Deck: Outdoor living space requires a durable, weather-resistant space

"A deck is the transition between the inside world of the home and the outside environment," says remodel carpenter Erich von Tagen. "A deck should accentuate the details of the home." In this case, while the view of a large valley and three major Cascade Range peaks from the deck couldn't be beat, the deck was an eyesore. The understructure had been replaced nine months earlier, but the deck itself looked weathered, warped and gray, and had started to rot. The homeowners wanted to sell the house, so they decided to replace the deck platform and add two separate, cantilevered, 6x14-foot decks accessible from the master bedroom and a secondary bedroom on the second floor above the main deck. The project was completed in three weeks.

"The new decks brought the house up to a higher standard," von Tagen says. "The house sold shortly after the decks were completed." The nearly 700-square-foot main deck follows the lines of the house, running 40 feet along the back and one side, with a hot tub in the corner. Measuring 14 feet at the widest point, the deck replicates the old deck's dimensions.

Wood: Wolmanized Natural Select