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Kaminskiy Care and Repair repairs loose boards, wobbly railings and soft spots so the deck feels solid again, and most repairs take one visit. In Portland a deck more than 30 inches above the ground needs a building permit. We build every repair to pass that inspection. We serve Portland and the surrounding Oregon communities.
Twenty minutes west on the 26 at our Hillsboro office. Bungalow porches and mossy back decks lead the Portland list.
Portland wood is wet from October to June, and the outside wood is wettest. On the east side a 1920s porch floor rots at the step where the splash lands and the fir posts go punky on their plinths; in the Southwest hills the back deck sits under firs, grows moss on the shaded end and loses its rail posts at the base; on the newer townhomes the ledger behind the siding and the second-floor balcony are the questions nobody has asked. We splice new fir into old porch floors, rebuild post and column bases, replace boards and treads, reset railings, flash and bolt the ledger, and sand, stain and seal when the wood is finally dry.
AFTERBEFOREEvery one of these is a routine visit for a Kaminskiy-certified technician who works Portland's porches and decks all winter from our Hillsboro office, with the joists and the ledger probed while the boards are up.
Priced and on the calendar during the first call.
A written quote you approve before anyone drives out.
One crew, the whole list, warranty in writing.
A one-year workmanship warranty, in writing, on every Portland deck and balcony repair.
Water that never leaves. Nearly all of the year's rain falls between October and May, the north and east sides sit in shade, and moss holds the wet against porch floors, deck boards and rails. A porch floor drinks at the end grain where the step meets it, a column base sits in the splash, a deck under firs stays wet into June, and the water off a townhome roof lands on the ledger. Fir and cedar last a century when they drain and are sealed; they go in a few seasons when they sit wet. Carpenter ants and dampwood termites follow the wet wood in, and a licensed pest company handles them while we stop the water and rebuild.
Push the top rail out, then sideways, at each post. Movement means the post connection has failed: a post notched over the rim, a bolt rusted through, a bracket backed out of a balcony rim, or a post rotted at the deck line under the needles. A railing on a Hillsdale deck a story off the slope, or on a second-floor balcony in the Pearl, is the only thing between the deck and the drop. We rebuild the connection with through-bolts and rated hardware, replace a post or newel gone soft at the base, and set the baluster spacing to code.
Oregon has no balcony inspection law; what applies is Portland's permit line. The city's own page says a deck, stair or patio at or below thirty inches above grade needs no building permit, and the state code adds that an ordinary repair with like materials needs no application. A deck or exterior stair over thirty inches, a new footprint or a porch enclosed is a permit, and a cantilevered balcony that has moved, a failed ledger or a porch roof beam goes to an engineer before we touch it. We say which on the first call.
Sweep the gaps and the post bases clear every fall. Have the fir limbs over the deck limbed up so the sun reaches it. Repaint the porch floor and reseal the deck in late summer every two or three years, before the wood goes gray. Keep the planters off the porch floor and the splash off the column bases. Lean on every rail each spring and press a screwdriver into the step, the plinths and the board ends. A soft board found early is one visit; a soft beam found late waits for a dry window and an engineer.
Craftsman bungalows and foursquares from the 1900s to the 1940s with deep front porches: fir tongue-and-groove floors, tapered columns on brick or wood plinths, wood steps and sometimes a sleeping porch or balcony above. The floor rots at the top step where the splash lands, the column bases go punky, the stringers sit in the dirt, and every repair has to match the street. We splice new fir into the old floor, rebuild the column base to the same profile, set the steps on footings, and keep a historic-district repair in kind.
Midcentury and 1970s to 1990s homes on slopes under firs, with cedar decks on tall posts, railings carrying the weather and long stairs to the yard. Nothing under the trees dries, so moss takes the shaded end, needles pack the gaps and the post bases, the rail posts rot at the deck line, and the stringers go soft at the bottom. Most of these decks stand more than thirty inches up, so a rebuilt frame is a city permit. We rebuild what stands, probe the posts and the beam, and name a ledger problem before anyone opens the wall.
Younger buildings with a small deck or a cantilevered balcony off the second floor, a ledger behind siding installed before Oregon's moisture rules, and an association form for anything on the outside. The calls are a stain along the ledger line, a balcony floor that feels soft, a loose rail bracket, a deck coating that cracked and let water into the framing. We open the deck, probe the ledger and the balcony framing, flash and bolt what we can reach, repair the coating, and pull in an engineer when a cantilever has moved.
Call 971-571-5787 or text a photo of the worst board, a rail post or column base and the ledger line. Most Portland deck and porch repairs get a range on the call and a date for the look.
A technician probes the floor, boards, posts, joists, beam and ledger, measures the height off grade, and writes the scope: what we rebuild, what the city permits, what historic review or an engineer has to see, and the price.
