Deck layout. Some things to consider in laying out your decking project
are as follows:
A). Access from house to yard, through or across deck should be kept as
close as possible to each other. This will reduce the amount of deck area
wasted on traffic area walking from door to stair area.
B). Access to yard through opening in rail or down stairs. This is conventionally
done towards garage/driveway side of house, figuring that if someone is
coming over for party ect., they will park in drive and walk to closest
access point on deck. What will contradict this is if a lower patio or
deck area comes in to the picture.
C). Furniture and deck accessory area requirements: One of the biggest
mistakes you can make on a new deck is to have too much or to big of furniture
on it for the size area. As a minimum distance out from the house to start
with, we prefer 13’-6” . This works standard table and chair
area. Set back restriction (normally associated with town homes/condos)
will override this rule. You may only be aloud to go out 10’ of
12’ at most. When this comes in to play, furniture size selection
becomes very critical. Smaller, elongated tables over standard round table
become preferred.
- Round table with 4 chairs 13’x13’ area needed.
- 6 person oversized table 13’x17’ area needed.
- Round concrete/granite fire pit with 4 chairs 13’x13’
needed.
- Hot tub/Spa At least a 12’x12 area is needed unless you are
planning on having seating area with it as well. Then it will need to
be enlarged accordingly.
- Grill area. The grill area is the most commonly forgotten or overlooked
area on the deck project. Most grills are somewhere around 2’x5’
or larger and can be
put almost anywhere on the deck “WHEN THEY ARE NOT HOT”.
You don’t want a grill close to stair areas, vinyl products, railing/siding
or deck elevation changes. These areas are more prone to someone needed
something to grab a hold of in transition and you don’t want it
to be the edge of a HOT GRILL that they are grabbing. Normally, we try
to give the grill a 10’x10’ area while in use. If you are
big year round grillers, we also want to keep it as close to the house
access door as possible for convenience sake.
- Traffic /walkway areas. These are imaginary lanes running across your
deck area from doors to stair, grill, table, hot tub ect. You don’t
want to set a table directly in between the door out of your house and
your stairs leading off the deck. This creates an obstacle course and
a visual nightmare to look at.