My wife and I just bought our first home. One of the many things that need to be done at this house is a deck. The shade from oak trees in the back make growing grass next to impossible so it's just bare dirt around most of the house. Planning on 40'x16'. All the way across the back of the house and 16' out to the edge of a small retaining wall. With it having a pier and beam foundation on a slope, the rear of the house sits about 3.5' above ground. With the front being a step above ground level. Since everybody loves a nice deck, I thought why not go all out and create an awesome view of the yard. The back of the house looks out over a half acre. Plus I can brag to all the girls that I have the biggest deck they've ever seen.




Wife is in the middle...black shirt. Family friend on the right.

Deck planning. Mucho math. Sitting where it will be sitting in a very short while.


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Good luck, just remember, a little patience and care with square and level will pay off in the end.

Can't wait to see the results, wish it could do this, but a concrete patio stands in my way. Too lazy to take it out.

uh oh you posted before pics, now your committed.

i am looking forward to see what you build. it looks like a good set up for a deck.

it's almost 10 am you must be halfway done by now.

shouldn't you have done the planning before you got the lumber? you know you will be short something now

All planning was done pre lumber purchase. I ain't no dummy. Pics are little out of order.

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Tearing out the old crappy patio. The guy tried to make it multi level and instead created a 4' step that would cause a broken ankle after a few beers.

Few supports installed

And a few more. Adding joist hangers. More uprights will go in the middle. The ground is very uneven so I got the frame work leveled out so I can cut exact lengths for my uprights. Minimizing waste.

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Your frame layout is very wrong... as in "I dont even know where to start" wrong.


I'll ramble a few off for you though.

Joists are too small for the span.
Support posts need to be under the frame, not bolted to the outside... it'll shear right off.
Joists need to go all one way for the most part. I see some hangers down the end that should not be used as you're intending.

Thanks for the tips. As stated previously a ton more supports are going under this thing. I wanted to get the frame work set so I could add supports and cut them at the exact height needed. The ground is very uneven so I wanted minimize waste by cutting them at deck level, not just cutting a bunch of 4' posts then coming back and cutting off 4-8" here and there.
More supports are being added under the outside posts as well.
If they made 40' boards I could have them go all one way but I've got to attach them somehow. And on the joist hangers, how else should they be used? Seems pretty straight forward.

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With the majority of your framing running parallel to the house you aren't carrying the deck load very well. If I was building it, I would run the joists perpendicular to the house, support the joists with a beam underneath and the posts at the perimeter of the rim joist.

Here is sketch showing what I mean. I didn't count the number of joists needed, just drew it out in paint. The joists should be 16" OC.

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You're leaving a tree in the middle of the deck?  I'd be cutting some trees down before I even started on the deck.

I gotta go with what the others have said. That layout does not look like any deck I have seen. You need to run perpendicular to the house. Is that lag bolted to the house frame? Into wood or concrete? Definitely need a support in the middle of the deck and the perimeter needs to sit on something, not attach via metal hangers. Good luck!

I was going to do it like this but couldn't find a good way to stagger the top deck boards in order to make look right. Like I said before. I'm adding more supports. This is just the framing right now in order to set the rest of supports.

Yes the one tree is getting left in the middle. I cut three other trees down that were interfering with the main joists. This are nice nature live oaks. I couldn't bear to cut down any more.

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Fellow ar15 friend,

With all due respect, you need to stop RIGT NOW and really ask yourself if you can handle this project yourself. You are already getting major negative comments about your build and you just started.
Before you wate any more material, stop, hire a contractor to consult, andmthen move forward.

Safety first.

JUST SO EVERYONE IS ON THE SAME PAGE. MORE SUPPORTS ARE BEING ADDED. THIS IS NOT THE FINAL PRODUCT.
The boards up against the house are lag bolted into one of the main beams on the foundation. Concrete is being added to all supports and footings are being poured. I wanted to get the main frame up for now. I know it isn't the proper way but I ran into a lot of speed bumps with the way the previous owner did the retaining wall. It was next to impossible to make square without putting it together first and knowing exactly where to put the vertical supports.

Thanks for the input so far.


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The way to run decking the long way is to stagger it like a hardwood floor.

The 2x6 perpendicular to the house needs to be 4x6 for what you are doing, even after you put more support in the middle.

Running the joist hangers like that is going to make life difficult later, as you will have a hard time getting everything flat for the decking to sit on. Plus it costs a lot for all the hangers, comparitively.

If you want to run the vertical supports outside the framing, use a couple galvanized 5/8" or 3/4" bolts on each post through the framing to transfer the load.

It isn't that what you are doing can't be made to work, just that there are better, easier ways of doing the same thing.

I dont mean to sound like I'm crapping on your parade, just hate to see someone bulid a deck thats all jacked up.

I'm a carpenter by trade, built MANY decks and repaired lots of them for other people. I want to help you is all, don't be discouraged buy the criticism here, we're all trying to help.

