Thinking of adding an outdoor wooden deck to your new home? You’re certainly not alone. Outdoor wooden Decks are America’s most popular do-it-yourself home improvement project.

What is it about outdoor wooden decks that appeal to American homeowners? Being off the ground, away from grass and bugs? Americans like to have a place for the barbecue grill that’s convenient to the house, comfortable and removed from the lawn. Plus, decks are a favorite spot for sunning and outdoor entertaining.  Outdoor kitchens are the latest must have addition for deck and patio owners

About 1.5 million decks are built or remodeled each year, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The average life of a typical outdoor can be expanded to many years with proper care.   Outdoor wooden Decks are not only found in the Sun Belt and the West, where they can be used year-round, but also in northern states where they can be used for just a few months a year.

In a recent survey conducted by NAHB on consumer preferences, 83 percent of potential new home buyers surveyed said they would like their new home to have a wooden deck off the back of the house, including 29 percent who said a deck was “essential.” Just 4 percent said they did not want a deck.

Outdoor decks are offered as an option by home builders on most new homes. Typically, they’re a standard item only in luxury homes.

According to NAHB, when people buy a new home, one of the first projects they want to undertake is adding a deck. About one-third of new homeowners consider themselves handy enough to tackle the job themselves, the other two-thirds have the deck built professionally. .

Over the past couple of decades, the design of decks has changed significantly. Outdoor decks were a simple rectangle or square with no extras. Today’s decks come in all shapes and sizes and typically include benches, planter boxes and posts for hanging baskets of flowers.

Most wooden decks are built off the rear of the house. However, there is an emerging trend of putting the deck in the front of the home, especially by homeowners who live on culde-sacs. In the front of the house, the deck acts more like a front porch.

With all of the advantages and conveniences offered by a deck, and the fact that help is as close as the yellow pages of your telephone book, it’s no surprise that wooden decks are one of homeowners’ most desired amenities.

A deck forms a sort of halfway house between indoors and out, a perch where you can sip your coffee and enjoy the birds or the garden–without having to remove your slippers. Very few home improvement projects give you more pleasure for your buck.

There are two keys to a long-lasting deck: It must be structurally sound, and it must be designed so that it drains water. Both issues are matters of proper construction methods. Even if you’re hiring a builder to do the job, understanding proper deck construction will make you a wiser consumer.

Specialty outdoor wooden decks may be built for such things as a swimming pool, above ground swimming pool, hot tubs, multi-level decks.  The cardinal rule is to have the outdoor wooden deck blend with the current surroundings.  This was a lesson in architecture that was introduced by Frank Lloyd Wright.  In other words, if you live in Tennessee, consider having a deck built with a rustic theme.  If you are surrounded by pine trees, consider using treated pine as your deck material.  If you live on a lake or fishing stream, take advantage of the view.  

Designing a deck for an older home can be a real challenge. While decks often look natural on homes built after World War II, such as ranches and split-levels, they are often an awkward fit for Victorian, Tudor, and Spanish-style homes. Even early Colonials, Colonial revivals of the 1920s and 30s, and cape cods can be overpowered visually by a deck if it’s not carefully designed. In such cases, architects often keep decks unobtrusive and low to the ground, often eliminating the need for railings. Another approach is to choose a porch-like design for your deck.

New tongue-and-groove synthetic decking looks like the nar­row wood planks often used for porch floors, but it can withstand the elements with little maintenance. It’s particularly important with pe­riod homes to keep the deck in the scale of the house. Some designers suggest that the deck shouldn’t be bigger than the biggest room in the house.

Finally, work hard to integrate architectural elements from the house into the deck. Borrow from the profiles of existing columns when choosing balusters; pick up fluting details from columns, and use them on deck posts; mimic the width of fascias and pilasters. Look to your home’s water table (boards installed below siding on some older homes) for ideas on how to trim out the perimeter of your deck.

