Hi,

Thank you guys for your help, support and advice. Much to my husband's amazement, he did it and our framing is almost compete. It probably took us 2-3 times longer than what you guys would have done since we had no clue what we were doing, but we did it (minus a few bruises and my smushed finger)! Thank you!

The books and your advice were very helpful and after numerous store visits and two 1/2 full work days this weekend we are getting there (we need the stairs and some corner deck loks but were debating which ones).

So, here are my new questions:

1. Are DeckLok the best for the corners - we have everything done two bolts through into the house on each side and two bolts under those but not through the house. But, my husband didn't brace the outside framing to those attached to the house - he debated between the Simpson and DeckLok - the Simpson feel cheap but the "deck" is now very sturdy as he overbuilt it (as he does everything) and it's low to the ground do we don't have to worry about a huge fall.

2. What is the best way to screw down the boards. We are going to use Fiberon Tropics Mahogany. I know it isn't the favorite on here but the color matches the best to my door I stained and if I it doesn't last, the deck is so small, I can swap it out. We highly considered Ipe, but George never sent the sample, and I didn't want the maintance as we have so much else to do (including the windows which are being delivered next week). It doesn't seem worth the money to do the hidden screws given the price, size of deck (we'd have to buy more than we need) - so what is the best brand of decking screws that are easy to screw down?

3. What are the best rail systems or is it best to build your own? Fiberon has one I like and I am waiting for a price quote, but if it is more than a few hundred dollars for the 6 foot length, is there any other plasic product we can mold and I'd rather spend the money to buy my husband the Jet Mini Lathe (I bought him almost every other tool, so that is one of the few left) he wants as Azek seems like you can shape (at least with a router). Or, should we use wood, paint it white and when I am too lazy to clean, scrape, paint, toss it and rebuild/paint it as I want white?

4. What is the best way to build a stair and attach it? How do we trim it with the decking and facia (white) to make it look the best?

5. We need a small piece of lattice on the left or can we use facia to cover up the hole/dirt - what is best/nicest to use?

Thanks again for your help - I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Our progress:

Under that plywood for those that remember what it looked like:

Area cleaned/Demo

Framing - but the corner simpson lock is not completely nailed in as we don't know if we should keep it or switch to decklok.

Another picture as we are very proud: