Category Archives: Our Projects

Adding a deck, patio or four-season room to a residential home are all very common projects. But did you know that you can also add a porch?

Detached porches are yet another solution when you’re thinking about adding both value and efficiency to your home. Think about it: how many of your neighbors have a detached porch? Why not start a trend in your neighborhood by letting Outdoor Environments build one for you?

With a detached porch, you’ll enjoy the best of both worlds. Not only will you take pleasure in viewing your beautiful garden, but you can do so from the comfort and privacy of a completely enclosed structure. Detached porches are perfect for enjoying beauty of the outdoors without suffering from the unbearable and even dangerous heat. Best of all, you can decorate a porch just as beautifully as you would a room inside your home.

Here are some examples of detached porches we have constructed:

To discuss the possibility of adding a detached porch to the exterior of your home, contact Outdoor Environments today!

Grills are the perfect accessory for any outdoor living space. But when safety is a factor, you need to put in place every preventive measure you can think of. If your grill rolls around on wheels, it may be time to consider an outdoor grill enclosure. With a custom built enclosure, your grill remains safely in one place, minimizing the dangers that can arise when children, pets or large crowds are in the vicinity.

Grill enclosures are also a great investment because they’re built with all the storage you need to keep up with all your grilling utensils and ingredients. With a rolling grill, it can be difficult to keep up with all of your grilling tools and must-haves. Plus, there’s no need to worry about lugging everything back inside the house – your clean utensils can be stored right inside your new grill enclosure!

Here are some examples of grill enclosures built and installed by Outdoor Environments:

Call Outdoor Environments in Overland Park, KS at 913-897-2706 for more information about our custom grill enclosures.

At Outdoor Environments, we have been creating outdoor living rooms for Kansas City homeowners since 1991! We often add entirely new decks, sunrooms, screened in patios, and gazebos for our customers, but we also perform another vital service- remodeling or replacing old or badly designed decks to better suit the architecture and flow of the house. There are plenty of less-than-desirable decks out there, but you don’t have to resign yourself to living with a badly designed outdoor living area!

Take a look at one of our deck remodeling projects, below.

Before

This was a beautiful, spacious house and yard, but the deck seemed like a last-minute addition that did not relate to the scale or materials of the house at all. In fact, the tiny deck was basically just a landing for the strangely large and prominent staircase. There were not many entertaining or leisure opportunities on that staircase, to be sure!

After

As you can see in the “after” photo, Outdoor Environments created a deck that relates to the architecture of the home and simultaneously creates much more space for outdoor dining and relaxing. The homeowners now have the perfect party deck, and the back of the home looks much more intentional and complete.

If you would like to add or remodel a deck on your Kansas City area home, contact Outdoor Environments today!

If there’s any question about whether your deck is safe, you should be calling Outdoor Environments. Our experience with building and remodeling decks in the metro Kansas City area is unparalleled. But if you’re curious about what constitutes a safe deck, the North American Deck and Railing Association (NADRA) has the answer. Take a look at this industry trusted checklist used by professional deck builders to measure and grade the condition of an existing deck.

1. Ledger connection – Fastener type and spacing, signs of rust/corrosion, etc.
2. Posts/footings – Post size, visible signs of rot or cracks, foundation type, etc.
3. Post-to-beam connection – Beam size, post notch, location of girders, etc.
4. Joists and joist connections – Condition of joist hangers, acceptable nails, etc.
5. Stairs – Stair run and stringers
6. Deck boards – Exposure of nails and screws, fastener type, spacing of joists, etc.
7. Handrail assemblies and guards – Guardrail height and grip, signs of corrosion or rust, etc.
8. Miscellaneous features such as rust, corrosion, bolts, fasteners, etc.

You may not understand the industry lingo, but Outdoor Environments does. Call us at 913-897-2706 if your deck is in need of repairs remodeling.

Deck and four-season room performed by Outdoor Environments

Outdoor Environments is experienced with creating custom three and four-season room additions in the Overland Park and Kansas City areas. But many people are not clear about what the difference is between the two. Here’s a quick lesson:

Three-season rooms or porches

• Can be used for up to three seasons in a year, usually spring, summer and fall
• Insulation is common, but they’re not meant to be heated during the winter
• Serves as a comfortable area that’s not really inside or outside
• Uses can include exercising, reading or relaxing with a spa or hot tub

Example of three-season room by Outdoor Environments:

Four-season rooms

• Can be used year-round, regardless of season or weather conditions
• Provide extra benefits for the extreme Midwestern winters
• Can be heated and/or cooled just like any other room in the house
• Usually portray the same architectural style as the rest of the house

Example of four-season room by Outdoor Environments:

So the choice is up to you. Which type of outdoor room do you think would best suit your needs? Leave a comment and let us know!

We’ve talked a lot about the benefits of building a four-season room, especially so you can enjoy the outdoors during the cooler winter months. Today we wanted to show you the work that goes into building a four-season room– Outdoor Environments’ style.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

Here we are framing the four-season room and installing the roof for our clients.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

Now onto the interior gable vault framing for the room.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

Adding the finishing touches to the exterior of the room.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

An interior shot of new four-season room. The door replaced an existing window.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

The finished vaulted ceiling.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

The four-season room was a great addition to our client’s existing home. If you’d like to add on to your home and live in either Kansas or Missouri then give Outdoor Environments a call at 913.897.2706.

You’ve probably haven’t had a chance to enjoy your outdoor living space since the weather has turned colder in Kansas, but you can always plan ahead and make the necessary arrangements to ensure that you have your own private oasis come spring time. At Outdoor Environments we can create for you the perfect porch, deck, 3 or 4-season room, arbor, outdoor kitchen area, spa enclosure and more.

Give us a call at 913-897-2706 or visit us online at OutdoorEnvironments.com to learn how you can get the outdoor living space you always dreamed of.

See photos of some of our work below.

Outdoor Environments

Outdoor Environments

Outdoor Environments

With the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on Sunday, November 7^th, 2010 at 2 a.m. comes two things– an extra hour of sleep and it gets dark a lot earlier. The first thing is a definite bonus, the second not so much. With the shorter daylight hours comes the desire to spend more time indoors. At Outdoor Environments we want to help you spend more time outdoors all year round. With our four-season additions we can help you enjoy nature from the comfort of an enclosed space. Whether you are looking to build a sunroom, conservatory or a screened in porch a four-season room can add value to your home.

Below are four-season rooms that we have created for our clients.

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

Outdoor Environments Four-Season Room

For more information on ways to extend your time outdoors this season sign up to receive our posts in your email. Just enter your email address to the right of this post.

At Outdoor Environments we work with all types of materials when building outdoor living spaces for our clients. One option that we offer our clients is Trex, the country’s largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking, railing and fencing products. Trex products not only offer superior durability, but it helps eliminate plastic waste. Trex uses over a million pounds of recycled and reclaimed plastic and waste wood each year when creating their products. Trex alone recycles over 1.3 billion grocery bags annually.

If you decide to use Trex products for your outdoor environment you can relax in knowing that your deck won’t rot, warp or splinter. You can even rejoice in knowing that staining and painting the surface is no longer necessary, the product holds on to its great look.

Click here to see how we used Trex on this deck.

To learn more about Trex please give us a call at 913-897-2706.

We have reached the end of our “Backyard Oasis” series of posts. We enjoyed working on this project and we are very pleased with its outcome.

Please give us a call at 913-897-2706 if you’d like Outdoor Environments to create your next outdoor living space.