Custom Deck Guardrails for Older Homes

If your home is architecturally distinctive, consider installing a custom guardrail that echoes an existing architectural element, such as flared siding or existing work, and if your house’s architecture is not unusual, you may want to consider a custom guardrail. For example, ranches really have a horizontal look that merges well with garages and landscaping. To retain this quality, you may choose a solid guardrail or one with an open grid rather n using the traditional vertical balusters. Wrought iron steel balustrades with serpentine, curved, or concentric designs can be just the touch to dress up a raised ranch. Keep in mind that custom work will add to the job’s cost. Working through a local fabricator or mill to cut or bend repetitive components may be cheaper (and better) than cutting materials on site.

Railing Kits and Systems

Nowadays, handrail and guardrail systems are a great way to add panache to what would otherwise be an ordinary deck. Manufacturers—particularly those of synthetic deck­ing materials—have responded to consumers’ growing de­sire for distinctive railings by creating easy-to-install railing kits. Some systems are as simple as a stack of bowed-steel balusters and a spacing tool to ease installation. Others offer preassembled balustrade panels that you cut to length and snap between specially extruded rails. Some builders mix and match, using preassembled balustrade sections set into conventionally framed wood posts and rails. For a lighter, contemporary look—and one that’s less likely to block your view—consider guardrails made with stainless-steel cable or rods, tempered glass, or aluminum. Make sure they meet building codes in your area before you make your purchase.

Skirts and Skirting

Skirt or fascia boards are typically 1-inch-wide trim pieces that may be used to hide rough framing, such as header joists. You can paint them to match your house trim or finish them to match the decking or railings. Run skirt boards under overhanging deck boards, or cover decking edges and ends for a flush look. They should extend an inch or two lower than the framing they cover. As wood-to-wood contact promotes rot, apply pre­servative and use spacers to create an air space between skirt boards and joists. An air space is not necessary when using synthetic trim boards over pressure-treated wood.

To hide the entire space between deck and ground, use skirting panels. Made with wood or composite boards, or with lattice panels, they help keep balls, pets, and other animals from getting under the deck. Lattice is available in both pressure-treated wood and vinyl. A solid skirt gives the deck a more massive, formal look, as if the deck were built on a founda­tion. Open lattice, either in a diamond or windowpane pattern, has a lighter feeling and allows ventilation (important in damp climates). Choosing to use no skirting panels will make the deck look as if it were floating—especially if you have cantilevered the joists and decking around the perimeter.  If you do opt for skirting, be sure to include one or more access doors to the space you’re enclosing.

Hiring a good professional contactor for deck building can ensure a worry free outdoor deck for many years to come.  However, one should become familiar with the dreaded dry rot that can creep into a deck and what precautions you can take yourself.

Dry rot and damage sneaks up on you after the laborious process of deck building. Boring insects and wood rots operate just under the surface of a board, weakening the wood slowly and invisibly. But termites and ants give themselves away by leaving little piles of sawdust or mud tunnels. Occasionally they bore through the surface of a board, exposing a portion of tunnel. Sometimes in the quiet of the night you can even hear them munching! But these social insects don’t live in your house; they maintain queens and brood in nests in the soil. Their entry can be barred by keeping wood out of direct contact with the ground and inspecting frequently for the paths or tunnels the critters make into the house, or by hiring an environmentally responsible exterminator.

But dry rot fungus doesn’t need a pathway to your outdoor deck. It sprouts from tiny airborne spores that are literally everywhere. Once a spore is wind-blown onto moist wood, it sprouts microscopically and begins to grow down into the wood–silent, invisible, and insidious.

Only when the dense network of dead-white filaments that make-up the body of the fungus plant have permeated and fed off the wood will the plant make its presence evident by sending out fruiting bodies that range from foot-wide gray-white half-rounds of shelf fungus to the small pink, black, or grey fleshy blobs or mini-mushroom-tipped branches of less grandiose species.

