The Magnolia Underdeck System: A Complete Guide from Its Minnesota & Wisconsin Installer
We get two kinds of potential customers who end up at this page. Some of you found Magnolia's name in your research and want to know more. The rest got a quote from us and want to find out about the system you're actually buying into. This guide is for both of you.
The short of it: the Magnolia Underdecking is a premium roll-formed aluminum underdeck system. It hangs below your deck's joists, catches every drop of water that comes through the deck boards, carries it to an integrated gutter, and looks like a finished porch ceiling while doing it. We've installed it exclusively since 2018. More than 425 decks later, we have yet to find a single reason to switch.
Who Makes Magnolia Underdecking?
Fair question, since the brand doesn't advertise nationally. Magnolia Underdecks is a manufacturer in Calhoun, Georgia that's been building underdeck systems since 2003. They make their own components right here in the US, from the .027-gauge recycled aluminum panels down to the seamless gutters, and they sell through trusted dealers and installers instead of on retail shelves. That's why you won't find Magnolia at a home store next to the vinyl kits, and it's also why the company's web presence is smaller than brands like Trex: they focus on building a quality product, installers like us do the talking.
Twenty-plus years of making one product is its own kind of credential. So is this: the latching system that allows every Magnolia panel to be individually removable is their own patent! We'll come back to that, because it's a feature you're going to care a lot about after 10 or so years of having an underdeck.
Why Aluminum, and Why This Aluminum?
When you take into account all of the DIY installs and big box kits out there, it isn't much of a surprise that most underdeck ceilings are made of vinyl. And vinyl is fine...until Minnesota happens to it. Cold makes it brittle, sun makes it sag, and the easy snap-together joints that keep it nice and cheap are the first thing to give up.
On the other hand, Magnolia Underdecking panels are .027-gauge roll-formed aluminum, 10 and 5/8 inches wide, custom-formed to Magnolia's specs with an interlocking profile.
The problems that vinyl has just don't apply. Metal doesn't get brittle at 20 below. It barely grows or shrinks at any temperature across our 130-degree annual temperature swing. And it certainly holds its pitch under a load of wet snowmelt instead of bowing between attachment points.
The finish is a factory baked-on coating in 28 colors, from the whites and creams most people pick to more unique colors like bronzes, blues and greens. Plus it cleans up easily with a hose.
The Parts of the System
A Magnolia install isn't just a stack of ceiling panels. Here's what you're buying:
First, the attachment system: a Magnolia Underdeck can be mounted to your deck in two different ways: suspended, hanging 3.5 inches below the joists with color-matched aluminum closing off the sides, or surface mounted, attached to a finished 12-inch drop beam built around the deck's open edges (what we call the "tray vault" look). Most of our customers choose the second option, as this is the version that allows for screens later. We have a great article on both, and how to choose between the two. Either way, the system establishes its own pitch, 1/8 inch per foot on the panels and another 1/16 inch per foot in the gutter. Water doesn't forgive a flat spot, and this is where trained installation keeps your system running smoothly for years to come.
Interlocking, individually removable panels span the space and carry water toward the low edge. The panel latch system, which is the patented part of Magnolia's design, supports long runs (panels over nine feet get a latch board secured across the joists mid-span). It also lets each panel come out on its own after installation. That means the space above your ceiling stays accessible for the life of the deck. Need to run new wiring in year eight, chase a mystery drip, or retrieve whatever a squirrel dragged up there? One panel comes down, the problem gets solved, and the panel goes back. With trough systems buried under deck boards, and with most vinyl ceilings, that kind of access means damage. Magnolia came up with a great solution to this problem, and it's one of the many reasons we picked them.
Our integrated gutters, which blend perfectly into the edge of your underdeck panels without standing out. These gutters run along the low edge(s) of your underdeck, pitched at 1/16 inch per foot, and take all of the water your system catches to...
Downspouts and overflow boxes. We install one 3x4 downspout with an overflow box for every 250 to 300 square feet of underdeck your deck will need.
Trim and closure pieces finish the edges and make the ceiling look attractive instead of just functional.
What Underdecking Fixes
Everything (and everyone) under an unprotected deck has the same problem: it gets wet. But with a new underdeck system in, the soggy space below your deck becomes real outdoor square footage. Your patio furniture stays dry, and your walkout becomes a comfortable hangout, rain or shine. If you want to see what people have done with their newly claimed space, our enclosed spaces gallery has a ton of photos to look at, most of them from suburbs you'd recognize.
Underdecking also quietly solves smaller problems: no more drips on the walkout slider, no more streaky staining on the patio below, and most of all, no more birds nesting in your deck joists!
What Will It Cost?
We publish our pricing because guessing games waste everyone's time. Installed, the system runs in the high $30s per square foot, and a typical project lands between $6,000 and $25,000 depending on the size of the deck and what you add to it. Our cost calculator gives you a real number for your dimensions, including options, in about two minutes.
Is that more than vinyl? For sure. But our case for aluminum underdecking can be summarized simply: we spend a good portion of our time in the field tearing out other companies' failed vinyl ceilings, and nobody has ever hired us to tear out a Magnolia.
Can a Different Contractor Install Magnolia Underdecking?
Magnolia sells through installers rather than on big-box store shelves, and Underdeck Essentials is the authorized territory installer for Minnesota and Wisconsin. Magnolia runs things that way to maintain quality control over how their product goes in, and that matters for one practical reason. Any underdeck is only as good as its pitch, its seams, and its flashing. Those depend on the installation just as much as the quality of the product!
It also means accountability is simple. The company that sold you the ceiling is the company that hung it, and the phone number for both is 612-720-0330.
Frequently Asked Questions
If You're Looking To Fix How Your Deck Handles Water, We're Here To Help!
Whether you've been researching underdeck systems for a while, or are just starting out, we're here to help.
Call 612-720-0330 or request an estimate, and we'll get your deck looked at. We can break down exactly what your deck needs to be fully waterproofed, and give you an even more in-depth look at the Magnolia underdeck system.