Anyone can build a deck (and I mean anyone), just have to know what you're doing to make it come out right.

So... If your set on that frame size and joist size (2x6), then you will need to run two support beams running parallel to the ledger. One about 7' from the ledger board (side of the house) and the next at 14'-6"... you can cantelever up to 24" but I prefer 12"-18" max.

The support beams needs to be UNDER the frame... bolted from the outside is not ideal, nailed from the outside is straight up dangerous.

Do not use screws for the joist hangers, nails only... I've seen drywall screws used plenty of times, they shear right off under heavy load, like a house part for example.

Run all joists 16" on center perpendicular to the house as long as your using 5/4 decking. If running composite decking drop the joist spacing to 12" on center, otherwise its sag city on the deck boards.

Dont know the rain situation where you are, but the ledger should be flashed properly otherwise you're inviting rot to your rim joist.


If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask... and the frame layout that was posted above, was how you want it to look, just with one more support beam at 7'.


Coincidently... I'm in the process of putting a deck on my own house, it small by comparison 14'x20'

But she'll be built with Tigerwood decking (exotic hardwood) and cost me some $$$. I'll post up pics when im done.

I appreciate the input from everybody. I understand you don't want to see a thread in a month that says "well y'all know that deck I built...it collapsed". All supports that were added were added from underneath. Nothing was just screwed to the joists from the side. All outside 4x4 posts were there for the railing and to set square. Like I said there is a retaining wall along the backside off the house that is not parallel to the house itself. With trees, other projects from the previous owner creating crazy slopes....it was next to impossible to set square just by measuring and spraying an orange dot on the ground. Short of shooting grade and determining slope and doing an actual land survey of the area. The easiest way was to lay the boards out and screw them on where they needed to go, all while constantly adjusting as I went. 19 more 4x4 posts were added underneath (not the sides). Along with angle braces going to all joists.


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The first mistake a DIY'er usually makes is failing to pull the proper permits for a project like this.  Most see it as nothing but a money maker and dumb, but it's not!  Why?  Most permit officers/inspectors are VERY nice and willing to look at your plans, tell what is right/wrong, and help you prevent major mistakes.  In my area if you ask them to stop by and give their two cents, they will!  Additionally, it's a legal issue.  If they find out, they can make you rip it down, especially when it's not built to code, and based on what's seen, it's not.  Is it worth a year from now they see it?  It was in the NY Times a few months back how assessor  sand permit offices are using Google earth historical pics and nailing folks leg and right.  Not to mention if you have to sell it, any wise real estate attorney or home inspector will see if permits were pulled.  End result, money out of your pocket.  

The second mistake is ignoring advice from folks who do this every day and repeat the same thing over and over and over, thinking it will fix everything, aka "there will be more support posts."  You have more problems with that deck than adding more support will fix.  There are issues you likely haven't considered, such as the potential pressure on the retaining wall from this, the whole tree in the middle and copper flashing on your ledger board before it was bolted to cement in an area that looks like it gets a lot of moisture.  

Stop...head to a box store and buy the DIY deck book and read it or come up with a new plan and ask here or hire a pro to help you at least frame it or pull a permit and ask for some guidance there.  Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.  

Don't know about where the OP lives but believe it or not, in some parts of the country you don't need permits to build.  

Wish I lived there. We need a permit to have a dumpster on site for christ sake!

I think people need to get over themselves. It's a patio - not a submarine. No lives at stake here. If you get a saggy spot just remove some boards and add some supports. Common sense  will keep you on track.

Congrats on the house and hope to see pics when completed!

OP, just stop. You don't need a lot of supports. You need a new, better plan.
If that deck was sitting on a concrete slab, it still wouldn't be kosher.

Doing it right the first time can be a learning experience, too...

Thanks for the input. I've sent a few PMs and will be reevaluating my plan with some help. I will start again after some more planning.

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Good call OP.  You're not too far in to reevaluate and adjust as necessary.

I can't disagree with that but as someone who is very new to home ownership and is a chronic DIYer, I think it's outstanding that people who have spent many years learning their skills are willing to share them. Earlier in life I was either arrogant enough or mentally lazy enough to think that I could ignore the advice of people with experience and still get a good result, but these days I would rather take the time and do the research to learn how to do it right the first time. The voices of experience I am seeing in this thread are trying to give the OP an opportunity to do that.

Thanks to all who are willing to share their experience--the good and the bad.

OP, where is this house? I think I have been there for a job?

Northwest side of San Antonio. Right off I-10

Did you put some kind of weather guard between the wood and your house? I can't tell by the pictures. Also how far apart did you space your bolts to anchor it to the house?

Well this is getting good.

Good luck on the deck cant wait to see the end product.

Like this ? </a>" />

Good link.

http://www.awc.org/publications/dca/dca6/dca6-09.pdf