Double-Decker Up High

Extreme Height Two-Level Deck In Suwannee, GA

He warned us on the phone that his deck was high up, which turned out to be an understatement.

Before

Tall, Steep, and No Way Down

There was already a deck up there, two levels of painted wood standing on posts that got longer the further out they reached. It had done its years and needed replacing.

But the ground was the real problem. The slope behind this house drops away hard enough that there was no route into the backyard at all. Not a steep route or an awkward one. None. Whatever the family wanted at the bottom of that hill went through the house or it stayed where it was.

After

Getting In Was Harder Than Getting Up

Height slows a build down. Access is what makes one complicated, and this site had almost none of it.

So we put in a catwalk. It runs from the driveway around to the upper deck, giving a level way in that skips the house and the hill entirely. It made the build possible in the first place, and it’s turned out to be the part the family notices every day, because the backyard is finally connected to where the cars are.

The upper deck sits twenty-six feet up. The ground keeps dropping away from there, so it feels like considerably more.

The Two Areas

The Upper Deck

Where the house opens out, waterproofed across the main area so the level below stays dry. Deckorators Voyage underfoot, Fortress Fe26 railing with a drink rail along the top.

The Lower Deck

Tucked underneath and sheltered by the waterproofing above it. This one gets a finished ceiling and screens when we come back, which turns it into a room.

The Details

The Steel Columns

Custom welded steel carries the whole structure. At this height timber posts would have to be enormous to do the same job, and they’d still have some give in them.

The Stairs Down

There’s now a way to the lower yard on foot. After years of a backyard that could only be looked at, that’s a bigger change than the square footage suggests.

What Comes Next

The lower deck is built and waiting. Phase two brings us back for the ceiling and the screen system, and the structure was designed from the start to take both.

What We Used to Build This High

Component	Product
Height	26 ft. above grade at the upper deck
Columns	Custom welded steel
Decking	Deckorators Voyage, 862 sq. ft. across two levels
Railing	Fortress Fe26, vinyl post sleeves, drink rail
Waterproofing	Premium, upper deck main area
Access	Extended catwalk to the driveway
Stairs	To the lower yard

About $162,000. Steel columns and a site nobody could easily reach account for most of the difference between this and a deck of similar size on flat ground.

It Doesn't All Have to Happen at Once

This one is being built in stages. Structure, decking and waterproofing went in first, and we’ll be back to finish the lower level with a ceiling and screens. Splitting a large project across two phases spreads the cost and gets you using the space a year earlier.

Come see us in Woodstock and we’ll work out where yours would divide.

or visit us at Woodstock Design Center 135 Village Center W, Suite 100