Deck 2: Design with SolidWorks

Deck design step 2: Concept and detailed design of the deck!


After surveying my yard to get a good idea of the grade, the next step is to come up with a design. I’m interested in the possibility of bending composite deck boards, so I want to incorporate curved trim elements, but keep the outline of the deck mostly rectangular to simplify framing. I whipped up a rough model of the house, and used the property report we got when we purchased the property to sketch out the profile of the lot and place the house on it.

Concept

I went through a bunch of different designs. This is the final concept, and met my requirement of being visually interesting but not too complicated.
Posts and Beams First came the posts and beams. I don’t want to use a ledger because of the cantilevered bay window so I’m going to go with a free standing deck that isn’t anchored to the house. This means having an extra beam but I think it’s worth it.
This is my first deck and I’m surprised at how many posts are needed to meet code; there’s about one post for every 30 square feet of deck.
Posts and Beams elevation
This is where my survey model is really starting to help. Local code requires piles to be 4′ below grade, and have 6″ of concrete post above grade as well. This doesn’t leave much room for the posts, but with an accurate grade profile I was able to keep the low profile tiered design I want.
Jo I’m going to lay my decking at 45 degrees to the joists, which means spacing the joists on 12″ centers to support the Trex composite boards I plan to use. The plan for the curved header is to use laminated pressure treated plywood. The stairs will be a lot shorter than what was in the concept; the ground isn’t flat enough to do a stair that wide without having some really long (or really short) bottom steps.
Final assembly

With the decking and railing it’s starting to look good. I haven’t figured out the bbq shelter yet, that can wait. The plan for the railing is to use a modular black-painted aluminum system.
I made a drawing package from this model and pulled a permit without issue. So far so good.