Designer's Deck Gets a Modern Mountain Makeover

After purchasing an 1,800-square-foot, three story log construction mountain house, I embarked on a full remodel, including the covered area of its 15x12 foot entertaining deck. To open up and modernize the space, I updated its fireplace, removed a central column, and installed a flat panel TV.

In its existing state, the covered deck was difficult to furnish due to a central column, which prevented sofas or love seats from fitting properly in front of the contractor-grade fireplace. Determined to use the area as a comfortable outdoor living room, I wanted the column removed, comfy seating added, and the fireplace remodeled with new stone veneer and a recessed flat panel TV.

With an approximate budget of $6,000 and a timeline of one week, I hired a contractor to complete the following tasks: redirect the weight distribution of the covered roof to mitered corner brackets and completely remove the central column, jack the deck up 9 inches due to sloping, demolish the existing fireplace, replace a refractory panel in the fire box, install a modern ceiling fan, install floor-to-ceiling stone, and outfit the new fireplace wall with a recessed flat panel TV.

Due to its location on a mountain, the deck slowly started to sag over time. In order to structurally support it, I hired an engineer to jack the structure up 9 inches. To do this, temporary support beams were added before new concrete footers were poured. Next, as the jack held the deck surface at its intended height, framing made from 6x6" lumber and heavy duty bolts was created, and installed onto each of the footers. After the new framing was in place, the jack was lowered and removed.