Frame and posts first, then floor, boards, railings and stairs, then flashing and fasteners. If the beam, the ledger or the balcony framing hides more than the look showed, you hear it before we go on.
Porch paint, stain and seal go on when the wood is dry enough to take them. The one-year workmanship warranty is on the invoice.
Oregon is plain about it: anyone paid to repair, improve or build a home has to hold a Construction Contractors Board license, a porch board or a whole deck alike, and the law's only small-job carve-out is a casual one-off by someone not in the trade who does not advertise. Kaminskiy Care and Repair holds CCB #252813, is bonded and insured, and every technician on a porch is Kaminskiy-certified. Deck and porch wiring belongs to a licensed electrician, and a beam, ledger or cantilever past repair to an engineer, and both are named on the call.
Portland's own page puts a deck, stair or patio at or below thirty inches above grade outside the building permit, and the state code it administers adds that an ordinary repair with like materials, a board, a railing, a tread, a spliced porch floor, needs no application. A deck or exterior stair over thirty inches, a rebuilt frame, a new ledger, a new footprint or a porch enclosed is a permit, and the city reminds owners that an exempt job still has to meet the zoning rules. We say which yours is on the call rather than find out at the counter.
In Irvington, Ladd's Addition, the Alphabet District and Portland's other historic and conservation districts, repair and maintenance are exempt from historic review: a porch floor spliced in matching fir, a column base rebuilt to the same profile, a railing repaired in kind, a repaint. A new railing design on the street face, a different material or a changed porch is an alteration that may need review first, and we tell you when a repair is close to that line. In the townhome and condo associations, the form usually wants the product and color in writing, and we provide it.
Twenty minutes west on the 26. Our Portland crew dispatches from the office on Tanasbourne Drive in Hillsboro and covers the whole metro, from St. Johns to Sellwood and the West Hills. Call 971-571-5787, text a photo, or send the form. We answer Monday to Friday, 8 to 4:30.
Can't find your answer? Call 971-571-5787 and ask us anything.
Call 971-571-5787We answer Monday to Friday, 8 to 4:30, price a board, railing or step repair from a photo on the call, and usually schedule within days; the crew leaves our Hillsboro office on Tanasbourne Drive, twenty minutes west on Highway 26, and works the east side and the West Hills all week. Most board and rail repairs are one visit. A porch floor or a frame repair gets a look, a written scope and a dry window.
We repair first, and on a Portland porch that is also the right answer for the street. A spliced fir floor, a rebuilt column base, new boards, reset posts and railings, rebuilt stairs and a real seal bring most porches and decks back for far less than a rebuild, as long as the joists, the beam and the ledger are sound. When they are not, we show you the probe marks and say so in writing; a new deck is a permitted build and often an engineer's drawing, and we tell you what that takes.
A repair in like materials, no. Portland's own page leaves a deck, stair or patio at or below thirty inches outside the building permit, and the state code asks for no application for an ordinary repair, a spliced porch floor included. A deck or stair over thirty inches with a rebuilt frame, a new ledger, a bigger footprint or a porch enclosed is a permit, and we say which yours is on the call.
It depends on how much of the frame the rot reached. Text a photo of the worst board, a post or column base and the ledger line and you get a range on the call; after the look comes a written scope with the boards, hardware and finish priced before the first cut. The approved scope is the bill.
Yes. A one-year workmanship warranty in writing on every deck, porch and balcony repair, done by Kaminskiy-certified technicians, from a company that holds CCB #252813 and is bonded and insured.
Yes. Repair and maintenance are exempt from historic review in Irvington, Ladd's Addition and the other districts: a porch floor spliced in matching fir, a column base rebuilt to the same profile, a railing repaired in kind, a repaint. A new railing design on the street face or a different material may need review first, and we say so before anything is ordered.
It starts with us. We open the balcony, probe the framing and the ledger, and repair the deck coating, the flashing and the boards we can reach. If the cantilever has moved, the ledger is past saving or the framing is rotted back into the building, an engineer looks at it before anyone cuts, and we say so in writing with photos for the association.
The whole city from our Hillsboro office: the east side including Sellwood, Woodstock, Hawthorne, Montavilla, Alberta, Irvington, Laurelhurst and St. Johns, the Southwest hills including Hillsdale and Multnomah Village, plus Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Lake Oswego and Milwaukie. Call 971-571-5787 to confirm your address.
Tell us what the deck or balcony is doing. We'll call you back with a price and a time. Calling is still the fastest way: 971-571-5787.
Priced on the call, rebuilt solid, warranted in writing.
We answer Monday to Friday, 8 to 4:30.No price games. You get a clear written quote before any work begins, backed by our workmanship warranty.
