Deck Installation
New decks laid out for the span, the soil and the snow load your lot actually has.
What this involves →Serving Somersett and 25 nearby areas
Deck builder in Somersett, NV
Decks for Somersett’s hillside lots — granite underfoot, wind off the Verdi range, big western views and an architectural committee with opinions.
No obligation. Every estimate starts with a walkthrough of the site and a straight conversation about what the ground, the span and the budget will allow.
Hillside on graniteArchitectural review
Building here
Somersett gives you the view and charges you for it in footings
Somersett is a master-planned community on the rising ground at the northwestern edge of Reno, and almost everything distinctive about building a deck here follows from that position. The lots step up a hillside, the underlying ground is decomposed granite with rock not far below, and the views west and south are the reason most people bought the house.
The views drive the design. Owners here nearly always want the railing to disappear, which points at cable or glass infill rather than timber balusters. Both are good answers and both have consequences. Cable is under high tension and pulls its end posts inward, so corner and terminal posts have to be sized and braced for it or the cables sag — and sagging cables open up gaps that exceed the spacing limit they were installed to meet. Glass gives the cleanest view and asks to be cleaned, which on an exposed hillside catching dust and pollen is a real commitment.
The slope drives the structure. A deck stepping off the back of a hillside house can stand well above grade at its outer edge, and once it passes ten feet above finished grade Washoe County’s guidance calls for engineered plans. Somersett sits above the valley floor, so ground snow load is higher here than in central Reno without reaching the figures of the high southern foothills. Digging into granite is slow work, and access for equipment on a stepped lot is often the genuine constraint rather than the structure itself.
Permits go through City of Reno Development Services, and Somersett’s architectural review runs alongside them on its own timetable.
What shapes a deck project in Somersett
Three things shape a Somersett deck, and the view is behind two of them.
Railing that does not block the view
Cable and glass are the usual answers here. Cable needs braced end posts and periodic re-tensioning; glass needs cleaning on an exposed, dusty hillside. Both cost more than balusters, and on these lots both are usually worth it.
Granite, slope and access
Footings go into decomposed granite with rock close beneath, which is slow rather than impossible. The harder problem is often getting materials and equipment onto a stepped lot, and it is worth planning before the build rather than during it.
Height above grade
A deck off the back of a hillside house can stand a long way above the ground at its outer edge. Past ten feet, Washoe County’s guidance calls for engineered plans, and the guardrail and stair package grows with the height.
What we build in Somersett
Deck services available here
The same six services, applied to what this ground and this elevation actually present.
Deck Repair
Rot, loose ledgers, split boards and failing rails put right before they turn into a rebuild.
What this involves →
Deck Replacement
Tearing out a deck that has reached the end of its life and rebuilding on sound footings.
What this involves →
Composite Deck Installation
Capped composite and PVC boards for owners who would rather not re-stain every other summer.
What this involves →Wood Deck Construction
Cedar, redwood and pressure-treated pine built to move with Nevada temperature swings.
What this involves →
Deck Railing Installation
Guardrails, cable and metal infill that meet code height and open-space limits.
What this involves →Before you start
Local conditions worth checking on your lot
Not a code list. These are the things that most often change a design or a price in Somersett.
- Height of the deck above finished grade at its outer edge
- Depth to rock, established by test holes rather than assumption
- Access for materials and equipment on a stepped lot
- Architectural committee guidelines on railing style and colour
- Prevailing wind exposure on west-facing lots
- Whether cable railing end posts can be adequately braced
- Snow load at your elevation rather than Reno’s valley figure
- Drainage down-slope of the deck and where the runoff goes
Permits for this area are handled by City of Reno Development Services. Building requirements, exemption thresholds and design criteria are revised periodically, so treat everything on this page as orientation and confirm the current position for your parcel before planning around it.
Somersett questions
Deck questions specific to Somersett
Is cable railing a good choice in Somersett?
It is the most common request here and for good reason — on a hillside lot the view is what you paid for, and cable comes closest to disappearing.
The caveats are structural rather than aesthetic. Cable is tensioned hard, and that tension pulls end and corner posts inward. Those posts have to be sized and braced for it, which is more than a standard guardrail post. Cables also need re-tensioning, particularly in the first year, and with the daily temperature swings here that is a system to check rather than forget.
Will my deck need engineered drawings?
Possibly, and height is the usual trigger rather than snow. A deck standing more than 10 feet above finished grade, or projecting more than 12 feet from the house, calls for engineering under Washoe County’s guidance regardless of elevation — and on a stepped hillside lot the outer edge gets high quickly.
Somersett’s elevation raises the ground snow load above central Reno’s figure without reaching the southern foothills. Confirm the numbers for your parcel with City of Reno Development Services.
How much does the granite slow things down?
Enough to matter to a schedule, not enough to change a design. Decomposed granite digs reasonably; the rock below it does not, and when a footing hits it the hole takes several times longer than planned.
We dig test holes before fixing the footing layout, which lets us either move a post or price the harder dig honestly rather than discovering it on pour day.
Does the HOA control what my deck looks like?
Somersett has architectural review, and in practice it has views on railing style, decking material and colour, and how visible the structure is from neighbouring lots and streets. That review is separate from the City of Reno building permit and runs on its own schedule.
Submit early and design to the guidelines rather than around them. Retrofitting a committee’s objection into a built deck is expensive; designing to it costs nothing.
Is wind a problem this far up?
More than in central Reno. Somersett sits on exposed rising ground with the Verdi range to the west, and anything overhead — a pergola, a shade sail, a solid privacy panel — presents a face to it.
Glass railing panels are also worth thinking about here, because they are solid to the wind in a way cable is not. That is not a reason to avoid them; it is a reason to size the posts and footings for them.
Nearby
We also build in these neighbouring areas
Conditions change quickly around here. Each of these has its own page.
See all twenty-five on the service areas page, or start from the Sparks homepage.
Next step
Building a deck in Somersett?
Tell us how high the deck sits above grade at its far corner and which way it looks. Those two answers set the structure and the railing.
No obligation. Every estimate starts with a walkthrough of the site and a straight conversation about what the ground, the span and the budget will allow.