Homeowner Concerns When Building a Deck

Design

• Selecting an attractive and easy-to-build design for your home's deck that is also within your budget is one of the first steps to deck planning. The most common locations for decks are directly outside kitchen or dining areas. Homeowners lacking confidence in deck design skills may find it easier to consult with a professional deck builder for recommendations about the size and style of deck best for their home and space. Alternatively, current home improvement books about decks and outdoor structures are good sources of design inspiration.

Building Codes

• Homeowners who plan to build their own decks should find out about their local zoning and building codes to avoid costly mistakes and fines. Building codes help ensure health and safety of building and property occupants, and apply to areas and structures outside a building as well as inside, such as driveways, fences, outdoor lampposts and stairs and decks. In addition to building codes, local zoning ordinances may dictate what and how you can build outside your home on your property. Since digging is usually involved to insert posts and footings, contact local utilities to ensure the area to be dug up is not over buried cables or utility lines.

Footings and Foundation

• The deck's footings and foundation framing are some of the most important features to install properly. Footings -- poured cement bases in the ground into which the posts that hold up the deck are inserted -- must be level, the same depth and deep enough to safely support the deck structure. They are one of the first tasks undertaken while building a deck, after affixing a ledger, or support beam to attach decking to the house. When footings and main posts are in place, the foundation framing is built around them for the central platform of the deck. Homeowner concerns about footings and foundation include attaching the ledger properly to be able to support the deck without damage to the building exterior, the local freezing depth of soil the footings will be in and the type of hardware to affix deck components.

Tools and Materials

• The tools and materials needed to build a deck are a significant consideration if you plan to do the work yourself. Renting or borrowing tools such as band saws and power drills may be a better idea than buying large power tools that you won't use much after the project. Basic tools such as hammers, sanders, levels and tape measures are a smaller investment and will be useful to have on hand after finishing the deck. Homeowners have a wide range of materials from which to choose to build their decks, including cedar, treated lumber and recycled plastic lumber, with different maintenance requirements over the life of the deck.