The Best Deck Designs

Make Use of Space

• The best deck designs make use of odd space, like that between a U-shaped area of your home. Homes created with this small area often limit its use to an outdoor shrub or an extra indoor closet. Decks that make use of unique space can save the homeowner money, which is often part of the deck design considerations. Try making it an outdoor shower area. The open sky and simple shower floor of 2-by-6-inch redwood -- spaced enough to allow for water drainage -- limits expense and brings the outdoors inside and provides a great space for houseplants as well as an shower.

Address Needs

• Deck designs that address homeowner needs are the best deck designs. Using small ground space between your house and the garage for a deck means you limit deck project costs while meeting a family need for a child's playroom. You just add flooring and two wall ends, reducing fancy rail expense or potential falls from a higher level deck as well. A play deck design minimizes stranger danger or grab-and-go crimes, too, and helps moms keep tabs on children better, such as through open French doors leading from the home to the area. This can be an inexpensive way to provide children with an outdoor deck while keeping the rest of the house neat. Just shut the door and draw the curtains when guests come and you won't even have to keep it picked up.

Assess Site

• The best deck designs assess the site first. Your home could have underground cables or pipes that prohibit digging deep enough to accommodate posts and cement at the needed levels for the deck design chosen. Assessment of your site before implementing the design could prohibit a costly mistake of digging without knowing this, according to Ideas for Deck Designs. Site assessment will determine if your anticipated deck design would violate governmental regulations, especially regarding how close you can build to neighboring properties, as well as what type of deck will give you the most privacy and space for your particular home location and landscape size.

Consider Details

• After assessing your deck options and legal restrictions, the best deck design will reflect the careful attention to detail that will ultimately impact your deck use: stair location and access feasibility, foot traffic use, height above the grade, surrounding architecture and the amount of privacy afforded.