You may be noticing a bit of a theme with posts on the Victorian Foundation Repairs blog, this month. All of the posts have a common denominator, our desire to continually educate our valued customers. This month’s posts also tend to focus on our love of the great outdoors and our goal to ensure that you enjoy the summer as much as possible. While restumping services are our bread and butter, we’re also well educated in all things decks, verandahs and other outdoor entertaining spaces. We’ll make a point throughout the year, to dive into fun trends and happenings around all different sorts of home renovation projects. Today, we focus on decks and the small adjustments that you can make to take yours to the next level.

Think about adding greenery to your deck. Planters are a great and easy way to add dynamic and color to your deck. You can find them in most any shape or size, so the style of your deck won’t be a roadblock. Keep an eye out for built-in versions. These are also a great way to separate the areas of your deck reserved for socializing, eating, and just relaxing. They’re low-maintenance, only requiring regular drainage. In fact, this is a double-edged opportunity. You can easily capture the rainwater collected and use to water your other plants around the house.

Explore siding options like cable railings. If you’ve invested in a deck, chances are that you want to spend as much time on it as possible. If its more than a few feet in the air, chances are that you want to experience and enjoy the vista, surrounding you. This means that you probably don’t want thick wooden or steel planks, separating you from the panoramic views. One of our favorite solutions is cable railings. These cost about $70 for each foot if you’re looking to have a professional install for you. You can save and only fork out about $25 a foot, if you’re feeling handy.

Take a look at the fasteners that you’re using. If you have a home or deck that hasn’t been updated in a while, you may still be working with nails. Nails pop out over time and can injure those who frequently use the deck, so many more modern assemblies and designs have decided not to use them. The mainstay for the past few decades has been the deck screw. They’re far more versatile, hold up well under pressure and don’t allow rust to build up. The problem with deck screws is that they will splinter the surrounding wood, when installed. This means that our recommendation today, is to explore hidden fasteners. Hidden fasteners are sleek and modern, securing the framing and wooden plank with barbs and a screw. Though they add about $4 a square foot in labor costs, we believe that these costs are easily recouped in the long run.

Excited to explore one of these options? Thinking about others to add to the list? Let us know, the Victorian Foundation Repairs team would love to hear from you.