From Postwar Patio to Outdoor Room: Deck Builders for Mid-Island Nassau

Most backyards between Hicksville and Syosset were finished sometime around 1955 - and plenty of them still look it. A concrete slab off the back door, a rectangle of lawn, maybe a pressure-treated deck added in the eighties that has been graying ever since. The houses themselves have been renovated two and three times over: dormers, extensions, new kitchens. The backyard is the last unrenovated room. Long Island Deck Company - a Decks Unique company with 39 years of deck-building experience - spends a lot of time in this stretch of Nassau County removing what the postwar builders left behind and building the outdoor space these yards were always capable of holding.

The Before: What the Postwar Builders Left You

When Levitt & Sons put up thousands of capes and ranches between 1947 and 1951, the backyard treatment was simple and identical: a small poured-concrete patio and grass. The same formula spread through Hicksville, Bethpage, and Plainview as those communities filled in through the fifties and sixties. It was fine for a charcoal grill and two folding chairs - the backyard was an afterthought to the affordable house in front of it.

Seventy-plus years later, those slabs have cracked, settled unevenly, and in many yards pitched back toward the foundation - the opposite of where you want water going. The first generation of wood decks that replaced some of them in the eighties and nineties is in similar shape: boards cupped and splintered, railings loose, framing built from wet pressure-treated lumber that twisted as it dried. Neither matches a house that has since gained a second story and a brand-new kitchen - and that mismatch drives most of the calls we get from this part of Nassau.

The After: What Mid-Island Homeowners Are Building Instead

The replacement we build most often here is a low or grade-level composite deck that takes the old slab's footprint and outgrows it - set level with the back door instead of a step down to cracked concrete, sized for a real dining table plus a lounge corner, with picture-framed borders, hidden fasteners, and low-voltage lighting in the stair risers and post caps. On the high-ranches and splits common in Plainview and Hicksville, that often becomes a two-level design: a main deck off the kitchen and a few wide steps down to the yard. Once design and approvals are settled, most decks are built in just one to two days.

The Syosset–Jericho–Woodbury Tier

At the northern edge of the area, the same before-and-after story plays out at a different scale. In Syosset, Jericho, Woodbury, and Muttontown, projects tend toward full outdoor rooms: multi-level composite or PVC decks, motorized louvered pergolas, glass or cable railings, and layouts pre-planned for an outdoor kitchen. These are builds our custom deck design team develops from a blank survey rather than a catalog drawing, for owners weighing details like transferable warranties and long-term value.

Choosing the Replacement: Composite, PVC, or Wood

For a replace-it-once renovation, most mid-island homeowners land on composite or PVC - Trex, TimberTech, or Azek. The boards keep their color without staining, shrug off the freeze–thaw cycles that destroyed the original slab, and carry manufacturer fade-and-stain warranties running roughly 25 to 50 years depending on the line. As a Trex Platinum installer, we can add a 10-year labor warranty from Trex on eligible Signature and Transcend projects; we hold TimberTech Pro status as well. Our composite deck builders page walks through the specific lines we install.

We still build natural wood decks - cedar, mahogany, and pressure-treated - backed by a lifetime decay guarantee on properly constructed wood decks. But we're honest about the trade: wood means a cleaning, sealing, and staining schedule for as long as you own it. If you just removed a maintenance headache, think carefully before installing a new one.

KDAT Framing: Fixing the Mistake the First Deck Made

The eighties and nineties decks failing across Levittown and Bethpage today mostly failed from the frame out - ordinary pressure-treated lumber goes in wet, then shrinks, twists, and opens up joints as it dries in your backyard. We frame with KDAT lumber instead: kiln-dried after treatment, so it arrives at a stable moisture level and stays straight. It also comes pre-stained a clean brown, which matters on raised decks where the underside shows. Decks Unique is the only decking company on Long Island offering KDAT framing, and it carries a limited lifetime transferable warranty - on top of the lifetime workmanship guarantee that backs every project we build.

The Pergola: What the Slab Never Had

The classic postwar patio bakes in full sun from noon on, which is a big reason so many of them sit unused. A fixed pergola solves it - defining the dining area, breaking up the sun, and giving lighting and ceiling fans something to hang from. Motorized louvered pergolas go further: rotate the slats open for morning sun, tilt them for filtered light at lunch, and close them tight when a shower moves through - the cookout keeps going. They're the most requested upgrade in the Syosset–Woodbury corridor, and demand is just as strong out west toward Searingtown and North Hills. We build pergolas integrated into new decks, with posts engineered into the framing, or freestanding over an existing deck or patio - see the range on our pergolas and outdoor structures page.

