Deck Update #1

We have officially begun our deck!! I posted my preliminary design a while ago, but due to the final topography of our house/lot I had to do some tweaking.  It's now bigger and better!  This is the final design we are going with, which has already been approved by the Township:

 

 

The main thing I wanted was the cascading steps. We had to change the configuration a little (I previously had them coming off of the corner), but we were still able to work them in. This is my inspiration for the steps:

 

Since our back door is so high off the ground (about 6 feet), I decided to do a two-level deck. So you'll come out the morning room at the same level as the kitchen. Then it wraps around the morning room and you'll go down three steps to the lower level. That way we will only have 5 steps to ground level instead of 8. I kept the difference between the two levels less than 30" so that we don't need a railing. According to the building code, changes in elevation greater than 30" require a safety railing. We will need one for the steps from the lower level to the ground. The opening is 6 feet wide so we can just do one railing down the middle like the photo above. 

And finally, the boring stuff... Here is a page from our detailed drawing submission to the Township:

Good luck deciphering my dad's handwriting!



And here is our deck so far! We had my cousin who owns a pool and landscaping company pour our footings for us. My dad and Greg are working on the deck all day today and Friday so hopefully I'll have some more updates this weekend!

 

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!