Poured concrete circular driveway curving around a planted island at a two story home, Atlanta, Georgia
Cobb County
Deck Builder in Acworth, GA
Two lakes inside one city boundary. Acworth is a strong screened porch market.
About 37 minutes, 29.7 road miles by Poplar Springs Road onto I-75.
A lake town under thirty miles out
22,473 people in 9,362 homes, 5,321 of them owner occupied, and 29.7 road miles from the shop. Acworth is the closest of the Cobb County towns we cover, by a comfortable margin, which makes it the one where a look at a yard is easy to arrange.
Half of Acworth went up before 2000, and its decks are twenty-five
Half of Acworth was built before 2000. That's the age at which a pressure treated deck has taken enough sun and enough wet to have made up its mind: either it was sealed regularly and it's fine, or it wasn't and the boards are cupping and splitting at the ends. Cleaning, staining and sealing is the cheap fork in that road. Building new is the other one.
Fence lines around 9,362 homes
Acworth has 9,362 homes, fewer than most of the Cobb towns we work in, and what that means for fence runs and gate counts is set out on the Acworth fence page, with the material comparison on the fence company page.
59.8 percent owner occupied
Just under six in ten occupied Acworth homes are owner occupied, right at the middle of the range. What tilts the pergola and patio cover case here is not the ownership number, it's the water: a shaded structure with a view of a lake gets used far more than a shaded structure looking at a fence, and Acworth has plenty of the former.
Allatoona Lake and Lake Acworth, both inside the line
Two named lakes sit inside the Acworth city line. Still water at that scale sets insect pressure for the whole town, not just the shoreline, and it's the entire reason a porch gets screened, not left open. The screened porch page compares screen, screen under a roof, and going to glass, which is the decision most lakeside houses end up having.
210 feet, and the lots that fall to the water
Acworth runs 838 to 1,048 feet, a spread of 210 feet, and most of it is gentle. Lakeside lots are the exception: they fall toward the water, sometimes steeply, and that's where a retaining wall earns its money by holding a level terrace between the house and the drop.
Butler Creek, John Henry Creek, Proctor Creek
Four named streams cross the boundary and all of them are headed for the lake. That makes drainage unusually legible in Acworth: you can generally tell which way a yard sheds by looking at it. Patios, walkways and steps get built to that fall, not against it.
Fire pits by the water
Lakeside seating and a fire pit compete for the same flat spot, and sorting that out happens in person. The build is hardscape, with layouts in the fire pit guide.
The rest of the Cobb County work
Acworth is one of six Cobb County towns we build in. Work we have already finished is on the gallery.
Further reading
Our work
Jobs from around northwest Georgia
Wide entry steps and landing in fresh timber, with cable railing, meeting the flagstone path at a cabin door, Blue Ridge, Georgia
New timber railing installed along a long stained deck overlooking open water, Cartersville, Georgia
Evening view of the extended deck above the new covered space, Cumming, Georgia
New elevated deck with railings and a long stair run to grade, Dacula, Georgia
Screen it, roof it, or glass it in?
Screen keeps the airflow and loses the rain protection. A roof over the screen adds shade and keeps furniture dry. Glass gives you months at each end of the year and takes the breeze away. Near the lake most people end up at the middle option.
Does the lake change how a deck should be built?
It changes how often it needs sealing and how much the boards move, because the humidity near still water is higher than a few miles inland.
Nearby
Other towns we cover
Acworth porch or deck to build?
Under thirty road miles, and the lake decides half the design. Call and talk it through.