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Back in the day, a deck was a simple rectangle or square attachment to your home. It was a place off the grass where your family could enjoy grilling, relaxing, and playing. Thanks to innovations in home design, decks today go beyond the simple and help seamlessly bridge indoor living with outdoor living. Deck design is the science of planning a deck that not only looks amazing but also has the stability and strength to live up to its planned usage. Inside, we discuss the value of quality deck design and why it is so important. Deck Design Adds Value When we talk about a home deck, we are discussing the functionality of the deck - that long list of activities that the deck enables. Maybe that means a handy grilling station or a shaded structure that gets you out of the sun while you enjoy the morning and afternoons outdoors. Maybe that list includes the installation of a hot tub. Each of these examples requires a little more thought and design than you get from a standard square or rectangle deck. The first part of deck design is a conversation about how you plan to use the deck. Maybe what you want is a multilevel deck that acts as a bridge from your home to a patio or in-ground pool. In that case, deck design includes safety, movement, and maybe some fun. To get from the deck to the pool means using a stairway. It can also mean something fun for kids like a pole slide such as those that firemen use to rapidly move from one floor to the next. If a pool is involved, then deck design is going to address safety. Wet feet can be slippery and quality deck design addresses the risks associated with usage. These can include railings and textured surfaces that reduce the chance of slipping. All of these features add to the Return on Investment (ROI) of the deck; but there is a lot more to consider. Deck Design and Usage A quality home deck is more than just planks nailed to a foundation. It must include counters to the usage of the deck. For example, maybe you want to add a hot tub to one area of the deck. Water is one of the heaviest substances on Earth and to put a hot tub on a deck, the deck must be designed to handle the weight of the water, the hot tub, and all the people who would use the hot tub. Nobody wants to slip into the lovely hot water and begin to relax only to hear a creak and a groan and then feel the world fall out from under you followed by a tidal wave of hot water because the hot tub broke through the decking. While the above scenario might make you famous on TikTok it may not be the reason you want to be famous on TikTok. So, deck design is there to help the deck to physically support all the activities that may occur on the deck. Those include handling heavy objects, safety, and comfort. It is also important to point out that deck design takes into account future projects, such as an outdoor grilling area, or a hot tub. Plan ahead and allow your deck to “support” your outdoor lifestyle . Deck Design and Functionality Deck design considers the functionality of the deck and matches the impact of use with the types of materials that can stand up to that level of abuse. Those considerations include beam thickness and support material strength and longevity. It also includes the type of materials such as composite decking vs wood decking. Functionality also includes seasonal changes such as snow and ice, summer heat, pest issues, and even how the functionality may change in the future. An example would be how children’s usage would change as those children age. Another example would be plans to add a patio or outdoor living space adjacent to the deck. In that example, deck design would integrate the deck into those plans. Deck Design and Convenience Convenience means a lot of things to a lot of people. In this case, we mean that good deck design makes it convenient to assess things under the deck, such as water pipes, foundation access points, etc. It’s not until you have a sewer blockage and realize that you built the deck over the sewer access drain location that you realize that you’ve erred. Good deck design takes into account what the decking might occlude and provides a solution so you can still easily access those features without having to crawl under the deck or disassemble the deck to access something important. Deck design is one of the most important aspects of adding a deck to your home or business. If you are ready to talk deck design, give us a call . We go beyond the esthetics and include the full spectrum of functionality, beauty, safety, and longevity.