This time last year, we knew we were going to start building a small, ground-level, deck once the ground thawed. Also this time last year, I built the deck about 100 times in my head. I don’t know about everyone else’s processes, but before starting a big project, I tend to do it many times in my head before actually getting started on a single element.

We had never built a deck before, so I had to do a lot of learning before I was ready to even draw up the plans. We knew the general idea of what we wanted, and I knew a lot of the basics about building, so I at least had something to go on.

From there, I watched how-to videos, I read articles on building sites, I asked my dad (my go to source if I know he has built the same thing in the past) all sorts of questions and so on. After a few months, I was ready to put pencil to paper and start drawing out the frame of what I wanted our deck to be…while constantly referring back to my learning sources.

One thing I learned is that there are many different ways to build the type of deck I wanted to build, which is a ground-level platform to go next to our pool.

Decision 1 – Footing Type

Although it is a ground-level deck, we were familiar with cementing in posts. I liked the idea that they wouldn’t move when leveling the top platform and that everything was going to be solid from the get go. Being on a slight angle, I knew that there was going to be some time spent making sure the top frame was level, so I wanted really secure posts that I could cut down to the level points easily.

There were other options that are either cement blocks or plastic plates that you put on the crushed gravel that you can place the posts into to create your footings. I didn’t like this because I was worried about movement, though reviews were excellent and the article about the deck build using this option was one of my go-to’s for information to build our deck.

Decision 2 – Frame type

Now that I knew how I wanted to do the footings, I had to decide how I wanted the frame to sit. I could either have the frame corners line up with the outer footings, or I could have the frame hang over the footings by a small amount.

Again, being an absolute novice deck builder, I chose to go with the deck frame floating on the footings so that there was a bit of an overhang. This allowed me a little more flexibility with the footings. I made sure they were all in-line and as perfectly square to each other as I could, but if I was off a bit on my rows, then it wouldn’t have much of an affect on the square of my frame. I would be able to cheat it a bit. Is this the right way to do this? Not sure. I saw this option in some of the building sites, so I went with it.

Decision 3 – Deck Material

I work with wood regularly, and I knew for this deck that I did not want to have a wood deck top. I didn’t want to deal with sanding, staining, etc. Even treated wood will fade or start to grey over time. We knew we wanted a low-maintenance deck once it was built, so that we could just sit back and enjoy it. Because of this, we decided to spend a bit more and go with a composite deck material. Wood decks can last a long time but generally need some regular up-keep to do so. NOTE: The frame is still built with treated wood, it is just the deck surface that is done with composite boards.

We did look around quite a bit for this, especially the styles and ended up with what we felt was a good option for our build. My parents had also done a composite deck, and it has held up excellently, so it was worth the extra money to go this route.

Decision 3.1 – Deck material style

There are quite a few styles of composite board, and a few different styles of how it is secured to the deck frame. This was one of the harder decisions because having never built a deck before, I wasn’t familiar with the different options, how good each one was over time or how challenging the different styles were to use during the building process. We knew we wanted something a little forgiving since this was the first deck we built and knew there would be some mistakes along the way…hopefully minor ones!

I went with a board that I could screw directly into like a regular piece of wood. It then comes with plugs to hide the screw holes, giving a seamless look. This option seemed like it would be the most flexible in case we needed to make adjustments. I do have some retrospect on this as we got one with ridges down the sides and middle but a narrow section between, like a blocky letter “M”. This led to some adjustments in our build later, but weren’t a major issue. I would have almost preferred a solid board, but those were very pricey.

Decision 3.2 – Deck Colour

Deck colour is really a preference, and with the different colours of rocks we have in our yard, as well as the wood fence, we really could have gone with any colour composite and had it blend into the yard. In the end, we chose “Ventura Sandbar”, a mid-dark brown that has some minor grey/black lines through it giving it a bit of dimension.

Decision 4 – Deck surface aesthetic

There are a couple ways we could build the deck surface. The easiest would have been like a dock, with the boards running end to end. Once the frame is built, you just screw the surface boards down and done.

I didn’t like the idea of two sides of the deck showing just the cut ends of the composite boards. I knew I would feel like it looked unfinished. So I decided to go with a simple picture-frame boarder on the deck, making the full perimeter of the surface have a nice facing edge. Simple in thought, not necessarily in practice, but it is worth figuring it out for the final product.

Decision 5 – Deck Size

I wanted to keep the deck build somewhat simple, for a few reasons. Partially because it was our first build, so simple was the best option for eventual success…or so we hoped. We also had a gazebo size in mind, so the deck size, needed to be at least the same size or slightly larger. We ended up going a bit larger all around to give some space around the gazebo.

Another reason for the size was that I wanted a specific “look” to the finished product. Since we weren’t building a large deck, and our future gazebo was of a specific size, I knew that I could build the deck so that we wouldn’t have to have more than one board across, meaning there would be no seams running the length, other than the picture frame edge. The composite came in 16′ lengths, so I knew as long as I kept the length of the deck within that size, then I could accomplish the look I was going for.

Ok, so the decisions were made, it was time to move on to actually figuring out the plans for the deck and getting the materials priced and delivered.