Outdoor Extensions

An outdoor extension is a structure, not an accessory. Anything with a roof carries snow load — 25 to 30 pounds per square foot in the Carolinas — plus its own weight, and that load has to reach footings the same way a deck's does. We size posts and beams for the span instead of matching whatever is already on the deck, because a 6x6 holding up a railing is not the same 6x6 as one holding up a roof in February.

Where the new roof meets the existing house is the detail that decides everything. We cut the siding back, install proper step or continuous flashing behind it, and tie the new rafters into a ledger bolted to framing. A roof butted against siding and caulked will leak — not immediately, which is the problem, but two or three winters in, into the wall cavity where nobody sees it.

Screened porches need a plan for water and insects at the floor. If the floor is decking with gaps between boards, bugs come up through it and no amount of screen overhead solves that. Either the floor gets a solid substrate with a drainage system below, or the screen runs all the way down to a solid kick panel. We price both and let you pick.

Pergolas are the simplest version of this and the most frequently built wrong. An unbraced pergola racks: the posts lean, the frame goes out of square, and once it starts moving it keeps moving. Knee braces at every post-to-beam connection, or a genuine moment connection at the base, is what keeps it square ten years out.

These are permitted jobs. Anything with a roof affects lot coverage and setbacks, and in some towns it affects the assessment. We prepare the drawings, file the applications, and flag it early if what you have in mind will not fit your setbacks — so you find out on paper rather than after the footings are poured.