Dry rot, by the way, isn’t “dry” at all, but consists of a group of terrestrial fungi (related to common mushrooms) that, like all land plants, need plenty of moisture, oxygen, and moderate temperatures. Colorless and lacking chlorophyll to work nature’s magic and create organic carbohydrates from sunlight and components of inorganic air and water via photosynthesis, they live in the dark and feed on dead plant material, indeed they are the prime medium of nature’s recycling process.

“Dry” rot got its name because it attacks timbers of wooden ocean-going boats that have been hauled out, “high and dry,” so that planking shrinks, seams open up, and the hull needs to be “soaked up” before launching or pumped out continually for hours after . . . or the boat will be on the bottom next morning. It is rainwater trickling in to moisten boat wood that supports “dry” rot. Sea water (though it does harbor wood threats of its own) does not support fungi. A deck post that’s sunk into consistently wet ground will remain sound below the soil and above it. It rots right at the surface line where it stays just moist all the time. Temperatures must be moderate for fungus to grow–above freezing but less than 100 Degrees Fahrenheit or so–so if you build your deck somewhere above the arctic circle or in the Mohave Desert, it will last with little care, though its utility will be limited.

New or Old Ideas for Deck Building?
Especially when adding service life to wooden decks made from cedar and other un-treated woods, carpenters are using an old material–tar paper, or more properly, heavy building paper or builders felt. This is a loosely woven, absorbent paper-cloth infused with asphalt that is commonly tacked over wooden roof sheathing to provide a waterproof underlayment for roof shingles.

Cut into strips that are wider by an inch than deck framing, it is stapled to the top surfaces of joists so it overhangs each side by a half-inch. Decking is fastened over the paper. Especially if planks are fastened tight with deck screws, sun-heated asphalt will soften and form a watertight gasket between bottom plank and top of joists, and seal around fasteners. Rain water flowing through cracks between planks can’t soak into bottom of plank or top of beam, but drips off the edges of the paper.

You can cut tar paper strips from standard rolls, or buy precut strips at most lumberyards. The black paper will make a sharp color-contrast with decking at first, but after stain, sealers, and preservatives are applied, wood and asphalt will gradually fade to a uniform shade.

Water does its worst damage at frame joints–where several rim joists meet at corner posts.

To minimize water intrusion, sandwich sheet tar paper between butting surfaces of posts and beams and fasten tight with lags. Then use a modern clear, flexible silicone sealer to caulk all the top-side and vertical seams.

Cut a gasket to fit over the top of the entire joint–covering top of post and meeting joists and overlapping all edges by at least a half-inch. Spread a bead of caulk around the edges of paper, and apply it before fasting planks.

If some water does get into tar-papered joints, creosotes in the tar will give your wood the same protection that keeps creosote-soaked railroad ties and telephone poles standing for 50 years–but in your deck it can’t wash off.

A modern-caulk-and-old-fashioned-tar-paper-protected deck should last as near to forever as a wood structure can hope to.

Lumber and Hardware for Deck Building
Pressure treated lumber, or PT, used in most deck building is made from standard “dimension lumber”–square timbers and nominal 2″ thick boards cut in even-inch widths from 2″ to 2″ and in even-foot lengths from 8′ to 20′ or more–from a good-building wood such as one of the southeastern yellow pines or western Douglas fir. It is heated and dried to less than 10 percent moisture content in a big kiln, then saturated under pressure for an hour or so in a bath of hot preservative. By standards promulgated by regional wood-treatment associations, the lumber must be impregnated to at least 85 percent of its thickness and to a preservative content of between .25 to .60 pounds per cubic foot of wood. Low-rated timbers are cheaper than the higher rated. But using them in your deck is false economy. A .40 rating certifies that lumber will survive full-time ground contact for 40 years. Kept off the ground and treated annually with preservative and waterproofed, the wood should last as long as the rest of the house. Use .25 outdoors, but for sheltered applications (a roofed deck), and save .60 for especially hostile environments such as along the ultra-humid Gulf Coast, inland in subtropical southern Florida, or as posts for a freshwater dock or saltwater pier.

