While a deck affords some of homeownership's
simple pleasures,
designing a deck is not always a simple
matter. This is no wonder, for while you
are creating a new living space, you are
also trying to join house to landscape
without compromising either one.
A deck I recently designed illustrates
some of the issues and considerations
that typically come into play. The house,
a nondescript one-story with a mid-level
entry and a full daylight basement, sits
on a large, steep, heavily wooded, southfacing
rural lot overlooking Puget Sound.
The owner, wanting a large deck to take
advantage of this dramatic setting, came
to me with a design calling for a single
large platform (see Figure 1). The