Deck Builders in DuPont, WA

If you are looking for deck builders in DuPont, it helps to know which DuPont you live in. The city holds a century-old company village and a modern planned community side by side, and the right deck for one is often wrong for the other.

The Historic Village

DuPont began as a company town for the DuPont explosives plant, completed in 1909. By that year the company had built two manager houses and 58 worker houses, and the original village was listed on the National Register in 1987 as the DuPont Village Historic District. Its houses are Bungalow, Craftsman and American Foursquare designs, most dating from 1909 to 1916. Decks on these homes should be modest in scale and simple in detail. We suggest painted or stained wood, square balusters and trim that echoes the house, placed at the rear where they will not compete with the front porch.

Structurally, a house more than a hundred years old needs a careful look before we attach anything. We check the sill and rim for decay, confirm the foundation can take a ledger, and switch to a freestanding frame when it cannot.

The planned neighborhoods

After the plant closed in 1975, Weyerhaeuser bought the land and developed it under a New Urbanism model rather than the export facility it first planned. The result is the modern DuPont most residents know. New Urbanism neighborhoods typically place homes closer together, often with compact rear yards and shared design standards. Here the challenge is fitting a useful deck into limited space:

• Low composite decks that step down to a small lawn without crowding it
• Covered decks or pergolas that turn a narrow yard into an outdoor room
• Privacy screens where houses sit close to neighbors
• Built-in benches instead of freestanding furniture to save floor area
• Replacement of builder-grade decks that are wearing out with low-maintenance boards
• Staining and sealing for existing wood decks

Check community rules first

Planned neighborhoods commonly have homeowners associations with architectural rules on materials, colors and screening. If yours does, send us the guidelines early so the design and the submittal match. We will provide drawings and a written material list for your application.

Built for the South Sound climate

Nearby Tacoma averages 40.81 inches of rain a year and about 155 days with measurable precipitation, but July averages just over half an inch. That split means decks swell and stay damp all winter, then dry fast in summer. We frame with joist tape and flashed ledgers, leave proper board gaps and use hidden fasteners rated for outdoor movement. On covered decks we pitch the roof so runoff lands away from the house.

Seismic connections

The USGS considers a large Tacoma Fault Zone earthquake almost certain to occur in the future. On attached decks we use through-bolted ledgers and, where the code calls for them, lateral load connectors tying the deck joists into the floor framing of the house, so the deck is less likely to pull away in strong shaking.

Permits

Ask the City of DuPont which permits your deck needs; attached, raised and covered decks are the ones most likely to need review. We can prepare drawings and build to the approved plan.

Request an estimate

Call (253) 525-5245 or send photos and your lot plan. We visit, measure and give you a written estimate.

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