Wood Decks in Sedamsville, OH

On the steep lots of Sedamsville (ZIP 45204), a deck reaches out over the drop with nothing beneath its outer edge but air and hillside. From the house it is a floor. From the street and the houses below, it is a ceiling, and what those neighbors look up at is the underside of every board.

On most decks nobody sees that face. Here it faces downhill in plain view, and bare timber weathers there just as it does on top, only unevenly. The undersides near the edge catch rain and sun and turn gray; the ones further in stay damp and shaded and can turn green. From below, a new deck ends up looking patchy and old within a few years, while the top surface looks fine.

So the undersides are finished before the boards go down. Each board gets a coat of penetrating stain brushed onto its underside and edges on sawhorses, in the same color as the top, which is the only chance there is, since nobody can reach them once the deck is laid. A penetrating stain soaks in without forming a film, so the wood still breathes from below as it should. The joists, blocking and fascia under the cantilever are laid out in clean lines too, since from the street they are part of the same view.

The top surface is then finished on its usual schedule once the boards are ready, and on our visits the top is what gets renewed; the undersides, out of the traffic and mostly out of the weather, hold their color for many years. Built that way, a Sedamsville deck looks as finished from the street below as it does from the kitchen.