Have You Been Dreaming of A New Deck?

“We should have done this 10 years ago!” That was what our customers said to us after we finished this beautiful deck in Herrin, Illinois.

This deck and pergola were stained using Cabot Semi-solid deck stain in two colors: Driftwood Grey and Nantucket White. We first pre-stained many of the pieces in our woodshop on Eagle Point Bay Road.

Me (Shawn) in the woodshop after staining some boards for the deck

After staining the boards at our shop, we then transported the materials to the site for construction. After it was all put together, we gave it a complete second coat of stain.

Since there was not enough wall space between the underside of the soffit and the top of the patio door, the pergola rafters were placed on the roof. This allowed us to raise the pergola to a comfortable height. Each rafter was then secured and sealed to the roof. The 2×2 cross pieces are on 16” centers, and form a solid pergola structure that will resist wind shear.

The finishing touches included replacing the two outside lights on either side of the patio door with exterior grade outlets. Using these outlets, strings of lights can be hung all along the pergola that can be turned on and off with the same switch that operated the original lights.

The 8’ tall privacy fence was constructed with 4×4 posts and 2×4 panels. The 2×4 panels contain vinyl lattice inserted into grooves that we made using our router table at our woodshop. All the panels were pre-cut and stained and then assembled by hand on-site.