so you want a deck that allows space to the window wells. (I don't know what code is for that in your state, so you'd have to check). These show ideas for decks that still allow light and egress from the window. I would advise you to do a composite decking. real wood may be cheaper, but it will need constant protection from weather and UV rays, which means painting or staining every year or two. along w/these decks, an arbor or patio cover would also be nice. and you could combine the decking material w/a hardscape depending on if you're building right on the dirt, or you want the deck up off the ground. combo of both would be nice be prepared to spend a good sum. getting all of this built isn't cheap. what you need is a patio/landscape designer to come out to your house and draw up something for you. I don't know what the big deal is worrying about the virus. everyone will be outside and has plenty of room.

Hey there. I am looking to put a new deck in the backyard as the current small one just isnt close to doing the job. And I am hoping to put something functional, large, and with a little more creativity than just a large rectangle. Requirements: -An area for seating for 6-8 people. -An area for the BBQ and grilling station -A built in post to accomodate the laundry line -An area to set up two hanging hammock chairs to be able to watch outdoor movies from a screen on the laundry line. Preferably covetable * we currently have them hanging from the maple tree but that is dying and will be coming down for the deck build. - a built in enclosure to house an outdoor turtle sometimes. Approx 6x2 needed in size I like the idea of a gable coming off the back of the house to have a covered seating area. But not sure if that is in the budget. Budget 10K Material- pressure treated Doing all labour myself/friend. From the current edge of the deck to the side fence is 29 feet. The door is 31 inches off the concrete pad. Id love to see what you guys could come up with.

I don't think you have enough room on the side of your house for a fire pit. This Houzz ARTICLE recommends a 12-14 ft diameter from the center of a fire pit. That's 6 ft minimum from the center of the fire pit. Plus, I doubt your neighbors would appreciate the proximity to their house, and you could be violating city code. Much better to put the fire pit closer to the center of your yard. I did a mockup of what this might look like. You can still place a patio on the right side of your house with seating. And, instead of building a pergola, consider a shade sail that attaches to the fascia of the gable and then to a pole at the edge of the deck.

Here I what the front looks like now: The open area to the side that looks like a carport would be shifted to the right by a few feet and be narrower. The slope means that the front part woild be tall, but it would rise to be unusable space underneath about 6 feet or so from the corner of the house. This is all within the dripline of the tree, so we don't plan on doing any sort of patio or anything with this space unless a landscape architect can give us something that would be root friendly. Otherwise, we may just screen it with plants. (It is already pretty screened from street view by other plants and trees closer from the street.) I marked the approximate area of the slope at thr back of the house with the green line. It would be the same on the other side, but there would be a small retaining block wall at the right corner of the garage to make the grading work. IF we keep a gable on that side deck (someone suggested we just carry the shed pitch around the corner but I wonder if it would look weird because it would still be 13 feet and don't know of that would look weird especially with the smaller shed roof on the front), it would be smaller (currently 16 feet) and the ridge should align with the wall. The stairs would be in the area in pink and would be a U shape with landing. The main entry door, horribly sketched in blue, would be on the front of the house with the basement entry shifting to the side. (We do have to bump a wall out for this, but that should be a very easy design fix for our architect.) We are not sure if we should change the roof so that the front is a gable rather than the sides. The width of the house is 40 feet and the depth would be 38 feet with the change to the bedrooms, so I don't think it would make much difference in materials or money, but is more of a design thing. Someone suggested it as a way of bringing the eye away from the (potential) gable over the deck, but I wonder if it is too much or of it makes the house seem even taller. Normally I love front facing gables, so I am worried that bias may make me miss something. We may ask our architect to give us elevations of both rooflines, but that may also be a bit of an issue as he did not want to give is elevations at all until we had finalized a floor plan. (This is the source of at least a couple of revisions I want to do now.) I think thr pandemic made him more interested in retirement and not ad interested in listening to our ideas, but I may also just be anxious about a lot. I mean, I am! We can't afford to get major things wrong here! Any other thoughts? NOTE: I cannot get thr image to size correctly no matter what I do. It seems Houzz doesn't want to play nicely with my phone. If I click on thr image it becomes a more normal instead of zoomed in size, but I have tried multiple screen captures and it just isn't working. I am sorry!