According to the Skil Power Tool people, there are decks on about 30 million American homes, and about 6.5 million new residential decks are built in the United States every year.
Before you embark on a deck-building project, though, you should do an objective assessment of your skills as a do-it-yourselfer. If you're an experienced builder, constructing a deck should be relatively easy.
But the materials for building a deck are expensive; you'll need good-quality power tools and the skills to use them; the finished product must be sturdy enough to stand up to years of use; stairs, railings and floors must be constructed with safety in mind; and the structure should be as attractive as it is functional.
The Skil Web site has some fairly good interactive tools that can help you design and build a deck for your home. Go to www.skil.com and click on the "Great American Backyard" link to access pages on "Planning a Deck," "Deck Post Holes & Foundations," "Installing Hand Rails," and so on. The pages have voice prompts and design tools that let you graph your house and yard and create a deck that matches your available space. You'll also find details of the deck contest.
Most of the local businesses that sell deck-building materials also have computer assistant design systems to help design your deck. Or if you have a home computer, you can buy a piece of deck design software that will give you plenty of leeway to consider different options.
Start with graph paper and carefully lay out a scale drawing of your house with all the dimensions recorded. The scale drawing should show the position of all doors and windows near the deck and all plants and other objects in the surrounding yard. It should also show the direction from which the sun hits the yard, which will help with things like positioning awnings, umbrellas and sitting areas.
To the drawing of the house, add a sketch of the deck you want to add. The deck should be customized for the uses you plan -- does it need open space around a grill, a spot for a hammock, an active play area? Simple rectangular decks all on one level are probably easiest to build, but you can include multiple levels, cut-outs around trees, built-in benches or supports for spas or other heavy fixtures.
Come to the home improvement store with your drawings, dimensions and ideas and someone there should be able to help you use the in-store deck design system. Or the information you've collected can be entered onto Skil's online design service or onto your own computer's deck-design software.
At the end of the process, you should have a list of materials you'll need to buy, scaled drawings of how the deck will be built and instructions for each step of the construction.
But having a plan and all the proper materials isn't the end of the process.
The work includes moving or demolishing structures like steps the deck will replace.
