A porch floor and deck rebuilt for the next twenty summers
One pass, two outdoor spaces: a new structural floor under the screened porch, and a full composite re-top and re-rail of the attached deck.
Two tired surfaces, one outdoor room the family already loved
The screened porch was the most-used room in the house for half the year. The floor under it had stopped earning that.
This Ypsilanti home, in Washtenaw County, came to Wright’s Renovations with a screened porch the homeowners practically lived in from spring through fall, and an attached deck that fed straight off the back of the house. Both had reached the point where the surfaces were holding the spaces back. The porch floor needed to come out to the framing. The deck boards and railings had weathered past the point a refinish would fix.
Rather than treat these as two separate jobs spread across two seasons, the work was scoped as a single connected project. The crew rebuilt the floor under the screened porch enclosure and re-topped the adjoining deck in composite during the same mobilization, so the family lost the use of their outdoor living area once instead of twice.
Every line of the work was priced out in advance through Wright’s design-build process, including a separate selections step so the homeowners could see exactly where their budget went before a single board came up.
A floor built to hold up to a Michigan porch
The original vinyl flooring and its subfloor came out down to the structure. In their place the crew laid a new layer of pressure-treated subfloor, then floated high-quality vinyl plank over it, locked plank to plank and trimmed clean at every edge and transition.
New baseboards went in pre-painted, with joints sealed and nail holes filled so the room read finished, not patched. The result is a porch that wears like an interior space but tolerates the temperature swing a three-season room takes through a Michigan winter.
For homeowners weighing the same kind of update, Wright’s handles outdoor living spaces across Southeast Michigan with the same approach to the surfaces underfoot.
Room enough for the whole evening
New plank flooring runs wall to wall under the seating and the bar-height dining set, giving the porch one continuous surface from the French doors out to the screened corner.
The deck, re-topped in composite and re-railed to match
The deck sits directly off the porch and the kitchen, so it takes daily traffic and holds the grill. The crew pulled the existing boards, inspected the frame for integrity and repaired where needed, then laid composite decking cut to size and fastened down for a smooth, low-maintenance surface.
The old railings came off in favor of new composite rail sections and posts, measured and set level around the deck and down the stairs. Composite was the right call for a surface that sees this much weather: it holds its color, shrugs off the freeze-thaw cycle, and skips the yearly sanding and staining that pressure-treated lumber demands.
Down the open stairs, the crew set riser lights into each tread so the steps read clearly after dark, a small detail that makes the difference on a deck people actually use into the evening. Wright’s builds and rebuilds decks across Southeast Michigan, from full new deck construction to composite re-tops like this one.
Sealed off underneath, before the boards went down
Open decks invite rodents and other animals to set up under them. Before the new surface went on, the crew buried hardware cloth around the inside of the deck, digging down about a foot and curving the wire outward so animals cannot dig their way under and nest.
Trim pieces hide the wire at grade so the fix stays out of sight. It is the kind of below-the-surface step that does not show up in a photo but keeps the space the homeowners just paid to rebuild from becoming a wildlife problem two seasons later.
This level of planning is standard on a Wright’s deck build, and it is the same care that goes into the firm’s exterior projects across the region.
A surface that earns its keep
New composite treads, level railings, and riser lighting carry the stairs from the deck down to the yard, tying the outdoor spaces back together.
The scope, line by line
Wright’s prices every project this way: each phase as its own line, so the homeowner sees exactly what they are paying for. Here is what this one covered.
Demolition to the framing
Removal of the existing vinyl flooring and subfloor, with debris cleared and the site left clean for the next phase.
New pressure-treated subfloor
A fresh structural subfloor framed and set level over the porch before any finished material went down.
Floating vinyl plank flooring
High-quality vinyl plank cut to fit, locked together, and finished clean at every transition and edge.
Pre-painted baseboard trim
Baseboards measured, pre-painted, installed, and sealed, with nail holes filled for a finished edge.
Composite re-top
Existing boards removed, frame inspected and repaired, and new composite decking fastened down.
Composite re-rail with stair lighting
New composite railings and posts set level around the deck and stairs, with riser lights in each tread.
Below-deck pest-proofing
Buried hardware cloth curved outward around the deck perimeter, with trim to keep it hidden at grade.
Planning a porch or deck of your own?
See more of the work, or start a conversation about your outdoor space in Ypsilanti or anywhere across Southeast Michigan.
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Screened porch enclosures
Three-season rooms built and rebuilt to live in from spring through fall.
View porch enclosuresDeck construction
New builds and composite re-tops engineered for Michigan weather.
View deck servicesRenovations in Washtenaw County
Interior and exterior work for homeowners across Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and beyond.
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