we are buying new construction and there is about a 3 foot dropoff from the back patio to the backyard. There will be steps down. I want to put in a deck eventually.

I consider myself a DIY novice. Is a deck something I can do? Any webpages that people have used to guide me through the process?

Yes you can and I would start with YouTube

is freestanding much worse than using the ledger board?

One of my first DIY projects as a homeowner was a deck. Bi-level, 20x12.

It was free standing right up against the house. Relatively easy, but I designed it in auto as which I had at my job.

Design it to a length that requires no cuts. Mine had one level 12' long and another 8' long, so I didn't have to make any cuts for decking, since they came in those lengths. (Except along the edge.)

gentle slope away from house, use the metal joist hangers, go with standard lengths as mentioned above. Remove grass that would be under the deck and put down border and gravel

keep it simple but easy to expand on in the future.

My tiny add to the good advice above:

Consider composite decking material. Painting decking is oh so much a nuisance.

Use joist spacing suitable for composite decking material.

quote:

---

Consider composite decking material

---

This

Is there a composite decking product that comes in a decent color?

Sort of. If you want a painted looking deck, composites are a good option as long as you aren't in a damp area where you would have to deal with their mold issues. Same goes for building low to the ground without suitable ventilation (which would be an issue with wood as well).

I haven't seen a composite that would be confused with real wood. Timbertech is one of the good ones, but it still looks plastic.

quote:

---

I haven't seen a composite that would be confused with real wood.

---

Maybe true. But my point is that three years later wood decks look like crap. The look like real crappy weathered moldy wood.

That entirely depends on the owner.

My wood deck looks just as good as the day I built it. Of course I take care of it, just like anything I want to last at my home.

There are many things in the general category of "maintenance" that I find reasonable to do. Taking care of a deck - whether painting, sealing, etc. ranks low on MY list. Obviously everyone has their own view of these things. For me - I can accept the "it doesn't look like real wood" position considering almost zero maintenance for 10-20 years.

Later this year I will probably be re-decking my two decks. They are painted. I am planning DIY. Don't know which composite I will use, but I am 75% certain the new deck will not be real wood.

My feeling on composite decking:

WAY more expensive than wood. Fine if you're prepared for that premium cost, just know that going in...

I would not put composite in a sunny area unless it is going to be covered. It gets way hotter than wood decking does. I helped a cousin cover his boat dock in composite and thought it looked really great. But now he's covering the dock because no one can bear to walk across it barefooted during a sunny day.

I like wood decking, and feel like it is worth the extra work. I can understand how others would hate it though, especially if it is a really large deck. Mine is about 600 sq feet and is fairly easy to manage.

quote:

---

Later this year I will probably be re-decking my two decks. They are painted. I am planning DIY. Don't know which composite I will use, but I am 75% certain the new deck will not be real wood.

---

May want to check the spacing on your current joists. If they aren't 16" or tighter, plan on some re-work of the framing.

quote:

---

That entirely depends on the owner.

My wood deck looks just as good as the day I built it. Of course I take care of it, just like anything I want to last at my home.

---

no one will deny that; but most people don't want to put that much effort into a deck year after year.

My parents put a trex deck over a lake in 1994. Haven't done a thing, and it still looks great. It's in full sun as well.

I paid ~$2.15 / foot for my trex deck in 2008. Total was about $1000, so we're only talking about a couple hundred bucks over wood decking, which was totally worth it. If you have a huge deck, that could be a big expense.

I bought from a wholesaler, not big box store.

If you trim the bushes around your deck, it will look bigger.

I used cedar wood for my deck. Should last longer and look better than treated wood as long as I maintain it.

I looked at composite decking and it's about 2.5 times the cost of wood at the time. I wasn't going to spend that much knowing I may not be in the house more that 5 years or so. If I was, then I would have considered composite. I did not know about how hot the composite decks get though. Good to know.

I had my deck for about 5 years and just sanded, cleaned, and re-stained it this past spring. Looks new again.

It didn't need to be re-stained because of natural fading or turning color. Mainly because it was a dark stain and after 4 years of a 98 lb Mastiff running around on it, she did a good job scruffing up the dark stain. Stained it a lighter color.

Back to OP's question, yea you can do it. But I was lazy and paid somebody to do it after my father and brother helped me build the pergola.

I used smooth cedar. In full west sun and needs to be restained every other year but looks good at year 5.

The neighbors have composite decking and it just feels "plastic".

I built my deck when I moved into our house.
It is hard work, but lots of fun too. Plenty of material on line.

If using a ledger board, do not skimp on fasteners. Most deck related failures and injuries occur because of improper attachment of the ledger board (as in do not use nails and screws).

As far as wood vs composite goes...
I used wood, but I like composites. Wood is way cheaper and if you use a premium stain, you are talking about a task that takes maybe half a day to do once ever 3-4 years in restaining.

As someone touched on above, that composite decking gets seriously hot in the sun. My sister in law has a composite deck around her pool and her dogs can not be on the deck for more than 5 seconds before scorching their paws.
If you will have shade, then no big deal.

I highly recommend doing a step down and then pouring a patio slab and stamping it. These stamps now-a-days look like real stone. Make sure you mix in the color instead of painting it after the fact. Lots of how-to videos on YouTube. It will end up costing the same or less compared to the lumber you will buy for a deck and it will last a lot longer.

My concrete guys threw the colored powder onto the wet concrete after leveling. Imagine the motion you make playing skeeball. That's how they applied the powder.

There was no mixing.
It's not a solid color... The base color was done first and more thoroughly, then the 'accent color' applied less liberally.

quote:

---

I highly recommend doing a step down and then pouring a patio slab and stamping it. These stamps now-a-days look like real stone. Make sure you mix in the color instead of painting it after the fact. Lots of how-to videos on YouTube. It will end up costing the same or less compared to the lumber you will buy for a deck and it will last a lot longer.

---

If your house is older, beware of any pipes, tree roots, etc. that you might be building on top of.