A Deck Reborn with a New Lounge Level in Piscataway, NJ

The deck behind this Piscataway home had done its job for years, but the dark-stained wood boards and railings had reached the point where sanding and re-staining every season was no longer worth the effort. The frame was sound, but the surface was tired, and the layout only gave the family one level to work with above a plain wood-lattice skirted crawlspace.

The plan we built together kept the existing footprint and structure but changed almost everything else. We stripped the old wood decking, fascia, and railings down to the frame and resurfaced the whole deck in Deckorators Summit composite decking in Boulder, framed with a single-board picture frame border in the same color for a clean edge along the perimeter. The stairs down to the yard were rebuilt with Deckorators Summit stair treads finished with the Cortex hidden fastening system, so the tread faces are clean with no visible screws, and the fascia and stair risers carry the same Summit Boulder color for a consistent look top to bottom.

Along the perimeter, we replaced the old wood balusters with Wolf Vinyl railing in white, paired with black aluminum balusters and a composite cocktail-top rail cap that gives the top rail a wider, more finished surface to rest a drink on. Underneath, the old wood lattice was swapped for a new vinyl lattice skirting in brown with a Boulder-color frame, including a dedicated access gate so there's still a clean way to reach the crawlspace for storage or maintenance.

The project didn't stop at a resurface. Per the layout the client wanted, we also built out a new lower-level deck area off to the side of the main platform, reached by its own short run of stairs. It's a smaller, quieter lounge space with room for a couple of rocking chairs and a side table, separate from the main deck's dining and seating area above, so there's now a second distinct spot to sit outside depending on the mood.

With the resurface and the new lower level both finished, the deck now reads as one cohesive space instead of a single aging platform. The Boulder color ties the decking, picture frame, fascia, and stair treads together, the white railing and black balusters read clean against the home's siding, and the two-level layout gives the family more ways to actually use the yard than the original single-level deck ever did. If your own deck is structurally fine but showing its age on the surface, or if you've been wanting a second level built into the layout, we'd be glad to walk your property and talk through what's possible.

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