I really like how you worked the steps down gradually to solve the elevation problem at the door. I would prefer to do some sort of patio such as yours over a deck. But I am fearing that it would be more $$. Did you do the work yourself or hire someone? I'm having a hard time trying to figure out 2 or 3 companies to give us quotes on decks and 2 or 3 on patios in the area since I'm all the way down here in TX. Would you say that a deck the same size as your patio would have been more or less? I'm walking into this completely green and flying a bit blind, LOL. Thanks!

We just had a thermal bluestone patio installed and the stone, after a few months, has weirdly begun to chip on its own and turn colors. Is this normal for thermal bluestone? When we were house-hunting, we had seen two homes that had thermal bluestone patios and thought it looked so nice that we would install one ourselves at whatever house we ended up with. Both those homes were at least a few years old and their thermal bluestone pieces seemed to have weathered well, looking smooth and dark gray, almost like granite. When we got our thermal pieces, most of them weren't as dark and had more color variation (all still bluish, though) - not sure if that means anything. All we know is that after a few months, the surface of some of our thermal bluestones are pock-marked (revealing a rust-colored pebbly interior) when they were mostly smooth before - some even have a golf ball size chunk missing - and some pieces have discolored, as you can see from the pictures below. The last picture shows the color variation that we got (you can see a few of the darker pieces that look like what we saw at the other houses - two on the left, one at the top and one long one on the right). Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? We're worried that these problems will get worse. http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/jerseygirl67_photo/?action=view&current=IMG_5770.jpg" target="_blank"> http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/jerseygirl67_photo/?action=view&current=IMG_5771.jpg" target="_blank"> http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/jerseygirl67_photo/?action=view&current=IMG_5772-1.jpg" target="_blank"> http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/jerseygirl67_photo/?action=view&current=IMG_5776-1.jpg" target="_blank">

Starting existing deck demolition TOMORROW....ugghh,if the snow eases up... Thanks DECKMAN and AnneMarie for your thoughts... I have decided to back my RDI Novalign deck railing with matte Poly vinyl fencing on the exterior...(GASP!-lol)inserting an extra aluminum rail on the horizontal toprail for added rigidity. I will have the carpenter devise a way to marry the individual fencing sections btw the RDI posts with a nice vertical piece...I DEFINITELY want a smooth visual for the neighbors..... With the lightness of the polyvinyl it can attached to the exterior of the RDI Novalign Railing with only four screw holes on each post(adhered to a 3/4" x 4" board)...that way if someone else wants to take it down bc they think it's TACKY-lol, then they it can be easily done with only a few screw holes to patch... I know the entire idea sounds bizarre, but I will happily post photos once it is completed.....I like clean,smooth lines and so does my carpenter... NJ has wayyyy tooo many people in it.. If I can have a huge deck with complete privacy by putting up a 'cheesey' matte vinyl surround,so be it....

Moocat Thanks for the reference. I will give him a call. I am curious if your friends chose to replace the tile, or if they were forced to because it would be damaged when the coping was replaced. We have great old tile in perfect condition that you cannot find any more and want to keep when the coping gets replaced. But I was told by A&S that the tile could not be saved. It kills me but I also don't trust A&S. They also recommended replacing my underground piping since it is 40 years old and will go under the new decking. I will have someone else check it out but that doesn't seem unreasonable.