The standard wood preservative is CCA, or Chrome-Copper-Arsenate. It is a long-acting but relatively benign heavy-metal poison–but a poison nonetheless–that kills mold spores and bacteria and deters bugs and gnawing animals. Older formulations give the wood a corroded-copper-green tint that fades to a pleasant silvery grey in 6 months or less. Newer compounds lack the green color.

Porches and decks can be wonderful things, particularly in warm and sunny climates, where their shade and their openness to any passing breeze make them welcome additions to a house. But they may be equally valuable in wet climates, for there they provide a chance to be outdoors when the weather is showery, a place to enjoy the music of the rain or simply relax or to hang out. But porches can also be dank, neglected, cobwebby places, presenting a barrier to our natural impulse to be out and in the garden. That is to say that, like any other house or garden effect, they require careful planning.

Do you want a Deck or a Porch?
Pool decks are an architectural consideration, requiring a good architect or a local deck craftsman whose work is proven, to evaluate its appropriateness to the house itself and its structural soundness. But the services of a good landscape designer might also be secured in order to determine how an existing porch or one proposed as an addition can best be an enhancement to the pool. For a porch, when spacious, well built, and successfully related to the landscape around it, offers the magical sense of being both indoors and outdoors at once. Furniture too fragile for exposure to the elements can be left there, and pots of shade-loving flowers and cool ferns can be gracefully staged about. A flowering vine, perhaps a wisteria or honeysuckle, can be trained about the eaves, forming a fragrant bower of shade. Tall evergreens or old-fashioned flowering shrubs might be grouped below the structure, their tops just equal to its floor. There should be a swing, certainly, and as often as possible a frosty pitcher of lemonade or of iced tea. Such a picture tugs at our collective national memory, and those over whom it has most power will want nothing else.

Decks might well be considered a sort of midway structure between porches and terraces; like porches, they are made of wood, and when attached to wooden houses, provide both structurally and materially a transition from house to garden. Like terraces, however, decks are open to the elements, suggesting much of the expansiveness we often associate with lawns. But the emotional resonances of decks are quite different from those of porches or of terraces. The word is nautical and suggests an adventurous, free-floating quality. Decks are, in fact, best when they convey this feeling, of being on a raft, perhaps, with the plants of the garden pressing close about; or of being in a tree house, surveying the terrain (but not, if it can be helped, the neighbors) from a platform high above the surrounding vegetation.

Decks are enormously popular, for they are the least expensive way of achieving a hard-surfaced outdoor living area, and their construction is not beyond even the unskilled house owner. But decks are not appropriate to all areas or all house styles. Wooden decks are best where the climate is warm and dry, or where stiff breezes periodically blow away muggy conditions. In dank, wet climates, the wood can become slimy with algae; and though the algae might eventually support moss, creating a moody Japanese sort of effect, it will still be treacherous and uncomfortable underfoot. And in climates that know snow and sleety rain, decks can become genuinely life-threatening, shovel, sweep, and sand how you will. Decks are also a fairly recent concept, virtually unknown in American garden design before the fifties, and so they seem best when associated with contemporary house designs. Though they can sometimes be tactfully associated with houses of traditional design, they can often look stuck on, a concession to economy where more traditional porches and terraces would have better served, at least from an aesthetic point of view.

