Deck Builders in Old Colorado City and the Westside

Some of the oldest housing stock in the city

Old Colorado City and the surrounding Westside neighborhoods predate most of Colorado Springs. Many of the homes here went up long before modern deck-attachment practice existed, and plenty have been added to, re-sided, and re-roofed several times since. The consequence for deck work is simple: nearly every project in this area is a retrofit or an addition to an existing structure rather than a deck planned alongside a new build.

That changes what the first visit is for. Instead of confirming a builder's drawings, the assessment is about discovery — what the wall is actually made of, how the foundation has settled, where the door thresholds sit relative to each other, and whether previous work left something that has to be corrected before new framing goes on.

Retrofitting into an older structure

A deck ledger transfers real load into the house, so the wall it fastens to has to be able to take it. On an older home that means opening the siding to see the framing and rim condition rather than fastening through and hoping, checking for rot where decades of runoff have tracked down the wall, and detailing flashing into an assembly that was never designed to receive it. Foundations that have settled unevenly are common, which affects how the new frame is leveled and where it meets existing thresholds.

Sometimes the honest answer is that the existing wall is not the right thing to hang a deck from, and a freestanding structure with its own posts alongside the house is the better build. That is a decision made from what the assessment shows on your particular home, not a promise that every house on the block will take a ledger the same way.

Tight lots and access logistics

Westside lots are close-set, with side yards that can narrow to a few feet between the house and a neighbor's fence, and alleys that may or may not offer a way in. That constraint shapes the job as much as the design does. Material gets carried in by hand when a truck cannot reach the back, footing excavation is done with compact equipment or manually, and there is rarely room to stage an entire lumber package on site at once — so deliveries are staged and the sequence is planned around what can physically be moved when. Mature trees, established plantings, and shared fence lines all get accounted for in that plan too.

Related: deck builders in Colorado Springs, custom deck design, and railings and stairs.

Frequently asked questions

Can a deck be added to an older Old Colorado City home?

In most cases yes, but the attachment point decides the approach. An older home's rim area, sheathing, and foundation were not built with a modern ledger connection in mind, so the wall gets opened up and assessed before anything is fastened to it. Where the existing structure will not carry a ledger reliably, a freestanding deck with its own posts alongside the house is a sound alternative that avoids loading the wall at all.

Does narrow lot access in this area affect the build process?

It does. Where the side yard is only a few feet wide, lumber comes through by hand, excavation is done with smaller equipment or by shovel, and there is often nowhere on site to stage a full material drop. That usually means deliveries are broken into stages and the work sequence is planned around what can physically be moved to the back at each point.

Are deck retrofits on older homes different from new construction decks?

Yes, mainly in how much of the work happens before framing starts. New construction gives you a known wall assembly and a clear site. A retrofit means investigating what is actually behind the siding, dealing with settled or uneven foundations, matching a finished height to existing door thresholds that may not be level, and detailing flashing into a wall that was never designed for it.