Treetop View | Rebuilt in Hellertown, PA

Treetop View | Rebuilt in Hellertown, PA

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At Upgryd, we recently rebuilt a deck perched on a steep, wooded hillside in Hellertown, PA — a property where the backyard drops away into a valley and the tree canopy opens up into a real, sweeping view. The existing deck had been there for years, elevated a full story above the sloped yard on a forest of posts, and it had reached the point where the wood had gone gray and rotted becomming soft in places and no longer matched the quality of the home it was attached to.

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The client wanted a full replacement, not a patch job a deck that could stand up to the elevation, the exposure, and the years ahead without the upkeep an all-wood structure demands. Because the deck sits a full story above grade on a steep slope, this wasn't a simple resurface; it called for a ground-up rebuild of the structure itself, framing included.

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We started with a full demolition of the old deck, clearing away the aged wood framing, posts, and decking down to the ledger. Working on a hillside this steep meant careful staging — footings and posts had to be set into sloped, rocky ground, with the new structure engineered to carry the deck safely out over the drop-off.

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From there, our crew built the new deck with fresh 2x10 pressure-treated framing, new concrete footings, support columns, and a support beam sized to the span. We used #1 grade lumber for the frame, installed butyl flashing tape at the ledger and joist tape beneath the picture frame, and used aluminum surface-mounted structural railing posts instead of the wood 4x4s most builders default to — details that matter most on an elevated deck like this one, where the frame has to hold up long-term against moisture and weight.

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For the decking itself, we installed Deckorators Voyage in Khaya, a rich, warm composite board, finished with a single-board picture frame and matching Khaya fascia and stair risers wrapping the structure. The client supplied their own dark bronze aluminum railings with square balusters, and our crew installed both the railings and the matching railing posts to complete the perimeter — a look that reads clean and modern against the home's stone chimney and wood siding.

As the new boards went down, we kept the same attention to detail throughout — picture-frame construction on every edge and properly flashed transitions at the house, building a structure meant to outlast the property's tough hillside conditions.

The finished deck now spans the back of the home a full story up, with the Khaya decking, picture frame, and dark bronze railings framing an open view straight through the trees into the valley below. It's a deck built specifically for this site — solid underfoot, finished cleanly at every edge, and positioned to make the most of a view most backyards don't get.

If you're working with a sloped lot, an aging elevated deck, or a full rebuild in the Lehigh Valley or beyond, Upgryd is ready to bring your project to life with premium materials, engineered framing, and an interactive proposal process that puts you in control from start to finish.

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