Resurfacing: When Your Deck Is Half Right Already

Not every aging deck needs demolition. Plenty built in the nineties and 2000s - especially in Plainview and Old Bethpage - have framing that's still structurally sound under a surface that's splintered and gray. In that case, resurfacing is the smarter renovation: we strip the old deck boards and railings, inspect and reinforce the frame, bring connections up to current standards, and install new composite decking, railings, and lighting on the existing structure. You get what looks and feels like a new deck at a meaningfully lower cost, and faster, because the footings are already in the ground. The honest caveat: it only makes sense over a healthy frame. We inspect first, and if the structure isn't worth keeping, we'll say so and price both paths.

Communities We Serve in Mid-Island Nassau

These hamlets share a postwar backbone but read very differently street to street. We build in all of them:

• Hicksville - the crossroads of the area, where capes and splits on compact lots get one hardworking deck that has to do everything.
• Levittown - the place that invented this kind of suburb, where original 1947–1951 capes and ranches have been expanded for decades and the builder-issue slab patios are finally coming out.
• Bethpage - tidy mid-block yards a short hop from Bethpage State Park, where low composite decks with picture-framed borders suit the scale of the lots.
• Old Bethpage - quieter streets and slightly deeper properties just to the east, with a steady run of resurfacing projects on nineties-era decks.
• Plainview - fifties and sixties splits and ranches in a full renovation wave; the kitchen was phase one, the backyard is phase two.
• Syosset - larger colonials and newer builds where the project brief is usually a complete outdoor room: deck, pergola, lighting, and railings designed together.
• Jericho - premium composite and PVC projects on well-kept properties between the Northern State and the LIE.
• Woodbury - deep, wooded lots where decks and freestanding pergolas get scaled up to match the property.
• Muttontown - estate parcels where outdoor structures are designed to acreage, not to a template.
• Searingtown and North Hills - the western edge of our mid-island coverage, where pergola and patio-conversion requests have been especially strong.

See the After Before You Commit: Our Commack Showroom

The fastest way to understand the before-and-after is to stand on the "after." Our showroom at 119 Commack Road in Commack - a straight run east on the LIE or Northern State from anywhere in this area - has full-size deck displays, railing systems you can lean on, and pergolas you can actually operate. Bring a photo of the slab or your survey, sit with a designer, and leave with a real plan. Or request a free design consultation - we'll come to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you build pergolas in Albertson, Searingtown, and North Hills?

Yes. Those communities sit at the western edge of our mid-island coverage, and pergolas are among our most requested projects there - fixed designs over existing patios as well as motorized louvered systems that open, tilt, and close at the touch of a button. Every pergola we build is engineered and anchored for wind, and you can operate display models at our Commack showroom before you decide.

Do you install composite decking in Williston Park?

We do. Williston Park's compact village lots are a great fit for grade-level composite decks that replace a worn patio without overwhelming the yard, and for resurfacing projects that put new Trex or TimberTech decking on a sound existing frame. We're Trex Platinum and TimberTech Pro certified.

We still have the original Levittown-era patio. What does replacing it involve?

A typical conversion starts with breaking out and removing the old slab, then setting new footings below the frost line. From there we frame in KDAT lumber and install the decking, railings, and lighting you've chosen. If a permit is required, we guide the process with the building department from drawings to sign-off. Once construction starts, most decks are completed in one to two days.

Is composite or wood the better choice for a backyard renovation?

For most renovations, composite or PVC wins on the math: higher cost up front, but no staining or sealing, better stability through freeze–thaw winters, and fade-and-stain warranties running roughly 25 to 50 years by product line. Wood costs less initially and has a warmth some homeowners love, but it commits you to a recurring maintenance schedule. If the goal of the renovation is to stop maintaining your backyard and start using it, composite is usually the answer.

Will I need a permit to replace a patio with a deck in this part of Nassau?

In many cases, yes - a new deck is a structure in a way a patio wasn't, and the towns that cover this area (Oyster Bay for most of it, Hempstead for Levittown, North Hempstead along the western edge) each have their own requirements, as do some incorporated villages. We'll confirm what your specific property needs, prepare the drawings, and guide the process through final inspection so you're not chasing paperwork.

If your backyard still looks like 1955 - or like 1988 - it's ready for the same transformation happening across this part of Nassau. Call (516) 689-7800 or (631) 623-9300, or stop by the Commack showroom, and let's plan the after.