TrexPro® Platinum Installer
TimberTech® Gold PRO Contractor
BBB A+ Accredited
Building Since 2012
Custom decks, porches, and outdoor living spaces for homeowners in Hartford and across Hartford County, including West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield, Bloomfield, Windsor, and Glastonbury.
Every deck we build in the Connecticut River Valley gets designed around what is actually under the yard and what the winter does to it. Footings below the 42-inch frost line, framing sized for Connecticut snow load, and drawings detailed enough to clear Hartford’s permit review the first time.
Recent projects for homeowners across Hartford County.
Connecticut sets its frost line at 42 inches, and Hartford sits inside that requirement with no local exceptions. The state building code does not let individual towns adopt a shallower standard. That means the bottom of every footing carrying deck load has to sit at least 42 inches below undisturbed grade. The one break in the code is narrow: the footing at the grade-level bottom of a stair or ramp only has to reach 12 inches, since it carries almost nothing and can move without pulling on the structure.
Depth alone does not settle it. What the footing bears on matters just as much here, and Hartford is unusual in that respect. The city sits on the floor of what was once Glacial Lake Hitchcock, and the USGS has mapped the fine-grained lake-bottom deposits under both the Hartford North and Hartford South quadrangles. Those deposits are what geologists call Connecticut Valley Varved Clay, thin alternating layers of clay, silt, and sand laid down season by season. The USGS lists two problems with it directly: low percolation rates, and low or uneven bearing strength that creates difficulty in construction. Other parts of the valley run to sandy Windsor-type soils that drain fast but hold less. Two lots on the same street can behave differently, which is why footing diameter gets sized to the soil rather than assumed. Where no soil test is taken, the code falls back to 1,500 pounds per square foot, and a footing designed against that assumption on soft varved clay is how a deck ends up out of level three winters later.
Then there is the load. Hartford's design values are 30 pounds per square foot of ground snow and a winter design temperature of 7 degrees, with the state classifying weathering as severe. Snow load drives joist spans, beam sizing, and post spacing. Freeze-thaw drives everything else: water in clay soil expands, lifts anything sitting above the frost line, then drops it again in spring. It rarely shows up at the footing. It shows up as stairs that no longer sit level, railing posts that loosen, and a gap opening where the deck meets the house. Ledger flashing gets its own attention here for the same reason, because a wall connection that traps water in a climate with this many freeze cycles is the most common way a deck fails from the inside out.
Full deck and outdoor living construction across Hartford County, from design through final inspection.
Trex and TimberTech composite surfaces that hold color and resist moisture through Connecticut freeze-thaw cycles.
Custom decks in wood, composite, and PVC, designed around your home's grade, exposure, and how you actually use the yard.
Structural plans and detailing, including the plan, elevation, and section drawings Hartford requires for structural deck work.
Design consultation, 3D rendering, permitting, footings, framing, and construction handled end to end.
Roofed outdoor space built with posts and footings sized for roof load on top of snow load.
Screened space that extends the season on both ends without the insects.
Structural assessment and repair for decks showing frost movement, ledger rot, or failing footings.
Wood, composite, aluminum, glass, and cable systems built to code height and baluster spacing.
Hemlock is a second-generation carpentry business. The owner started under another contractor in his late teens, went into business with his father, and over time narrowed the company from general contracting down to exteriors and then to decks, porches, and outdoor living. The company has been building since 2012. A design and plastics background sits behind that, including work with extrusion, which is the process that produces the composite boards most of these decks are built from. It is an unusual thing for a builder to understand from the manufacturing side, and it shows up in how materials get specified.
Trex's highest installer tier
handling structural planning and permit drawings
so you see the build before it starts
Warranty. Materials are covered by the manufacturer's warranty, which runs with the product and is issued by Trex, TimberTech, or whichever brand is specified. Workmanship is covered separately by us: one year on base-level materials and three years on premium materials. Those are two different things and we keep them described separately so there is no confusion about who stands behind what.
We walk the property, look at grade, drainage, and where the deck wants to sit relative to the door and the yard, then talk through budget and materials.
You see the deck before anything is built. Our in-house engineer produces the structural detail at the same time, so the design and the framing plan develop together.
Hartford runs on a form-based code, which works differently from the setback tables most surrounding towns use. What you can build and where it can sit comes from your zoning district and building type rather than a single lot-line measurement, so zoning review happens before the building permit. Structural deck work then requires drawings showing a plan view with dimensions, an elevation with heights and distances, and at least one section view showing how the deck attaches to the house or is braced as a freestanding structure. If the property sits in a local historic district, historic review comes first. Permits go through the Department of Development Services, applications are submitted online, and the Planning Division has up to 30 days to respond to a complete application, though permits are typically issued inside the first two weeks.
Footings go in below frost depth, framing follows the approved drawings, and we finish with a walkthrough of the completed deck.
Concrete does not cure properly below 40 degrees, which is why footing work in the Hartford area is generally scheduled from spring through late fall. Winter is the right time to design and permit a project so construction can start as soon as the ground allows.
Serving Hartford and Hartford County, including West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield, Bloomfield, Windsor, East Hartford, Glastonbury, and Rocky Hill.
At least 42 inches below undisturbed grade. That is Connecticut’s frost line as set in the state building code, and individual towns cannot adopt a shallower standard. The exception is the footing at the grade-level bottom of a stair or ramp, which only needs 12 inches because it carries minimal load.
Differently than in most of the towns around it. Hartford uses a form-based code, so what you can build and where it can go is determined by your zoning district and building type rather than by a single setback table. That is why zoning review comes before the building permit, and why two properties a few streets apart can have different answers. The Planning and Zoning division reviews this as part of the application.
Yes for effectively any structural deck work. Simple repairs such as replacing railings, balusters, or a few treads do not require drawings. Replacing a full stair run or any structural component does. Permits go through the City of Hartford Department of Development Services, and applications can be submitted online.
A plan view with dimensions, an elevation showing heights and distances, and at least one section view illustrating how the deck attaches to the existing structure or is braced as a freestanding deck. Connection details and how they are installed need to be shown. If the deck is covered or enclosed, additional detail is required.
The Planning Division has up to 30 days to respond to a complete application, and permits are typically issued within the first two weeks. If the property sits in a local historic district, historic review happens first and adds time. You can check whether a property falls in a historic district using the City’s planning viewer and selecting the historic district layer.
It does. Much of the Hartford area sits on fine-grained lake-bottom deposits left by Glacial Lake Hitchcock, mapped by the USGS across both the Hartford North and Hartford South quadrangles. That soil has low and uneven bearing strength and drains slowly. Other parts of the valley are sandy and drain quickly. Footing size gets matched to what is actually on the lot rather than assumed, because a footing sized for firm soil will settle unevenly in soft clay.
No. Composite and PVC handle freeze-thaw and moisture better than wood and do not need refinishing on a cycle, which is why they suit this climate well. But composite costs more up front, dark boards hold real heat on a south-facing deck in July, and the surface reads more uniform than natural wood. Pressure-treated and cedar cost less and take curves, angles, and custom detail more easily. If the budget is tight or the design calls for shapes composite does not bend into, wood is the better answer, provided you accept cleaning and refinishing on a cycle.
Design and permitting are best handled over the winter. Concrete will not cure properly below 40 degrees, so footing work generally runs from spring through late fall. Projects that get designed and permitted in the off-season start earliest.
Tell us about the space you have in mind and we will walk the property, talk through materials and layout, and put together a plan. No obligation.
