Case Study · SB 721 · CSLB #1060736
Trex Deck, Walkway & Stair Replacement — 12-Unit Apartment Community, Menlo Park
Residents walked the same tired wood the whole way from the parking lot to their front door — stairs, walkway, balcony. We replaced the route, not just the balconies.
Deck Repair & RestorationProject facts
- Location
- Menlo Park, CA
- Service
- Deck Installation
- Property
- Two-story apartment community
- Units
- 12
- Elevated elements
- 12 balconies, the connecting walkways and 2 exterior stair runs
- Client
- Owner / property management company
- Scope
- Tear-off of painted wood decking and guards, composite decking on balconies, walkways and stair treads, new aluminum guardrails and handrails
- Timeline
- 4 weeks
- Completed
- Q2 2026
- Budget range
- $70k–$95k
01 The situation
The challenge
The whole route was the same material and the same age. A resident came up a flight of wood stairs with a flat board for a handrail — wide enough that you cannot close a hand around it — crossed a walkway of painted decking that had cupped and split along the grain, and reached a balcony surfaced in those same boards, with a solid wood knee wall standing in for a guard. Everything had been repainted often enough that the paint was doing work the wood no longer could. Replacing the balconies on their own would have left the two parts residents actually touch every day exactly as they were.
02 Execution
What we did
We treated the stairs, the walkway and the balconies as one job rather than three:
Stripped the painted decking, wood knee-wall guards and stair rails off every balcony, walkway and stair run
Repaired the framing and stair stringers where the old boards came off, and corrected the deck-to-wall transitions
Laid Trex composite decking across the balconies, the connecting walkways and every stair tread, with a matching fascia band
Set powder-coated aluminum guardrails throughout and added a round graspable handrail to both stair runs
03 Outcome
The result
Residents now walk one material from the bottom of the stairs to their own door. The composite does not cup, splinter or come back onto the maintenance schedule every few seasons, the guards are aluminum instead of painted wood, and both stair runs finally have a handrail that can be gripped rather than rested on. The SB 721 items covering the guards and the walking surfaces were closed together instead of in two separate rounds.
Results at a glance
- Balconies, connecting walkways and stair treads re-decked in Trex composite
- Solid wood knee-wall guards replaced with powder-coated aluminum guardrails
- Round graspable handrails added to both stair runs
- Deck maintenance reduced to washing — no sanding, no repainting
What the client received
- SB 721 closure covering the guards, the stairs and the walking surfaces
- Trex manufacturer warranty plus our workmanship warranty
- Photo record of the framing and stringers before the new decking went down
- One finish detail repeated from the stair landing to every unit door
- Maintenance schedule running through to the next inspection cycle
Transformation
Before & After
The walkway along the units
The exterior stair run
A private balcony
“The stairs were the part I worried about. The old handrail was a flat board — you could put a hand on it, but you could not hold it. That one is fixed.”
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