Designing a Low Deck on a Sloped Yard
A while back we took a look at a particular deck off the rear of a building. Like many decks, this particular deck happens to be built right off of the rear kitchen on the ground level of the house. There are alternative cases as well where the deck can be built off of a variety of different rooms and not all decks are built at the rear of the house. Some people even put decks at the front of buildings.
In historic type building and urban layout, we generally think it looks much better for a deck to be put somewhere other than attached to the front facade of a building, but it’s all a personal preference and depends on the exact conditions and configuration. This layout is one of the most common though. If you can see the picture below, the deck is nice and shaded by the leaves of the nearby trees. One of the main reasons that this particular deck is so helpful is that the backyard itself is built on a slope. Otherwise a simple patio might be sufficient to provide useful outdoor space.
Since this particular house has a side yard, the deck is offset. It has a fourth, partially open, side instead of just entirely being attached to a ledger at the back of the building at that same fourth side. That offset allows for access to the deck directly from the side yard as well. You can see in the picture below, there is a short set of steps that lead directly from the yard to the deck. Often, decks will have an access from the raised ground level of the house. In some of those cases they are built with an additional set of stairs that lead to the backyard.
Here, the deck is relatively low in relation to the adjacent yard and the stairway leads towards the front yard instead of the rear. You may notice that at the front edge of the deck, a horizontal skirt board has been installed. This type of skirt board is not at all necessary but might help keep debris and things like that from passing as easily under the deck.
The side of the deck is actually open though so this won’t effectively keep things out of the area under the deck in the rear area. Coincidentally though it also happens to be easier to clear things up from the low area since there’s more clearance, related to the slope and the yard.
A lightweight gate has also been installed at the Stairway to access the deck. This lightweight gate is likely not installed for security, it’s more likely installed to keep animals on the deck area when left unattended. Sometimes when yards do not have a fence, people will use their front porch or rear deck as an area to let an animal out. It isn’t the same as letting the animal out into a yard but it can give the animal a little bit of outdoor space for a time. Sometimes baby gates or pet gates will be used to keep the animal in.
Often, we will build, even much smaller decks, using 6×6 post instead of the more traditional 4×4 post. This deck was built years ago. The building code has had lots of changes over that time period and the requirement for deck construction is changed pretty significantly. One of the benefits to installing 6×6 posts at the rim joist and girders is that the vertical 2x joist can be notched (shouldered) into the top of the post. They can also be notched into the top of a 4×4 post, but notching or shouldering into a 6×6 post is a much stronger connection.
Instead of using a typical vertical ballast or similar type system, here they have used a horizontal guard system. The building code does not have requirements that specifically say that this type of installation is not permissible. In fact it’s increasingly more popular in contemporary times. It looks more modern than the more traditional vertical balusters. One of the downsides to this type of installation though is that it can encourage misbehaving children to try to climb up the guards like a ladder.
In this coming weeks blog will take a closer look at the same deck. We will hone in a little bit more on the issues that we brought up today regarding the 4×4 posts and the connection between the post and the girder. We’ll also talk more about this particular type of guardrail system.
Use a contractor who understands and cares about doing things right. Always, feel free to reach out to us here at Dupont Decks and Patios. We are happy to help with almost all steps of the deck building and design process. A backyard and outdoor space should make a significant, positive impact on both quality of life and home value. We can help with more than just decks, we also build patios, pergolas, ramadas, awnings, gazebos, arbors, and privacy fences.
Let us know about your ideas and talk to us if you have questions about possibilities. We are happy to participate in improving your outdoor space and quality of life! You can call us at (202) 774-9128. You can find us online at https://dupontdeckspatiosdc.com and you can email us there as well at https://dupontdeckspatiosdc.com/contact-us
