Carpentry in Acworth and Across Georgia

What we build

Most carpentry calls start the same way. Somebody has a back yard they cannot use, a deck that has gone soft under the grill, or a patio that bakes from noon until dark. The fix is framing, and framing is what this crew does.

We build new decks, rebuild old ones, add stairs and landings, put a pitched roof over a porch or patio, and screen in what is already there. Same company that cuts the grass and sets the pavers. One call, we do it all.

Pressure-treated or composite

This is the first question on every deck estimate and there is no single right answer. Georgia summers run hot and wet, and the two materials handle that differently.

Pressure-treated pine

Cheaper up front and easy to work with. It moves as it dries, so we let boards sit before we fasten the surface when the schedule allows it. Plan on cleaning and sealing it every couple of years. Skip that and the boards gray out, cup, and start splintering right where the afternoon sun hits.

Composite and PVC

Costs more at the lumber yard and less over the life of the deck. It does not rot, does not splinter, and does not need sealing. It does get warm underfoot in July, especially in a dark color on a yard with no shade, so we talk about color and sun exposure before you pick a board.

Either way the frame underneath is pressure-treated lumber. That is the part carrying the load and the part that rots first, so we tape the joists, flash the ledger, and keep post bases up off the red clay on standoff hardware.

Permits and inspections in Cobb County

Cobb County permits most decks. What triggers it is usually height above grade, whether the structure is attached to the house, and whether you are adding a roof. Cherokee, Bartow, Paulding and the cities inside those counties each run their own building department with their own submittal packet, so the answer changes with the address.

Here is what we will and will not tell you. We will tell you what the department asked for the last time we built something like this, we will pull the permit, and we will be there for the inspection. We will not promise you an approval, a fee or a review time, because none of those three belong to us. If you want the rule in writing before you commit, call the building department for your address and ask.

Rot, wobble, and the repair path

Decks in this part of the state fail in the same three places. The ledger where the deck meets the house, because water got behind it and took out the rim joist. The post bases, because somebody set a treated post straight into the ground. And the rail, because the posts were notched and lag-bolted instead of through-bolted.

When you call us about one soft board, we pull a board and look at the frame. Then you get a straight answer: this is a repair, or this is a rebuild and here is why. We have replaced ledgers and left good frames alone, and we have also given people the honest number on a deck that was not worth patching.

Screened-in patios and porches

A screen room turns a patio you use twice a year into a room you use from March to November. It also keeps pollen off the furniture, which anybody who has parked under a pine tree in April already understands.

We frame the walls and the roof, hang the screen, and set a door that closes on its own instead of banging. If there is already a slab or a deck we build on it, once we have checked that the footings under it will carry the load. If there is nothing there yet, we set the base first.

Roof pitches

A flat roof over a porch or an entry ponds water and fails early. Adding pitch gets the water moving toward a gutter and off the structure. That means new framing tied into the existing roof line, matched shingles, and flashing done so the tie-in does not become the new leak.

Shingle color is worth raising up front. A fresh bundle never matches a roof that has been in the Georgia sun for eight years. We match as close as the manufacturer still makes and show you the difference before anybody starts.