Deck Building in Kennebunk, Maine

Census estimates put Kennebunk's median home built around 1983, with about 19 percent of the housing predating 1940 and roughly 30 percent predating 1960. The town's oldest and most architecturally significant houses cluster along Summer Street and in the village center, where 18th- and 19th-century sea captains built grand Federal and Greek Revival homes on shipbuilding wealth. Toward Kennebunk Beach and Lower Village, shingle-style cottages and early-20th-century summer homes take over, while the rest of town, further from the water, holds a larger share of capes, colonials and contemporary homes built from the 1970s onward as Kennebunk grew as a year-round community.

Building permits in Kennebunk go through the Code Enforcement Office in the Community Development Department at Town Hall, covering siding, roofing, window and deck work. Because Kennebunk has both river and ocean frontage, Maine's Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act applies along the Kennebunk and Mousam Rivers and the town's Atlantic coastline, including Kennebunk Beach, Gooch's Beach and Mother's Beach. Exterior work on a Summer Street Historic District property adds a layer of design review that a house elsewhere in town does not face, so that approval is worth confirming before materials are ordered.

Kennebunk Beach, Gooch's Beach and Mother's Beach put the town's southern edge directly on the Atlantic, where nor'easters bring storm surge and wind-driven rain, and salt air speeds the corrosion of fasteners, flashing and gutters faster than it does inland toward the village center. The Kennebunk and Mousam Rivers add a second layer of shoreland exposure further from the coast. Winters bring the usual Maine freeze-thaw cycling, and older, less-insulated attics on Summer Street's historic homes are prone to ice damming at the eaves in a hard winter, same as any older New England house.

A new deck starts below ground. Footings have to reach below the frost line so the deck does not heave, the ledger that ties the deck to the house has to be flashed so it never rots the rim, and the framing has to carry snow as well as people. On top of that structure goes the part you see: composite and PVC boards, pressure-treated lumber or cedar, with railings, stairs and landings. Cardinal Exteriors builds new decks and full replacements only; it does not take on deck repairs or staining.

• An owner visits, looks at the yard and the house, and talks through size, layout, stairs and material.
• Permits are pulled where the town requires them.
• Footings are dug or set below frost; posts, beams and joists are framed to span and load.
• The ledger is flashed and fastened with structural fasteners, or the deck is built freestanding.
• Decking, railings, stairs and landings go on, with hidden or face fasteners to suit the boards.

• You want outdoor living space where there is none
• An existing deck is too small or poorly laid out for how you use it
• A new door, addition or view calls for a deck to reach it

• Deck size, height and shape
• Decking material: composite, PVC, pressure-treated or cedar
• Railing style and stair runs
• Footing type and site conditions: ledge, slope, access
• Permits and any shoreland or setback requirements

Every job is priced from a free on-site visit. Typical ranges for the trade are on our deck building page, and the details of this service are on the new deck building overview.

For a deeper walkthrough of materials, code details and photos, see our full Deck Building in Maine: Frost-Depth Footings and Ledger Flashing guide.

Back to the Kennebunk exterior services overview, or see every town on our service areas page.