than a deck does, it gives that much more creative outlet for the designer and builder.   Materials which may not apply to an open deck, can offer great opportunity for color and texture variation in a roofed porch.  One screened porch feature that seems to be more and more popular is the option of a tile floor to replace wood decking flooring.   Traditional screened porches were almost always built with wood floors in the past, since it was readily available and economical.  Tile offers some great color and texture variations and is generally low maintenance when properly installed.   There are many potential pitfalls when designing and building a tile floor porch, from uneven surfaces to cracking tilework and inadequate support structures.  All of these pitfalls can be overcome by good design and quality construction and the result can be very rewarding.    Is there something about a screened porch that generates positive feelings in most people?  Maybe its the fact that everyone likes to be outdoors without being exposed to the weather and the sun too much…….whatever the emotion we need more of it, since positive feelings are never in oversupply in this world.