Deck builders in West Friendship, MD

The median home in West Friendship was built around 1994. A deck built with a house of that age is now about 32 years old — the stage where first-generation pressure-treated decks commonly need major repair or replacement.

Decks built before 2004 were very likely made with CCA-treated lumber, which was phased out of most residential uses at the end of 2003. That doesn't make an existing deck unsafe, but old boards shouldn't be burned, and demolition debris should be disposed of according to local rules.

That makes West Friendship's housing 5 years newer than Howard County as a whole, where the median home was built in 1989. Statewide, the median Maryland home was built in 1979. Among the 128 covered Maryland communities with Census data, West Friendship ranks #109 for oldest housing. In this ZIP code, 8% of homes were built before 1960, 10% between 1960 and 1979, 50% between 1980 and 1999, and 32% since 2000 — the single largest group dates to the 1990s.

Budget, upkeep tolerance and sun exposure on your particular lot still decide the final choice between these options.

West Friendship has about 690 housing units across its covered ZIP code. 100% are single-family detached homes, 0% are attached homes such as townhouses and rowhouses, and about 0% are in buildings with two or more units. Roughly 100% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

Detached single-family homes dominate in West Friendship, so most decks are backyard decks attached to the rear of the house. That gives more freedom on size, layout and stairs, and makes a well-planned deck one of the most-used rooms of the home.

• Replacement and major repair: about 384 homes (56%) were built between 1970 and 1999, the age group whose original or early add-on decks are most likely to have worn-out framing, connectors and boards.
• Retrofit decks on older homes: about 88 homes (13%) predate 1970. Here the priority is confirming that add-on decks are properly attached — or rebuilding them freestanding — before any cosmetic work.
• Upgrades and expansions: about 87 homes (13%) were built since 2010. Their decks are usually sound but small or builder-grade, so enlarging the deck, adding stairs and switching to composite or upgraded railings are common.

In West Friendship, most homeowners plan design and permits over the off-season so construction can start when the weather allows. Seasonal patterns across Maryland are covered on the state page.

For West Friendship, MD, ask the permit office whether your deck needs a permit based on its size, height and attachment to the house, which drawings and inspections are required. Statewide code background for Maryland is on our state page; local rules change, so the building department remains the authority.

The closest covered area is Cooksville, about 2.9 miles from the center of West Friendship's covered ZIPs. Its median home was built in 2002, 8 years later than in West Friendship. The two have a similar share of detached single-family homes (100% vs. 100%). Owner-occupancy is 100% in West Friendship compared with 95% in Cooksville. West Friendship's covered ZIP code span about 8.2 square miles of land with roughly 690 homes — about 84 per square mile, a low density that usually allows larger decks and freestanding designs.