Then there’s the question of the wood itself. If your deck is to be frequently and laboriously painted, you can use almost any wood you please, and the effect will be as glossy as any millionaire’s yacht. Generally, however, people who build decks want a softer, more natural, weathered effect than frequent painting can offer. So rot-resistant wood must be used. Both West Coast redwood and East Coast cedar are highly resistant to decay, and both weather to an attractive shade of gray that harmonizes well with plants. Much less costly–and much less nice–is pressure-treated Southern pine. Apart from any concerns you might have for the health of the carpenter who must work with this chemical-laden wood, there are several other reasons why this might be a poor choice for decking. Pressure-treated wood holds its unattractive yellow-green color for a long time, looking poisonous whether it is or not. And timbers of pressure-treated wood are often very unstable, since they are impregnated with preservatives while still green and remain so, it appears, even after considerable exposure to the elements. Because of this treatment they will twist, crack, and checker in the alternating wet and dry conditions of the outdoors.

Of the three types of outdoor living spaces under consideration, terraces are by far the most elegant. Nothing consorts so beautifully with plants as stone or brick, for they are of the earth itself, and they may be set on the earth in such a way as to become an integrated part of the garden. Plants can even be allowed to seed themselves in the cracks between stone or brick laid on sand, thus intensifying the harmonious blending of hard surface and living garden. Further, there is not style of architecture that will not gracefully accommodate a carefully sited terrace of the appropriate materials.

Where stone is used, the first choice should be of stone native to the place, if possible, for then the terrace will be of a piece with the boulders and outcroppings in the garden itself or in the surrounding countryside. Where native stone of adequate quality is unavailable, imported stone can be used, assuming one’s pocket is deep enough, for it is always costly. Imported stone should be selected with great care, however, for it can often look anomalous. Before incurring its expense, a homeowner should try to see a garden in which it has been used, rather than settle for the mounted samples offered by many stoneyards. And if one intends to lay the terrace oneself, it is wise to talk with an experienced mason, paying for an hour or two of his or her time, to determine whether it is best to lay the stone on sand or concrete, what provisions should be made for drainage and heaving from frost, and especially what percentage of waste there will be in one’s choice of stone, for it usually comes in pallets that may include fragments too small or uneven for use in terracing.

Brick is a desirable alternative to stone, though it creates a more formal and dressy surface, and so should be in harmony with the house it is meant to enhance. When choosing brick, it is important to be sure that it will withstand the rigors of one’s climate; for in the East, particularly, the most beautiful brick–antique “common” brick salvaged from old warehouses and factories–will quickly become punky and flake away when exposed to repeated freezing and thawing. As an alternative, one may be offered brick suitable for outdoor paving, usually called “water struck brick.” Though durable, it always looks hard, cold, and somehow institutional, and no amount of wear or age will soften its appearance. Attractive brick that combines the visual softness of antique weathered brick and the durability of water struck brick is available, and is worth both the search and the price. But again, before committing to any brick, the homeowner should see terraces and walks where it has been used, and preferably endured two or three winters. Probably no brick is indestructible in harsh climates, however, and so brick terraces are best laid in sand so that the odd rotten one can be easily lifted and replaced.

Though porches are always attached to the house, the siting of terraces and decks depends on the use they are intended to have. Most will be places to gather socially, to eat and drink, talk or sunbathe, and so they should be attached to the house or be conveniently near it. The closer to the kitchen they are, the better. They should also offer possibilities for sitting in sun or in shade for most of the day and in most seasons. So, if the shadow of the house does not offer shade, a pergola, arbor, or small tree should be placed to one side. Above all, any outdoor living structure should suggest privacy and gentle enclosure; so a hedge, trellis, or thick planting of shrubs becomes an important component of these spaces, as much for the feeling of security they give as actually to battle the gaze of passersby.

Though most people will be chiefly concerned with outdoor living spaces that serve social functions, there are other values, essentially contemplative ones, that such spaces might have. When no one else is around, almost any of the features discussed can provide a spot for the busy gardener to sit, to settle into the garden, and to stare at it. The values of contemplation are so important, so spiritually necessary, that a quiet spot might well be contrived just to provide them. Thus, any garden, however small, might include a small terrace tucked into a corner of the shrubbery. Such a place might be thought of as the gardener’s study, a place to retire to, sheltered from the world, even from friends, family, and responsibility. It should be a place to read, to put down the book and think, to come to harmony with one’s self and the world beyond. Such a place needn’t be large; indeed, it shouldn’t be.

