Time for that rooftop deck?

View of finished roof deck from stairway
spiral stair entry

With the spring approaching quickly, now is the time to start thinking about getting that rooftop deck built.

The time it takes to plan, get engineered drawings made up and submit all paperwork needed to get a building permit for a deck takes about 2 months realistically.

Most of the work we do in summer is actually planned this time of year.

Give me a call and I will help you get on track with your dream deck!

Roof Decks: Another Story for the City

Groundhogs aside, the coming of spring is marked for us by people calling for new roof decks.

Roof decks are possibly the easiest, least expensive, and most rewarding way that urban dwellers can increase their private living space without the trauma of building a large addition or the aggravation of relocating.

The finished deck with Philadelphia in the background.One of my favorite projects was a roof deck we did in the Fitler Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. The client is a designer for an architecture firm, and he had been creating plans and drawings for his home’s pièce de résistance for several years before we embarked on the project. Its features include a galvanized steel spiral staircase, a corrugated tin roof, granite countertop, working sink and extendable body sprayer to cool off, a barbecue pit with exhaust hood, hard-wired lights, and electrical outlets throughout. We even installed a galvanized steel bucket on a pulley system to easily raise ice, food, and beverages from the first-floor kitchen.

We’ve employed the same structural approach on a half-dozen or so roof decks since then. We remove the existing tar and roofing on the shared “party” masonry walls on either side of house, upon which we form and pour new concrete caps. These footings support the pressure-treated 2×10 joists for the deck. This approach allows the deck to span from masonry wall to masonry wall, with absolutely nothing touching or potentially harming the existing roof below. Also, the weight limit upon the deck is virtually limitless; the deck is framed exactly as the floors within the house.

Finished multi-level roof deck.Except in very rare occasions, the gradual slope of city roofs can result in a cool design element. Rather than a single level deck starting a foot or so off the roof on one end, and ending three or four feet in the air on the other, we build bi-level decks. In the end, the two levels result in a more attractive and sophisticated look than just a single deck anyway.

I don’t think we’ve used pressure-treated wood as decking on an unenclosed space since I’ve been with the company. The new composite decking products on the market are simply too affordable, environmentally friendly, and maintenance-free to consider any other option. And there are new, more attractive lines coming out every day; while we have used the popular Trex and ChoiceDek carried at the large home stores, we like the natural appearance and color choices of brands such as MoistureShield, TimberTech, and others. These decks are created from up to 90% pre-and-post-consumer recycled material and require no sealing, staining, or painting and will not rot or warp from water or sunlight. MoistureShield Decking, for example, contains an average of 289 plastic grocery sacks or 92 plastic water jugs per 12-foot board.

Nothing sings spring to me like the sound of a cool breeze over city rooftops, children laughing in playgrounds below, and the buzz of a circular saw that only we can hear. Seems like most folks enjoy their new rooftop deck more than they originally thought they would

Learn more about our deck and patio services and view more of our portfolio.

It’s Not Easy Being Green (Part 1)

Cumming Construction Booth at GreenfestYou may have heard of the LEED Certification system, which is a national standard for green building. LEED is still rare in residential remodeling, due to the high costs involved in retrofitting the existing home and the rigorous third-party certification process.

That being said, one of my favorite aspects of LEED is that it requires builders and designers to research every building material source, its manufacturing process, and travel distance to the job site — whether salvaged and reclaimed, extracted from an FSC-certified forest, recycled from waste products, or a renewable resource.

Because the answers, especially in remodeling, can be more grey than green. The truth is, everyone from contractors to product salespeople wants to be green these days, so there is an awful lot of “greenwashing” (“clean coal,” anyone?) By the way, only a building can be LEED Certified, not a person or product.

Consider bamboo, for instance. It’s one of the most popular green products available -– bamboo fights global warming by releasing 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees, it doesn’t destroy the topsoil when harvested, and it’s renewable every three to five years. Unfortunately, much of the bamboo now available is harvested overseas by countries exploiting its sudden popularity –- resulting in over-harvesting, additional shipping expense, and questionable labor practices.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of bamboo, its durability and warmth in addition to its environmental benefits (I recently installed bamboo flooring in my own home). I’m simply suggesting that “environmentally friendly” doesn’t mean perfect, and compromises — whether financial, stylistic, or pragmatic — are inevitable in any major home improvement project.

We recently installed CFL bulbs in the new recessed lighting kits of a kitchen remodel in Fairmount. Although the bulbs were marketed as dimmable, after going a shade less bright they simply went dark. The result: out came the CFL bulbs in favor of the inefficient and energy-wasting incandescents (though the dimmers still save lamp life and reduce electrical output, both green positives). Again, good intentions tempered by practical application.

This fall we exhibited our work at two “green” events around Philadelphia — the Manayunk Eco-Fest and the GreenFest on South Street. Not only did we meet many people who appreciated our knowledge of green materials and products, but it was great to network and see what other exhibitors — from energy auditors to green roof designers — were introducing to the marketplace.

One part of the GreenFest I found particularly noteworthy was that, due to a scheduling conflict, our event shared space with a benefit walk for cancer (which we were happy to do, even swapping our company’s maroon tablecloth for a purple one). The cancer event director confided to me, as the festivals were winding down, that the GreenFest organizers gave her a very hard time because she was distributing collateral material in plastic bags. I empathized so deeply with her dilemma that all I could do was respond, “It ain’t easy.”