5 Tips For BETTER Deck Design

What's going on everybody? Welcome back to the channel. In this video, I'm going to show you five design tips to take your deck from basic to premiere. Super easy. Let's get into it. [Music] >> All right. So, here is what we're going to start with. I just drew up a basic design template for a house. Um, and then a deck on there. So, what we're starting with is a 16x 24, very common shape. Um, and we've designed it initially as a very common deck. We have uh decking, railing, set of stairs, very simple. It's about 2 and 1/2 ft off the ground. And first thing that we're going to do to take this thing to the next level is a very basic thing. And our first design tip here is a very simple one. We're just going to add some breaker boards and some picture frame borders. So, as we add those, we're going to start with our perimeter. Uh, and here, just to go a little bit extra, I'm going to do a double border. So, uh, what we've kind of based this off of is decorators Costa as the field color and then, uh, kaya and dark slate as our double border. Now, because this is 24 ft wide, we're also going to break it up with a breaker board down the middle so that we don't have any seams on our deck. If we have a 24 foot wide deck, we're going to have to splice seams all over the place unless we use a breaker board. So, what I've done here is just right down the middle at 12 ft is install a breaker board. Uh, and we've mimicked that outside border. So, just a tiny design change here, but it's going to elevate your design that little bit, make it look more finished, especially on eliminating all of those butt seams throughout your deck. So, step one, borders and breaker boards. The one challenge that you are up against when you start installing borders and breaker boards is making sure that your framing is on point. So, typically, if you were just going to run your field boards long to the end of the deck, they would terminate on your end joist. Now, we're going to add a border. We need to make sure that there's a joist about 7 in inside the perimeter of our deck so that our field boards can terminate there and then have solid blocking to pick up our border. We're going to want to do the same thing with our breaker board. Make sure that you install some ladder blocking going the opposite way. You can either do ladder blocking or flat blocking, but make sure the end of your field boards are terminating on top of a joist or blocking. Otherwise, they're just going to be dangling there. So, make sure you think about that as you're building your deck. And just with that one little tip, we're going to already elevate our design quite a bit. First one was pretty easy. Second one, also a very simple one. We're going to enhance this by just adding skirting all the way down to the ground. So you can see I've rendered that into our software, just adding skirting. And what we like to do is horizontal boards all the way down to the ground. And to take that idea even up one more notch, what you can do is coordinate your riser height with those boards that you're going to use as your skirting and have that look go right around into your riser onto the skirting. It looks very intentional. uh a little bit of extra thought needs to go into it, but if you can execute that, it really makes it look like you know what you're doing and it was a very intentional design choice. So, adding the skirting not only makes it look a whole lot better, it looks finished. You're not going to see the underside framing, the beams, the footings, it's also going to deter animals from hanging out under your deck. And one thing to really consider with this is make sure you maintain air flow. So, I do see people installing skirting all the way down to the ground with no gaps in between it. You're not going to have any air flow and you're going to create two different temperatures on the top side of your deck and the bottom side of your deck. It's going to trap humidity and moisture and that's not good for your deck frame. So, make sure that when you're installing this, what we typically do is at least a/4in gap in between our horizontal boards. That's going to keep the air moving and you're going to be good as gold, ready to go. That's all you need to consider for skirting. Execute that. You're already on your way. So, our first two design tips, very basic, very simple. They do add a lot to the project, but here's where we elevate it even more. We're going to get into some more prolevel design tips as we move forward in this video. And we're going to start that off with tip number three, which is add a vertical element. So, what I've done here with this design, right on the edge of the house, we like to install some sort of privacy screen. A lot of times, it's going to do a couple things. Uh, installing this vertical element is going to give you some vertical interest in the visual aspect of the design. It's also going to obviously add some privacy. So, a lot of times on one side of the house or the other, there's going to be more of a need for privacy. So, uh, installing a privacy screen along one side of the deck is a great way to achieve some privacy. and it's also going to add more of a room feel to it. So, what we've installed here is just very simple. Uh we kind of went off of the decorator's privacy screen system. Have four of those uh going along the side of our deck. And then we've also done an arch above that. And this is going to serve a couple purposes. Number one, we can wrap this in matching trim. So, it brings the deck elements and the deck materials up into the air. Really enhances the vertical element of the design. And by going up a little bit above the privacy screens, we now have a perfect anchoring point for string lights or a shade sail, a lot of different options open up here, but more than anything, it really creates a great visual element to your deck. Makes it look like more of a premier premium space. Not only does this add an amazing design element to it visually, but it has a lot of function built in. Uh, some projects are going to have more of a need for privacy, so you'll want to lean on that. Some of them you might just want to do this arch. And like I said, it's a great place to anchor string lights or a shade sail. So functional and aesthetically, it's a great move. Pretty simple to do, and it's going to take your deck to even that next level. So, I rendered this with the decorator's privacy screen system in mind. That's going to be very DIY friendly. But anytime you do a privacy wall like this, it's a great opportunity to get creative. You can add lighting. You can use scrap boards that you have to create a cool design. Options are kind of endless here. And it's a great opportunity to add a super custom feature as well if you're feeling up to that challenge. So, we're already well on our way to a much better design. And that leads us into our fourth tip here, which is going to be change up the size and the shape just a little bit. What I've decided to do here is move the breaker boards over. So, we've created essentially a 16x6 area which is going to be the main living space. And then we've