Custom Decks in Covington, KY

Behind the tall brick houses of Covington (ZIP 41011), a household building a deck against the masonry can let the floor answer the brick. A running bond, short boards laid with every row offset by half a length, gives the deck the same stagger of joints that runs across the masonry.

The pattern starts with a module. Every board is cut to one length, commonly two or three feet, and each row shifts by exactly half that length from the row beside it, so the end joints fall in a neat alternating line the way the head joints in brick do. The pattern has to be deliberate to read: random lengths look like leftovers, and a strict module looks like masonry.

Every line of board ends needs support. So the frame carries a row of solid blocking under each joint line, spaced at half the module, with the joists running the other way. The ends of every board land on that blocking, and the blocking is set with a small gap and taped on top so water drains past. Because the joint lines repeat evenly, the layout is snapped out on the frame before any board goes down.

Board direction usually runs parallel to the back wall, so the courses of the floor line up with the courses of the brick. A contrasting border around the edge acts like a soldier course at the top of a wall, and a darker board shade picks up the mortar tone of old brick. The pattern hides small variations well, so a board damaged years later is replaced by one short piece, and the floor looks as orderly on the day it is finished as the wall it sits against.