Planning Your Patio or Deck - The Basics

By Jonathan Scott

Sometimes it’s not a bad ides to start with the basics. We often use the phrase patio/deck, but there is an important difference.

A patio is a flat space, usually at ground level. A deck is an elevated space.

A deck is a good choice if your site is sloped or uneven. It can be built from a second (or even third) floor and provide a view if you’re lucky enough to have one. When you build a deck, you can use the elevation changes of the landscape to do and sorts of creative touches, like platforms, level changes, or interesting stair configurations.

Patios, on the other hand, can be made with a wider variety of materials than decks, materials such as gravel, concrete (or concrete pavers), bricks, flagstone, or tile, just to name a few. A patio doesn’t require a railing and leads directly into your yard or perhaps intriguingly into a woods or garden.

Most of the time, the situation of the terrain and the access to the house determine the choice of a patio or a deck.

If you don’t have an architect or landscape designer to do it for you, or if you have input into the design of your deck or patio, here are some things to think about.

First are the obvious practical considerations. How will you access the space? From which door? Since cooking outside is popular these days, you might want to consider accessing your patio from your kitchen.

How about the view? If your deck is lucky enough to provide a view, accessing it from sliding glass doors from your living room is a way to share the view from both places.

Not only is the way you get to your patio/deck important. It’s also necessary to think about how you want to leave it, and to where. Steps off a patio/deck can be a way to get to your backyard, so plan carefully where you want to wind up. You’ll want to avoid egresses that lead you to your heat pump or where your trashcans sit on pick-up day.

Then there’s the question of size. Are you planning on entertaining on your deck? How large are your parties? Will you be cooking there? And eating? Might you want to have a large outdoor grill?

And don’t forget how your patio or deck will affect the view from your windows, or the views inside. Do you want your guests to see into a bedroom or bathroom from your deck?

Secondly, there are aesthetic considerations-an aspect of outdoor planning that is often overlooked. The best way to design your patio or deck is to take your house plan, the one that shows your house and property lines, and look at how the shape of your house relates to the shape of your property. The most pleasing desk or patio shape often coordinates with your property lines, mimicking the angle or angles.

You can sketch right over the plans or, better yet, tape some tracing paper over it and try different shapes until you get one that “makes sense.” If the design looks good on paper, it will look good when it’s built. This is the approach that landscape architects and designers use.

Once you have your basic plan established, then you can begin to think about things like materials, railing, and outdoor furniture. But, for many years after, you’ll be glad you had the basics right.

Jonathan Scott is a purchasing manager for Umbrella Market Place, an on-line store for discount custom patio, market, and commercial umbrellas. More information can be found at http://www.umbrellamarketplace.com

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.