Entry Porch Deck Replacement Across a Townhome Row — Pleasanton

The row looked well kept from the walkway — trimmed planting, tidy stucco, decks weathered but unremarkable. Then a board gave way at one unit and opened a hole in the walking surface directly in front of the door, in the exact line people step through carrying groceries. Once we probed the rest, the pattern was the same down the row: boards sound where the deck was open to the air and soft everywhere the planting touched it.

The cause was underneath. These porches sit only inches off grade, and over the years mulch had been topped up against the rim, shrubs had grown tight to the edges and the irrigation ran onto the boards every morning. With no clearance and no ventilation, the framing never dried out. Replacing the decking alone would have put new wood into the same wet, airless pocket — and with a hole already open at a front door, the work couldn’t wait for a slow phased schedule either.