This deck incorporates
cedar-colored solid-plastic
PrimoPlank
for the planking and seating. It also uses painted railings of two different designs -- one is the
lean-out seat-supporting railing
from the
Caryotakis
project and the other is the vertical railing from the
Calos-Ellis Project.
Here both style railings have been painted white and capped with
the same solid-plastic boards as used for the planking.
The main
portions of the first-story deck are built atop a 3-foot high
monolithic concrete wall
that also supports a stair column. This keeps the whole structure anchored
not only physically,
but pictorially as well.
The
staircase
between the first- and second-story decks is an architectural first for
decks. The stair sections, as well as the elevated landings, have
no posts for support. The entire
wrap-around
staircase hangs off the central column. The only post in the entire structure supports the upper-deck,
not the stair.
The stair column's
interior serves
as a storage
closet for the cleaning
equipment for the swimming pool nearby.
To mitigate the
intrusion of the stair column on the upper deck's visibility, the 3 ft x
5 ft column has been terminated at the top in a series of
cascading planters.
The lowest planter is only 10 inches above the
floor of the upper deck.
This leaves a 7 foot span on the upper deck unobstructed by any railing
at all -- great for viewing the valley beyond the property-line.
With the color
scheme of light gray for siding and concrete walls, white for trim and
railings, and light earth-tone color for planking and railing caps, the
deck begged for some real color. So planter boxes were used in many
places elsewhere to provide
just that. Each railing segment was terminated in an
L-shaped planter.
This feature also facilitated the transition in many places between the different style
railings.
Each
planter box
contains an 8-inch deep galvanized sheetmetal pan that drains to the
ground. Potted flowers are set into the pan and watered as necessary.
Then when the plants have ceased flowering, they are replaced with
another batch that is coming into bloom. So the entire deck can be
accentuated with color anytime of the year.
Solid plastic
used for
planking,
seating and railing caps
This project may appear to be somewhat
conventional because of the extensive use of siding. But observe that
the entire structure is filled with detailed designer components.
For
some specifics:
-
the lean-out railings set inside the
facia,
-
the flared planter rims,
-
the complex shade arbor in front of the
kitchen window,
-
the integrated all-plastic lattice
skirting,
-
the complementary but complex pattern of
the concrete support wall,
-
the bi-directional joist pattern under
the second-story deck,
-
the penetration of the top step into the
second-story deck,
-
the two series of cascading planters of
different styles,
-
the 5-sided platforms for all three stair
landings,
-
the integration
of the bottom-most stair at ground-level into the
support post for the 2nd-story deck,
-
the built-in
contour skip-lath seating with angled bracing.
All those details
among others not mentioned made this one of the most difficult projects
to date. Yet it stands proud as one of the best designer decks in
California.
More Views
Because this
is a large deck project in an elongated narrow backyard, its
complexity and confinement makes it difficult to photograph in just a few frames.
So active arrows have
been placed on the blueprint below showing various photo vantage locations.
Click on the arrows for more pictures.
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