Deck and Porch Construction in Raleigh, NC

Raleigh is minutes from our base, which usually means an estimate this week rather than next month. We cover Five Points, Historic Oakwood, Hayes Barton and the rest of town.

New decks, structural rebuilds and screened porches, permitted through your county inspections office and framed to outlast the boards on top. Raleigh runs its own permitting and inspections rather than deferring to Wake County, so scheduling here follows the city calendar.

What the price covers

• Ledger attachment and flashing. Through bolted to the house rim joist, never just nailed, with flashing that sheds water away from the band board instead of trapping it behind the siding.
• Decking, railing and stairs. Composite, pressure treated or hardwood decking with hidden or face fasteners, a code compliant guard system, and stair stringers cut so every rise and run in the flight matches exactly.
• Permits and inspections. We file the permit, schedule the framing inspection before a single deck board goes down, and meet the inspector on site so the structure is verified while it is still visible.

Deck and Porch Construction in Raleigh, in practice

A deck permit in Raleigh exists because a collapsed deck is one of the more common structural failures inspectors see, usually tied back to an unpermitted rebuild that skipped the review. We submit a plan showing footing size, beam and joist spans and guard height, then schedule the framing inspection after the posts, beams and joists are up but before a single deck board covers them. The inspector in Wake County needs to see the ledger connection, the joist hangers and the footing depth while they are still visible, which is also exactly what you would want to check yourself if you could. Once that inspection passes, decking, railing and stairs go on quickly since nothing after that point is hidden.

Piedmont clay is the soil under most decks we build in Raleigh, and it behaves nothing like sand or loam. It expands when it is wet and shrinks when it dries, which can lift or tilt a footing that was poured too shallow or without enough bearing area. Code in Wake County generally calls for footings that reach undisturbed soil below the frost line, and we size the diameter to the actual tributary load of each post rather than pouring one standard tube for every location. On a sloped lot, one corner sometimes sits on a footing twice the depth of the others. Getting this step right is what keeps a deck from developing a slow lean five years after the last board is nailed down.

Questions from Raleigh homeowners