Deck Builders in Albion, ME
Deck builders in Albion, ME plan around 125 square feet, the size at which the town's Land Use Ordinance has the code enforcement officer permit a residential structure, with decks named in the list. We build composite and treated decks and replace worn ones from Lovejoy Pond camps to farmhouses on the back roads, and we settle that line with the town before a frame is drawn.
- (207) 679-0381
- 143 Silver St, 2nd Floor, Waterville
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- Decks only, footings to rail
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- 22 central Maine towns, Waterville to Skowhegan
This page covers deck building and deck replacement in Albion, Maine, a Kennebec County town of 2,006 people around 329-acre Lovejoy Pond, where the Land Use Ordinance sends decks of 125 square feet or more to the code officer.
Deck Builders Waterville sets footings 4 feet down, bolts and flashes every ledger, tears worn decks out to the ground rather than resurfacing them, and checks Albion's district setbacks and shoreland rules before drawing a deck.
The figure to keep: an Albion pressure-treated deck averages about $82 per square foot, and composite or PVC starts from $15,000. Those are averages over many quotes, never a price for a particular yard.
Why Does 125 Square Feet Matter for an Albion Deck?
The 125-square-foot line matters for an Albion deck because it decides whether the deck is a permit job, and the ordinance even counts the posts, measuring a deck by its supports where it has no walls. Two structures set less than a foot apart count as one, so a pair of small platforms side by side gets measured as one deck.
- Unroofed decks of 125 square feet or less skip the building permit, per the town's form
- Lovejoy Pond and other shoreland lots go to the Planning Board
- Setbacks that change with the district: Village, Growth or Rural
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Where Else Near Albion Do We Build Decks?
See all 22 towns we serveWhat Deck Work Do Albion Houses Need Most?
Albion deck work splits three ways, and the house and its lot pick the way.
Composite Boards on a Lovejoy Pond Camp Deck
Composite decks earn their price on Lovejoy Pond, where Maine DEP's 2005 report counted 44 residential units on the shore, 75 percent of them seasonal. A camp deck there sits through a whole winter with nobody around to stain it, and composite or PVC boards never ask for that coat.
Under those boards our joists run 16 inches on center for composite and 12 for PVC, each topped with joist tape, a sticky membrane that keeps water out of the screw holes. A shoreland deck in Albion also counts against the ordinance's cap of 20 percent of the lot for structures, driveways and other non-vegetated surfaces, so we tally what the camp and its drive already cover first.
Treated Wood Decks for Albion's Rural Lots
Pressure-treated decks fit the farmhouses and newer homes on Albion's Rural Area lots, where the ordinance's base setbacks start at 50 feet from the road right-of-way and 20 feet from each side and rear line. That leaves room for a wide treated deck off the back door, the lowest-priced deck we build, fastened with hot-dipped galvanized or stainless screws and bolts, the two kinds the 2021 IRC names for ledger connections.
In the Village Area a building sits at least 10 feet from the street and 15 feet from side and rear lines, which can decide how far a treated deck on a village lot may reach. We take both distances from the right-of-way and the abutting lines, as the town's form asks, before we size the frame.
Replacing a Tired Albion Deck at the Footings
Deck replacement on an Albion house starts underneath: the boards come up, the joists and posts come down, any post resting on a block comes out, and new footings go in below the frost. Owners call us when the deck feels spongy or the stairs wobble, and by then the frame is usually the problem, so new boards on it would only hide the fault.
Albion's ordinance treats a deck fixed to the house as part of the principal structure, so a bigger replacement is an expansion of the house itself. A same-size rebuild may read as repair or as construction under the ordinance, and we put that question to the code enforcement officer before the permit cost goes in your price.
What Deck Services Do We Offer in Albion?
Three services cover nearly every Albion deck we are asked to build.
The town's Land Use Permit Application says decks without a roof at 125 square feet or smaller need no building permit, and the code enforcement office reviews plans and issues the permits that are needed. We fill in the form's district, overlay and setback boxes with you, then send it in when the deck calls for one.
- Footings below frost, ledger bolted and flashed
- Composite decks for Lovejoy Pond camps
- Rail and skirting to finish the frame
How to Take an Albion Deck From Sketch to Rail
Ground, wall and old deck, seen in person.
At your Albion place we study the slope of the yard, the clapboards or vinyl a ledger would bolt through, and any deck there today, and we note the district and any overlay (Shoreland or the Lovejoy Pond Watershed) that the town's form asks about.
