Loth & SonLawn Care & Landscaping
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Decks and fences that meet the garden.

We build decks, set fences and do exterior carpentry — and the grading, planting and stonework that meets them is done by the same crew.

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A white-railed composite deck built onto a Main Line stone house, with new footings and regraded lawn below.
Composite deck and rail on a stone house: footings, framing and the regrade underneath.

How we think about it

Most of what decides whether a deck lasts is underground. Footings have to go below frost depth and bear on undisturbed soil, not on the fill that got pushed around the last time something was built. The posts sit on the footings, the beam sits on the posts, the joists carry the rest — so anything that settles down there comes back up as a bounce underfoot or a rail that is no longer level. On a stone house the attachment is its own question: how the frame ties in, or whether it stands free on its own posts and never touches the wall at all.

A fence is the same argument at a different angle. Ground that rolls gives you two choices. Rack the rails so the fence follows the grade in one continuous line, or step the sections down and accept the wedges of daylight underneath. Which is right depends on the slope, the style of fence and where the gates land, because a gate has to keep swinging clear through a wet spring. We set the posts, we regrade where the line needs it, and we plant back what gets opened up. That last part is what a deck builder or a fence crew normally leaves for somebody else to sort out.

What this covers

  • Footings and framing

    Footings dug below frost depth to undisturbed soil, then posts, beams and joists sized for the span they are actually carrying.

  • Decking, rail and stairs

    Composite, pressure-treated or cedar surfaces, rail built to be leaned on, and stairs that land on something solid at grade.

  • The ground under the deck

    Grading and drainage under and around the frame so water leaves, and a finished treatment for the shaded strip underneath.

  • Fence set to the grade

    Fence installation on ground that moves: lines racked to follow the slope, or stepped where stepping is the honest answer.

  • Gates and property-line fence

    Gates hung to swing clear year round; privacy and boundary fence set where the line runs, not where it looks like it runs.

  • Exterior carpentry repairs

    Soft stair treads, rotted rail posts, skirting and trim, and the fence run that came down with a limb.

Decks, fences and exterior carpentry across Penn Valley, Merion Station, Wynnewood, Bala Cynwyd, Ardmore and Narberth. Estimates are free and written.

Questions we get asked

  • What happens to the ground under a new deck?

    It gets worse before it gets better if nobody plans for it. Digging footings brings subsoil to the surface, the frame shades out whatever was growing, and roof water and deck water land in the same strip. We grade that ground to fall away from the house before framing starts, then finish the edge afterward — stone, shade planting or lawn, depending on how much light still reaches it.

  • Can a fence follow a slope instead of stepping down it?

    Often, yes. Many styles will rack, meaning the rails pivot at the posts so each section sits as a parallelogram and the top line runs parallel to the ground. Board fence built on site follows grade easily. Prebuilt panels usually will not, so those get stepped and the gaps underneath get dealt with. The call gets made in the field with a string line, because a slope is rarely as even as it looks from the driveway.

Also

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Free, written down, answered in one to two business days. Or call Rathana on 215-803-7742.