Decks & patios
Extending Your Home Outdoors
We design and build Decks of any scale from bright and naturally resistant cedar, rich-toned redwood, hearty mahogany or low maintenance composite decking including Trex and TimberTech. We will work with you to create a beautiful extension of your home and make a great outdoor hosting environment. How about an outdoor kitchen?
Composite decks are a low maintenance option as they don’t require sanding or staining to keep them up. For upkeep, they require an occasional wash from a low powered pressure washer or a scrub with a deck brush and they’re colors tend to stay vivid for a decade or so and while they eventually start to fade with sun exposure, they will last for much longer than that. They also easily lend to incorporating inlaid patterns and borders into the design.
Wood decks are a timeless classic, though in our fairly wet climate, I generally recommend a covered wood porch. If you would like an outdoor space that you can leave open to the sky, opting for a more durable, stone, concrete, or paver based patio is what I typically suggest if your environment suits it. If your on a sloped site or a second story, this is of course not a viable option. Wood decks, even when built with rot resistant species like cedar or redwood will typically last 20 years or so before major repairs are needed. Proper staining will help, but the main area that water enters and rots first are the ends of the boards which are hard *often impossible* to get to for maintenance.
For deck railings, we use many variations of wood, metal, cable and hog panel combinations. We can also use composite railing systems which are combinations of composite top caps, vinyl post sleeves, and metal balusters. This can be a low maintenance, timeless option.
We buy our Redwood from Redwood Northwest in Eugene.
A family owned company that procures and mills sustainably sourced and high quality redwood lumber from dead timber in Northern California.
We support various local lumber yards for our wood and composite decking including Jerry’s Home Improvement Center, Gene Stringfield Building Material Co., and Square Deal Lumber.
We also have friends in the custom milling business and can lap siding, board and batten in rough sawn or smooth face and structural timbers or live edge features milled form storm downed trees in our area.
Siding & Painting
Protect and Preserve
The siding system is the second most important protective element of a home after the roof. It is imperative that the details are done right to provide
protective measures from water entering your wall cavity, especially at protrusions like doors, windows, and utilities.
This is a list of the layers that make up a siding system.
- Sheathing and WRB
There are many layers to properly installing siding, starting with
sheathing (plywood or OSB). After that is a Water Resistive Barrier
(WRB) such as Tyvek or Tar impregnated felt paper . This ensures that
any moisture, condensation or leak that does get behind the siding will
be allowed to dry and kept away from the inside of the home and wall
cavity. Also taping the sheathing is a great way to air seal the walls of your home, keeping a tighter envelope for your climate controlled air. - Flashing
Thirdly, in all wall penetrations, such as windows and doors, a series of flashings; tape, caulking, and metal flashings are all required to direct water away from the openings. In new construction, this also contains details such as sloping the window sill framing toward the outside.
- Rainscreen
Secondly, In new siding installations, a rainscreen is very beneficial. A rainscreen is a 1/4″+ gap that provides room for the wall to breathe, dry, and for water to escape if it were to get in. It prevents the common wet sandwich that a “builder-grade” or older home has. This is especially important with how well homes are sealed these days for climate control and energy usage.
- Siding
As for the siding itself, this is details such as proper laps/reveals, nail patterns, trim gaps, butt-joint flashing, and durability of the material all come together. This is also where the most important visual characteristics of the home comes into play. Choosing trim sizes, and combining different layers of sidings can be a great way to make your home unique and beautiful.
- Painting
Last but not least is painting and caulking. These are the final steps that button up all of the previous work, protecting the siding and thus everything else underneath. It is crucial to use quality and appropriate paint for each material and environment and to ensure the surface is clean and ready to accept paint. High quality elastomeric siding caulk is a crucial step and worth buying the best to protect trim details such as window trim, corners, band boards, and light blocks.
For repairs we are happy to match what you have or use a more durable equivalent whenever possible
For new siding, James Hardie fiber cement siding is a proven durable and low maintenance option. There are styles to choose from with the most economical and common choice being Hardie Plank lap siding, There is also Hardie Shingles, Hardie Panel, and a variety of others as well.
And for a more natural look and feel, we offer redwood or douglas-fir lap and board and batten siding finished oil based stains such as tung oil or hemp oil.
Doors & Windows
Energy, light and a fresh look
If you have an older home with single pane windows, updating to Low-E Double pane glass will increase your comfort while reducing energy consumption by a significant amount. Even double paned windows age and the seals between panes fail which greatly reduces the efficiency and often makes the window cloudy with condensation trapped in between the layers of glass. If you’re in either of these situations, it’s time to replace your windows, or look into adding storm windows for a cost effective alternative to older single pane windows in good condition.
We source most of our doors and windows from Discount Windows in Junction City
They are a Milgard window distributor and can order almost any size and shape. And they have great rates for off-the-shelf, standard sizes with Low-E coated efficient double-pane glass.
We also occasionally use Mid-valley Glass and Millwork for some highly custom configurations.
If you’re looking to update your home that may have dark stained, flush profile doors (flush is flat without any visual depth), new interior doors and a fresh coat of paint can go a long way towards adding a sense of bright and openness and texture into a dark home.
Solid core doors offer a large improvement in soundproofing between rooms and are a great choice for bathrooms, utility rooms, bedrooms. Plus they feel solid and secure.
Energy.gov – “Low-e exterior or interior storm windows can save you 10%–30% on heating and cooling costs, depending on the type of window already installed in the home.”
We also build cabinet doors, barn doors, screen doors, shutters, and just love hanging doors.