Project
Overview
A two-level outdoor build in Richmond, BC — fresh poured-concrete patios down the side yard and under the upper deck, paired with a rebuilt upper vinyl deck with glass railings, white-clad posts, an open-riser stair to grade and a clean dry living space underneath.
The starting point in Richmond was a tired side yard with patchy grass running down the gap between the house and the fence, and the upper deck off the back of the house overhanging an unfinished area below. We marked the full footprint of the new concrete in spray paint right on the lawn so the homeowners could walk the edges and confirm exactly how much usable patio they were going to get before we cut a single shovel of sod.
Once the layout was approved we stripped the sod and topsoil, dropped the grade, and brought in crushed gravel that we compacted in lifts to give the slab a stable, free-draining base. At the same time we set new structural footings for the posts that carry the existing upper deck — sonotube footings to frost depth with proper post bases, so the load path from the upper structure down to undisturbed soil is clean and inspectable instead of bearing on whatever was under the old support posts.
We formed up the slab with 2× lumber staked on edge, ran rebar through the field on chairs, and poured the concrete in one continuous pass. The pour wraps the side yard, turns the corner, and continues underneath the upper deck so the homeowners end up with one continuous walkable surface from the driveway all the way around to the back lawn. Finished with a broomed slip-resistant surface and clean saw-cut control joints so the slab cracks where we want it to, not where it wants to.
Up top, we resurfaced the upper deck as a fully waterproof assembly using a welded vinyl membrane — every seam heat-welded into a continuous sheet that turns the deck into the roof of the patio below. That's the whole reason this project exists: the homeowners didn't just want a new deck, they wanted the space underneath it to stay dry so it could be used as a real outdoor living area year-round. The vinyl membrane is what makes that possible.
We wrapped the original pressure-treated 6×6 posts in white Hardie / PVC trim with mitered corners so what you see from below reads as clean white architectural columns rather than weathered timber. The upper guardrail is a black aluminum frame with full glass infill panels — open sightlines from the deck out to the yard, no slats to dust off, no painted spindles to repaint every few years. From the patio below, the underside of the deck framing was left clean and exposed: tidy PT joists, no sag, no insulation hanging down, ready for the homeowners to add a ceiling later if they want one.
The new stair from the upper deck down to the concrete is a modern open-riser run: solid cedar treads carried on welded black metal stringers, with matching black aluminum picket railings to tie back to the upper guardrail. Open risers let light through to the patio underneath instead of casting the stair as a solid shadow, and the contrast of warm cedar against black metal against white posts ties the whole back of the house together. The whole staircase lands on the new concrete with clean post bases anchored straight into the slab.
Project Questions
For this lot, concrete made the most sense. The side-yard run is narrow and gets used as the main path from the front driveway around to the backyard — concrete handles that foot traffic, wheelbarrows and patio furniture indefinitely without shifting or weeding between joints the way pavers can. Underneath the upper deck the concrete also doubles as the finished floor of a covered outdoor room. A wood ground-level deck in that spot would have trapped moisture against the house and needed to come up for maintenance.
The upper deck surface is a single sheet of vinyl membrane that's heat-welded at every seam, lapped up the wall, and tied into the railing posts so water can't get under it. Functionally it's a roof — and because of that, the joists below stay dry and the patio underneath it is genuinely usable in the rain. It also means no annual sanding or restaining on the deck surface, just a wash-down.
We didn't tear down the whole structure, but we did rebuild the parts that mattered. The deck surface was stripped down to the joists so we could install the vinyl membrane properly, the support posts got wrapped, new footings were poured where they were needed for the load path, and the railing and stair systems were fully replaced. The end result is essentially a new upper deck on a verified structural frame, not a cosmetic refresh sitting on top of unknowns.
About five weeks from layout day to the homeowners walking out onto the new deck. Most of that was site work and the concrete cure — the framing repairs, vinyl deck, railings and stair go on quickly once the slab is in. We staged the work so the family always had at least one route in and out of the back of the house while the patio was curing.
If you've got a sloped yard, failing pavers or drainage issues, that's a project we'd be glad to look at. Free site visit and honest scope.