created another side section which is 8 ft wide. And now by doing that, we have delineated two spaces instead of just one. And I've moved back this 8ft section 2T. So when we're framing this, a lot of times we're going to do what's called a drop beam. And our joists are going to can lever over 2 feet. So, we can cut this section back 2 ft and still not have to move our beam or anything like that. It doesn't make framing any more complicated and we can just add another dimension to it. So, it's a spot where we're not going to lose a whole lot of functionality, but we're going to pick up a really cool just design detail here by adding some different dimension to it. Also, while doing that, I've decided to instead of just a regular 4 foot wide set of steps that you see all the time, it's going to create a traffic jam. uh it doesn't look great. We're going to do some wraparound steps around this corner. Uh help it lead out into the yard a little bit more. So now we've created a lot of visual interest with this slight design change, but we've also increased the functionality and use of it because we've really connected the deck and the yard space a lot more just by opening it up. So, that's always one of my goals with design is make it look like it's cohesive and the deck really fits in with the heartscape and the landscape and it's all designed together intentionally. Now, we're on to design tip five. And here we're going to add some additional seating just by turning one of the railing sections into a bar top. And we're going to insert furniture here so we know exactly how the space is going to be used. So, what I've done here is this railing section on the outside of the deck. All we're going to do is build a little bit of a bigger top on this. We'll do two deck boards wide instead of just one cocktail rail. And now we've created a spot that you can put six stools here. This is a really effective design change because we've added six additional seats with almost taking no extra square footage. So, by taking this railing and turning it into a bar top, we now have six seats that look out to the yard. If you are a family, you know, kids are going to be playing out in the yard. It's a great place to just sit there, keep an eye on everybody. If you're having a larger party or gathering, you know, people are going to be in the yard, people are going to be on the deck. It helps bridge that gap in between the two spaces. And like I said, number one, it really doesn't take away much usable space at all. Most effective way to add six seats by far. What we've also done here is created an outdoor grilling kitchen area in this 8x4 area. So you can see up against the railing on this side. Decided that's where the grill is going to go. Fits in the space perfectly. Um doesn't take up too much space. And now we have designated that 16x6 area as a conversation set. It's a really great use of the space. And by incorporating the furniture into the design, we're able to see any red flags with, oh, this isn't going to fit here. We need to tweak this a little bit. So, that's a really, really important tip no matter what is make sure you're thinking about the furniture during the design process. You don't want to build this deck and then realize the furniture that you wanted or envisioned isn't actually going to fit here and function properly. So, for a deck this size, we've got essentially 1 and 1/2 entertainment spaces. That's how I like to look at it. We've got the 16x6 kind of lounge hangout area that's up against the privacy screen so it feels like a more intimate roomy kind of space. And then we've got the other area which is acting as kind of an entrance into the rest of the backyard. And we've maximized the functionality by incorporating the grill on this side. Fits in perfectly. Not too much of a traffic jam. It doesn't feel crowded, but it really feels like it flows well and everything is here intentionally. So, that's five tips for you to really elevate your deck design process, but doesn't look quite finished yet. And we're going to do one bonus tip here, which is finish off your deck space and incorporate it into the landscape by doing some landscape beds, maybe a small landing. And that's what we're going to do for our bonus tip number six. So, what we're going to do here is um just do some really simple landscape beds. All I've done is a 4ft uh concrete edge block around the perimeter of the deck. That's going to create a defined edge for us. It's really going to help with maintenance as well, so you don't have mulch spilling out into the grass. It really gives it a more structured look. So, we've just used that to create the beds. Now, we're going to add some simple plants. Uh I've got a hedge line in front of the deck, in front of that bar area. Uh we can have a space for some annuals there to do some color. They could be some simple lowmaintenance perennials or, you know, you could have some really colorful annuals if you want a little bit of gardening work out here. Behind the privacy wall, we've done uh just some ornamental grasses. Really, really simple, but they create a really cool effect. Give it some kind of lightness and wispiness, which I love about ornamental grasses. And then on the other side, we've just done one kind of tall anchoring piece in the corner, which is uh right here, I have like a Norwegian spruce, sort of a weeping evergreen. Uh doesn't grow too big. That's something you're definitely going to want to consider when you're planting anything close to the house. Make sure that uh its max size isn't going to encroach on your house or cause any issues there. So, we've got this tiny bed in the corner, and we finished off this landing uh and our wraparound stairs with a small pa landing. So, not a whole lot of extra work here, but it has completely changed this entire design from just a nice deck design to a nice outdoor living backyard design. That's really the goal here. We don't want to just design a really cool deck. We want to design a cool deck that looks like it's supposed to be in your yard. So, that's our deck design tips for you today. A little bit inside my mind when I go to design a project like this. Tried to make it simple to follow along so you can actually incorporate these into your future designs. And if you found any value in this video, please uh like, consider subscribing, and let us know if you want more of these type of videos uh design related. We can do some more design related videos, dive into the design software a little bit if that's something that interests you. So, let us know in the comments. But hope you enjoyed this and good luck with your next deck design. Until next time, this has been Premier Outdoor Living. [Music] >> She didn't come out here. >> Don't you dare liar. >> No. Damn. This is good though. >> It's good, right? >> Yeah. Hey, I I doubted you. >> Can you sit here though real quick? >> What? She behind there. Is she inside that bag? >> What? You never came back out. >> Jesus Christ. >> What the Jesus Christ? >> That's dangerous. I knew it. I saw your hat right there. I was like, "What's going on? What? That's crazy." All right, here you