A canyon town at 6,900 feet
Kittredge is a small Bear Creek canyon community on Highway 74 between Evergreen and Idledale — about 1,300 people at roughly 6,900 feet. The townsite holds 1920s-to-70s cabins and cottages on tight creekside lots, and newer homes climb the side gulches toward Myers Gulch and Rainbow Hill. Heavy tree cover and canyon shade define the place: a deck here spends much of the winter out of direct sun, so snow lingers, moisture lingers, and wood finishes give up early.
Permits go through Jefferson County Building Safety
Kittredge is unincorporated, so Jefferson County Building Safety at 100 Jefferson County Parkway in Golden issues every deck permit, with applications and inspection requests handled through the county's CitizenPortal. Since July 1, 2026, the county's Wildfire Resiliency Code also applies to permits in unincorporated Jeffco. On parcels inside the mapped WUI overlay, deck surfaces must be noncombustible and the framing must limit ignition, and the rule reaches exterior alterations such as deck replacements and additions, not just new homes. Our Jefferson County page covers the county-wide picture.
The snow-load number for Kittredge
Jefferson County sets snow load by elevation. Below 6,500 feet the county table starts at 43 psf ground snow; at 7,000 feet it is 54 psf. Kittredge sits between, which puts most parcels around 51–54 psf — meaningfully more than a Denver deck carries, and the figure that sizes every beam and post under a covered deck or patio cover. Frost depth is 36 inches, wind is designed at 129 mph in Exposure B, and the county classes weathering as severe. In practice that means footings dug to the frost line, hardware rated for freeze-thaw, and a structure that carries wet spring snow without a second thought.
What we build in the canyon
Tight creekside lots reward decks that use the footprint well — elevated platforms over grade, stairs tucked where the lot allows, and railing that keeps the creek and the trees in view instead of caging them. On WUI-mapped parcels capped composite is the code-aligned surface, and it is what we would recommend here regardless: it does not demand the refinishing schedule that canyon shade and altitude UV impose on softwood. Where a parcel sits outside the overlay and a homeowner wants real wood, our hardwood and cedar work uses the same fire-aware framing habits — screened bays, undersides kept clear of stored fuel.
Cabin-era decks, honestly assessed
Many Kittredge decks were added to cabins decades ago, with hardware and snow assumptions the county no longer accepts. We inspect the frame before quoting anything. Sound framing gets a re-deck at $20–$35 per square foot over the existing structure; framing that has finished its service life gets a replacement plan, which on mapped parcels must meet the noncombustible surface requirement anyway. Either answer comes in writing, and our free structural inspection covers the ledger, posts, and footings.
Forty-five minutes up Bear Creek
From our shop in Centennial, Kittredge is about forty-five minutes — up through Morrison and the canyon past Idledale, just short of Evergreen. We batch canyon site visits and schedule mountain builds around the snow calendar. Run the cost calculator for a planning range, then tell us what you are planning and we will bring the WUI map answer for your parcel.