Every homeowner eventually runs out of storage space. As time rolls
on, family growth, DIY projects, and various hobbies take up more and more room in a home. These things include old baby furniture, gardening equipment, and even workshop tools.

torage sheds are an excellent way to add significant storage or work space to a household without altering the layout of the home or performing an expensive interior remodel. Many homeowners think they do not need a storage shed because they have a garage to keep all of their extras. But it is a common eventuality that garages get so full of boxes, old toys, tools, ladders and overstocked shelves that there is no more room to park the car. Storage sheds can be used to neatly organize and protect all of the objects that usually clutter up a garage, allowing the garage to be used as the car park for which it was originally designed.

This homeowner’s guide outlines the five basics of building a storage shed. While not an exhaustive DIY guide, it will equip you with the basic information necessary to make an educated decision about the size, type, purpose and price of your storage shed.

1. Zoning laws and building codes
Don’t build or buy anything for your shed until you check with your
local government about any rules and restrictions concerning outdoor structures. You will most likely learn that the shed must be a particular distance from your property lines. Additionally, there may be rules governing the building and siding materials you are permitted to use. Some subdivisions have regulations that prohibit outdoor structures. Frequently, the most convenient spot for a shed is an area you are not allowed to build on. You may have to obtain a permit or a zoning variance before you can begin building the shed. Be sure to visit your local zoning office with a detailed plan of what you intend to build. Estimate the placement and proportions of your shed as best you can.

2. Size
It is easy to estimate the size of your shed, though it takes a little work. Clear a spot in your driveway or yard to use as a sample footprint for your storage shed. Then arrange the larger items you plan to store, making sure to leave ample elbow room for easily moving things in and out of the shed. It is frustrating to go through the trouble of building a shed only to find that is too cramped to get around in. Your sample footprint should include possessions like camping equipment, bicycles, the lawn mower, wheelbarrow, and anything else that you figure will be stored on the floor of the shed. Once filled, measure the dimensions of the sample footprint. This will give you an accurate estimate of the length and width of your storage shed. Also bear in mind how wide your door will be. The door to the shed must be at least wide enough to accommodate the largest item in your sample footprint.

3. Purpose
Like the old adage says, form follows function. The dimensions and interior layout of your shed depend on what it will be used for. If you plan to store potentially dangerous chemicals like painting supplies or fertilizer, make sure to include high shelves in your design, to keep those chemicals away from children and pets. If the shed will be the new home for a lot of tools, a peg board wall may be an ideal feature to keep the tools organized and easily accessible.

4. Materials
Natural wood is the most popular building material for outdoor sheds. But not all woods can withstand the moisture and insects that are attracted to small outdoor structures. Woods with natural resins, like cedar, are more rot and weather resistant. A wise choice is ACQ treated lumber. ACQ stands for Alkaline Copper Quaternary treated lumber. This treatment makes wood highly rot resistant and wood-eating insects simply avoid ACQ treated lumber. But wood is not the only solution. Many manufacturers now make very sturdy and serviceable heavy duty plastic sheds that are easy to assemble and do not require any carpentry work.

5. Price
Of course the price of a shed depends on size, purpose, materials, and any applicable permit fees. In the end, a shed can cost anywhere from 400 dollars to 4000 dollars. As you progress through the previous 4 steps in the planning phase, the approximate cost of your new storage shed will become more clear.

With a little extra effort, a storage shed can even be a workshop or hobby headquarters. Converting a garage into a storage area workshop is at best a short term improvised solution. Storage sheds are superior to garages for creating a dedicated equipment shelter or hobby workspace. If you are finding that your axillary household needs have outgrown the extra space in your home, the time is ripe for a storage shed.