The price in writing, the contract signed.
The price is written out for you before anything is scheduled, and once the total passes $3,000 the Albion job goes on a contract you sign, the way 10 MRSA §1487 sets it out, and under that law the deposit may not pass a third of what the contract says.
Frame first, rail and stairs last.
The footings and frame are finished and checked first, then the decking goes down and the guard and steps follow, the old deck is hauled away to the last board, and the job closes with you and our crew walking the new deck together.
What Should Deck Builders in Albion, ME Check First?
Deck builders in Albion, ME should check the soil first, because Maine DEP's Lovejoy Pond report describes soils of low permeability across the watershed and very stony fine sandy loam along much of the shore, on slopes of 3 to 30 percent. Stony, slow-draining ground is hard on a hand-dug hole, so most Albion footings we set are helical piles, steel shafts with a helix plate twisted 4 feet down, and a poured pier goes in only where the ground suits one better.
The ledger, the treated board that ties a deck's inner edge to the house, gets flashing so rain cannot soak the rim behind it, and a wall that cannot take a ledger gets a freestanding deck on its own beam and posts. No Albion document names a building code, and at 2,006 residents the town is under the state's 4,000-resident line for MUBEC, so we hold every Albion guard to the 2021 IRC: 36 inches or taller wherever the walking surface sits more than 30 inches over the ground, with every opening smaller than a 4-inch sphere.
The paper comes last: a shoreland deck goes to the Planning Board, and the shoreland ordinance holds new structures back 100 feet from a great pond with a GPA classification, or 75 feet from other water. We confirm which of those lines governs a Lovejoy Pond lot before we draw the deck.
Who Reviews an Albion Deck, Where, and When?
Who issues a deck permit in Albion?
A deck permit in Albion is issued by the code enforcement officer on an ordinary residential lot once the fee is paid, and by the Planning Board when the lot is non-conforming or the work is a shoreland use. The code office works by appointment only, so we set up that meeting early.
Where does Albion's shoreland zone apply?
Albion's shoreland zone applies within 250 feet of a great pond, a river or a freshwater wetland's upland edge, plus a 75-foot strip along each stream, and the Land Use Ordinance names Lovejoy Pond in its definition of a water body. Lovejoy Pond drains out through Mill Stream, so we read the town's map for any stream line near your lot along with the pond's, and keep the state's shoreland rules beside it.
When should an Albion deck application go in?
An Albion deck application should go in a week or more before the Planning Board's first-Monday meeting when the Board is the one hearing it, since the town wants seven copies at the Town Office by then. A code officer permit moves once the fee is paid, and approval is the town's call in both cases.
How Much Do Albion Decks Cost on Average?
Albion decks cost, on average across many quotes, about $82 per square foot for a single treated level with a few steps, and $102 to $122 per square foot when the plan wraps a corner, steps down a level or ties into a porch. The floor for a full treated deck in Albion is $10,000, and decks surfaced in composite or PVC with a composite rail start at $15,000.
| Deck | What it usually means | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated, simple layout | a single level, short stairs, treated boards and a treated rail | about $82 per square foot, nothing new under $10,000 |
| Bigger or more complex layout | split levels, angled corners, a wraparound, a porch tie-in, more steps | $102 to $122 per square foot |
| Composite or PVC | composite or PVC boards with composite rail | from $15,000 |
These Albion figures cover a deck installed from its footings up through the stair treads, as a spread of many quotes rather than a bid on your house. Height, a long stair and whatever an old deck hides can raise them.
Why does a smaller Albion deck run more per square foot?
A smaller Albion deck runs more per square foot because footing work costs close to the same at any size, so it fills more of a small bill. For about $1,000 more, an Albion 10x10 often grows into a 12x16, so it pays to price both sizes before you choose.
Which costs push an Albion deck toward the top?
An Albion deck price rises inside its band with a ramp before anything else, then with more stairs, then with no usable footings to start from, then with a harder layout, and finally with height. More than about 2 feet up, a crew day of staging joins an Albion job, a cost a small deck feels far more than a large one.
How does a replacement change an Albion deck price?
A replacement changes an Albion deck price by adding the tear-out, the haul-away and new footings, and by raising the question of whether any old post can stay in service. We settle that question at the Albion visit once we have seen the posts, and the price is written from there.
Want Your Albion Deck Measured and Priced?
Ask for a free estimate, and after a visit to look at your Albion ground, the siding and any deck already standing, we write out the price footing by footing and board by board.