Every deck job we take on starts with a different wish list. One family needs room for twenty people and a TV mounted for Iron Bowl Saturday. Someone else just wants a quiet spot for coffee before the heat shows up. And there’s always one person who asks about a hot tub before we’ve even looked at the yard.
What hardly anyone brings up on that first call are the things that end up shaping the project most: how steep the lot is, what the soil is doing under it, and the fact that July here feels like standing in a steam room. We run into those three on almost every job at Archadeck of Birmingham. They’re the reason a deck that would do fine in Phoenix or Denver can start falling apart in a few years in Jefferson or Shelby County.
Think of this as the conversation, we’d have at your kitchen table before anybody picks up a saw.
Start with the ground. Birmingham was built into the side of a mountain, and a lot of the prettiest neighborhoods hang right off the slope. Over the Mountain, it’s nothing to open a back door in Vestavia Hills or Mountain Brook and look down at a yard ten or twelve feet below you.
That changes the whole build. Tall posts without good bracing will wobble the first time a couple of kids run across the boards, so we don’t skimp there. Long stairs get a landing halfway down. Funny thing about those landings: we keep finding people sitting on them. Then there’s the cave under the deck. You can leave it to the lawnmower and the wasps, wall it in for storage, or add a drainage system overhead and pour a patio down there, which is a sneaky way to end up with a covered porch. A few of those layouts are on our deck design page.
If you’ve ever dug a fence post hole in Shelby County, you already know about the clay. It’s red, it’s stubborn, and after a good rain it’s closer to pudding than dirt. It swells when it’s wet and shrinks when it dries out. So the footings go down to firm soil, and we figure out where the water’s headed before anything gets poured. Boring? Sure. We’ve also seen what a few wet springs do to a deck sitting on shallow footings, and it isn’t pretty.
Last is the weather. We get well over 50 inches of rain in a normal year, plus thick humidity, a yellow coat of pine pollen every spring and termites that are very happy to be here. All of it is hard on wood and on the hardware holding that wood together.
This is the question we hear most, and the right answer depends less on the material than on you.
Pressure-treated pine is what most decks in the metro are built from, and for good reason. It’s affordable, strong and easy to work with. The catch is upkeep. Around here you’re looking at a wash and a fresh coat of sealer or stain every two years or so. Let it slide and the boards go gray, then they split, then the edges start curling up like old bacon.
Cedar is the pretty one. Step out onto a porch built with cedar on a hot afternoon and you can smell it. We use a lot of it on our cedar porches through the use of cedar wall posts, headers and rafters. And customers love that warm color and rustic appeal.
Composite and PVC boards have come a long way. The early ones looked like plastic, frankly. Newer lines from TimberTech and AZEK have much more convincing grain and color, and maintenance is mostly soap and water. The price tag is higher, no way around it. And here’s a warning nobody prints on the brochure: a dark brown board facing west in July will cook bare feet. Go a shade lighter, or plan for some cover (keep reading).
Our two cents? If you really will restain every other year, wood is a great choice. Most folks mean to and don’t. If that sounds like you, composite tends to pay for itself in Saturdays you get back. Our deck photo gallery shows both in real Birmingham backyards.
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The basics hold everywhere, but each part of town has its own habits.
Hoover, Alabama decks tend to be big and built for a crowd. Out in Greystone, the lots are generous and so are the guest lists. Something you’ll bump into in a lot of Hoover neighborhoods is an architectural review committee. They’ll want drawings, maybe a materials list, and they don’t always meet every week. Give yourself a few extra weeks of cushion for that.
Vestavia Hills, Alabama decks are where steep lot work really shows. Second-story decks are common, and so are multi-level designs that step down the hill with a separate sitting area on each level.
Pelham, Alabama decks, along with those in Helena, Chelsea and Alabaster, are often a different story. A lot of homes there are newer, and the original builder put on a small starter deck the family outgrew years ago. Those jobs are usually about expanding, adding a screened section or putting new boards on a frame that’s still in good shape.
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We also build in Trussville, Gardendale, Leeds, and plenty of towns in between. The full list is on our service areas page.
An open deck facing west in August is basically a griddle from about 2 p.m. until dinner. That’s why so many of our deck projects end up as combinations.
A pergola won’t keep you dry, but it breaks up that sun nicely, and it’s about the best excuse we know of to hang a swing. A covered porch handles the rain too. And if mosquitoes are the reason you quit going outside after dark, a screened porch or 3-season room right off the deck gives you a place to retreat when the bugs come out. Our combination spaces page shows how these pieces fit together.
Most cities around Birmingham want a building permit for a new deck, especially one that’s attached to the house or up off the ground. What Homewood asks for isn’t always what Helena asks for, and Jefferson and Shelby counties don’t do everything the same way either. Call the building department early, or let your builder handle it. We’d recommend the second one.
When a deck goes really wrong, the boards are rarely to blame. It’s the connection to the house. The ledger board has to be fastened and flashed correctly so water doesn’t get behind it and rot the rim joist of your home. When we’re asked to look at an older deck, that’s the first place we check. If you’re comparing contractors, ask each one exactly how they attach and flash the ledger. Our guide to choosing a contractor has more questions worth asking, and you can see what’s covered on our warranty page.
“It depends” is the true answer, but it depends on things you can predict:
- Height. An elevated deck needs more structure, longer posts and more stairs than one that sits a step off the ground.
- Size and shape. Angles, curves and multiple levels take more labor than a simple rectangle.
- Material. Pine is the standard pick. Cedar and composite are not.
- Railing. Cable, aluminum and glass railings look great and add up fast.
- Extras. Lighting, built-in benches, a roof, screens or an outdoor kitchen all raise the total.
Our pricing page breaks down how each of these affects a project, and our financing options can spread out the cost if that helps.
Sometimes the bones are fine and it’s only the skin that’s worn out. If the frame and footings are still sound, we pull up the old boards and railings and put new ones on. That’s redecking, and it costs a good bit less than starting over from dirt. But if a board feels spongy under your heel, the railing gives when you lean on it, the screws are rusting out or there’s water staining down by the house, the frame may be past its prime. New boards on a rotten frame is just lipstick on a pig. That’s when a full deck replacement is the smarter money, and it’s a good excuse to rethink the size and layout while you’re at it.
Every project we build starts the same way. We come out, walk the property with you and talk through how you actually want to use the space. Then we come back with a custom design and an exact price, not a ballpark. That’s our process in a nutshell.
Still daydreaming? Grab our free design guide. It’s a short set of questions that’ll make our first meeting a lot more productive. Or skip the homework, book a complimentary design consultation or give us a call at (205) 576-5780. Derek, Carissa and the team would be glad to come take a look.
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Derek & Carissa Crews – Owners Archadeck of Birmingham
Questions we hear a lot
Do I need a permit to build a deck in Hoover or Birmingham?
Usually, yes. It hinges on your city, plus how big the deck is, how high it sits and whether it ties into the house. Your local building department has the final word, or your builder can pull the permit for you.
How long does a deck last in Birmingham’s climate?
Maintenance makes the biggest difference. Two identical pine decks can age completely differently depending on whether somebody cleans and seals them. Composite boards ask for very little, but the frame under them is usually still treated lumber, so how it’s built still matters.
What’s the best time of year to start a deck project?
We build year-round. That said, fall and winter are when we’d start on design, so the deck is finished before the pollen and cookout season both roll in.
