Appreciate the info on the Deckstone, I like how the tiles look and the materials sound so much better than composite deck materials. Never understand the logic of putting material that would rot or go bad into a product for exterior use, like putting wood in the composite wood, and those masonite sidings that had paper in it? It is like waiting for disaster to happen. Tried to figure out if 'regular' exterior tiles weight less than Deckstone, and found this site:http://www2.daltile.com/exteriors.cfm. It lists a lot of choices just not able to get the info of the weight per sq.ft. like Deckstone has listed. John made some excellent points, I would need steel frame for a concrete deck. That would be costly. I am leaning on tiling the deck. So far after talking with two contractors, I basically had to redo the decking to hold the extra weight of the tiles. I am waiting for my handyman to come and confirm the cost and whether he is comfortable to do it or not. I think he is pretty honest to let me know his comfort level. I will let you know how that goes. If you find anything else please let me know.

With such a large patio, do you need a deck at all? Extension of the concrete patio would be the most pleasing aesthetically, you could have the second patio a step down from the first to account for the drop in grade. that would give you a second activity area on your patio. You could add a please curved shape to the lower patio and landscape really nicely around it. Much better than a deck that looks somewhat out of place. With regards to your question, I am no expert but did look into rules of thumb on lower decks. Looks like that deck can be definitely lowered probably so that it is one step up from the patio. That would allow you to probably not have to have a railing which looks really out of place (varies but our township requires railing for over 30"). I found this on another website regarding the lower height of a low deck . from http://www.doityourself.com/forum/decks-patios-porches-walkways-driveways-stairs-steps-docks/219090-whats-lowest-you-can-build-deck-off-ground.html#b "Low level decks are more expensive. If I have 2' to work with, I can post up to a beam (or girder) and lay my joists on top of that. That means I can space the footings 6' apart or more. Eliminate the beam (or girder), and now I have to put a footing under EVERY joist! That's a lot of holes, and a lot of concrete. Also, there are minimum requirements for composite decking to be above ground. For PT wood it seems that you can have a lower deck as long as the underside is ventilated well (ie not enclosed). Probably best to forgo the underdeck storage. There are lots of freestanding storage options.

From what I hear maintenance or lack there of is a priority with most homeowners these days. True, composite decks are wood underneath..but that is not what needs re-staining/re-sealing every year or so. To each his own but ROI has nothing to do with our choice to rip off the deck and raise a patio..forget the entire "deck" idea. Usability and lack of maintenance were the only considerations. When we literally only have a few weeks of "patio" weather--I am not going to spend ANY of it on maintenance.

If you extend the deck and it's built correctly you shouldn't have settling. That's because the deck post footers should be dug down to undisturbed soil. On a new home, that may likely mean digging down to the house footer, which if you have a full basement is a big honkin' hole. Anything less is asking for trouble. You'll have a similar issue with a raised patio, since it's a new home. Because of the way they build foundations, you have a zone of disturbed soil all around your house, 5-10 feet out. This WILL continue to settle for up to a decade (depending on your local soil). In 20+ years doing this I have come across exactly one (1) builder who compacts his backfill properly. Everyone else chucks it in the hole, runs the machine back and forth a couple times, and calls it good. So to build a raised patio we would do one of two things: 1) excavate for the full patio all the way down to disturbed soil and build back up again with gravel, and then the patio. Or 2) if you're doing a concrete patio (or stone laid over concrete) we can dig for piers or wing walls to support the patio, which is way less excavation, labor, and spoils. Anything else will settle. It's why we don't build patios next to new homes. If you do your third option, I'd be prepared to re-lay the patio at least once more after that. If you're already having settling issues the base isn't appropriate for the conditions. As for gas line location, assume it's the shortest distance between two points.