The deck is in! Work on the house itself hasn’t started up again yet, but Harry and his crew were free and I was excited to get this checked off early.
My deck is 17×19 feet, and is accessed from a door right off of the living room. Several people advised me that building too many (inevitably underutilized) decks is a common homebuilder mistake, so I decided to build one big (big-ish?) deck that would be well-integrated with the main living area.
There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to decks, but the center of attention is always the decking itself. For my deck I went with western red cedar. Cedar is stable, sustainable, and widely available. The acids in cedar make it resistant to bugs and rot (though this does mean that expensive stainless steel screws should be used to fasten the decking; see last photo). In Anchorage’s cool, low-precip climate, cedar should last decades if cared for. But best of all… cedar is just stinkin’ beautiful.
So why didn’t I use a composite decking, like Trex? Composite decking boards are very durable, consistent, and increasingly affordable. Their popularity is well-deserved. But in my case I didn’t feel that they always offered clear advantages. For example, some popular composite decking has lower fire ratings than solid woods because of the flammable plastics and wood pulp that it’s made out of.
One of my goals with my project is to avoid “ersatz” materials (materials that mimic some other “real” material). I respect the decision to use composite decking, but personally I’m not crazy about the fake woodgrain and can’t shake the feeling of walking on plastic.
If cost were no object, I would have strongly considered aluminum decking. In many ways, aluminum is the holy grail of decking material: it’s attractive, fireproof, and will basically last forever. However, it’s very expensive and difficult to find in some markets.
Total cost for the deck, including labor and materials (though not including the pilings), will probably come out around $20k. Yes, that’s a lot of money but this deck is going to be the site of a lot of long and memorable evenings. I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth it.
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I’m about to do the railing on my deck and was wondering posts were 4×4? It looks like they were notched to sit on the deck (which is how I want to do it) and I’m wondering if you’ve had an inspector sign off on it. I ask because, though this method seems standard practice, the muni handout on decks refers to the Prescriptive Residential Wood Deck Construction Guide which states not to notch the 4×4 posts.
Nice looking deck you have!
Are there any updates?
Thanks for asking, I’m hoping to have some updates soon.
We would love an update!
I’m holding off on new updates until I reach the next stage of the project, but I’ll have more coming very soon!
Nice work guys. Maybe do <a href-“https://www.freshviewconstruction.com/best-composite-decking”>composite decking</a> on the next project!
I considered composite decking. It’s a compelling option, for sure. At the end of the day, I just liked the look and feel of natural wood over plastic. If cost were no object I would have gone with aluminum, which is fireproof and basically indestructible. It was just out of my price range for this project, unfortunately.