When we first arrived at this majestic Forest Hills family home, we noticed the rear of the home already had a very large second-story deck, which the family wished to keep. So we retained the footprint of that existing deck structure, strengthened it and changed the decking, adding a screened porch in the process.

The resulting transformed outdoor living space now consists of a screened porch and deck combination space with dry space for storage under the screened porch.

Keeping What Works And Improving What Doesn’t

By keeping the original second-story deck and redecking its surface, we kept what had worked for this family, but we added a new screened porch.  We also replaced the deck railing with black metal Fortress rail and used a composite cap on the railing even though the deck is Thermory Pine.

Our screened porch design plan yielded a hip roof on the new porch supported by The Porch Company box columns. For protection and architectural interest, we embellished it with a wood picket railing

Beautiful Longevity By Using Thermory Pine Decking On The Deck And Porch

Our team chose the new durability standard for softwood decking,

Thermory Pine Decking. It redefines expectations for softwood decking. Unequaled in durability and stability, this thermally modified Scots pine decking features distinct knots, a beautiful golden brown color, and no visible sapwood.

As the house indentation has an existing ceiling – and the new porch has a roof of its own, to introduce natural sunlight we needed a creative solution.

So, we installed sun tunnels in the ceiling to allow more light into the porch and thus, into the home. Notice the soft glow of natural sunlight on the interior brick wall. A win/win.

Best of all, sun tunnels are a sustainable lighting solution as they reduce the need for artificial lighting during the daytime, which can lead to energy savings. Also, they provide a natural and pleasing quality of light, enhancing the visual comfort and ambiance of the interior space.

A Floating Stone Fireplace Provides Unique Architectural Interest While Keeping The Chilly Evenings More Comfortable

Notice the floating stone fireplace, which we cantilevered as the faux stone is lighter than traditional stone. Positioned in front of the conversation seating area, and to the right of the screened porch dining room, this gas-burning heat source adds a cozy touch to keep family and friends comfortable – while giving them something beautiful to look at.

Speaking of comfort, we also installed a 72-inch ceiling fan, Solaira heaters and ambient coach lighting on the horizontal columns.

As we used the existing posts for the exterior staircase, we dressed them up a bit with our Hermitage sleeves on the staircase of the deck, which worked great for adding the needed height.

Using Real Wood For Exterior Porch Spaces With Peak Modified Wood

The aim of Peak Modified Wood is to overcome the shortcomings of standard timber. The heat modification treatment of the real wood dries out the inherit sugars in the wood to keep bugs out and resist rot.

This modification process enhances the performance of the wood, resulting in improvements in the longevity of timbers – dimensional stability, decay resistance, and reduced water absorption, with less expansion and contraction. In addition, since most advanced modification processes are environmentally friendly, the materials can still be disposed of properly at the end of the product life cycle.

Questions? Just Call Us!

We’d love to connect with you to answer any questions you may have or to assist you in scheduling a complimentary design consultation for your own new project or home improvement.

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