Customer Reviews

Building and Designing Decks

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Used this book several years ago on my first and only deck. It was recommended by someone at work, and since has made the rounds with all the people at work building decks, with positive reviews. I still get complements on my deck, in no small part due to this book. Highly recommended.

I will be building my first deck in the near future and have purchased several "how to" books on the subject. This book is far and away superior. For starters, it has construction PHOTOS where most books have only drawings. It's so much easier grasp the techniques when looking at a photo. Also, when reading the other books, I always seemed to have many unanswered questions. This book answered them all. Don't make my mistake - buy this book first. It's the only one you'll need.

This book proved invaluable when my wife and I built our second-story deck five years ago. The design tips on layout and construction techniques turned what could have been just an ordinary rectangular deck into (if I may say so) a work of art. Although we are both engineers, it was still very useful to see the photos and diagrams describing exactly how each step should be completed, and also how to add the little touches that noticeably increase the professionalism of the finished job.

After successfully completing a bookcase I decided I'd tackle a bigger project - a 500 sq. ft. second-story multi-level cantilevered deck. It took me a long time by myself, but I did it and every single thing I needed to know was in this book. Design issues, code requirements, foundation work, hardware, and clearly illustrated instructions for each procedure. I spent about a month reading this book, walking the space, and sketching designs. I frequently referenced the book during the construction and always found solutions I needed. The guy delivering the French doors commented that my "contractor" was doing a very professional job!

As a side note, the author presents a variety of railing designs but prefers a "porch-style" railing. This was MUCH more time consuming than I expected, but is my single favorite feature of my deck.

The gallery of deck photos was good, though many of the exotic design elements could not be built with the information in this book alone. In my opinion you can't look at too many design photos while preparing your own, and I did browse a number of other books and magazines for this purpose. But for the technical details, this book was my bible.

I've just completed my first deck project, and it would not have been a success without this book. Not excessivly wordy, but to the point on every aspect of construction. Given patience, common sense, the right tools, and this book, you have everything you need to build a great deck. Other books give you some standard methods of construction, which are helpful as a reference, but this allows you to create something more than standard.

I intimidated by building a small deck despite some experience in the framing industry, because I had some questions that were proving hard to answer. This book answered all of them and inspired me and gave me confidence. My wife decided that she would rather spend the money paying a contractor so we are going that route, but the book helps you in that regard too. This is because even if you hire a contractor, you probably need to be very involved in the design phase in order to be pleased by the finished product. This book has an excellent section on designing decks and hiring contractors.

An exceptional book with clear and through writing. I found very practical information covering areas I was unsure about. Some of the details, such as reducing wood decay over the long term, designing and building railings, and many little "tricks", I have not found elsewhere (and I have quite a few building books). After carefully studying the book I believe I build a deck up to professional standards.

This was an excellent book on building decks. However, I gave this a ** rating because I feel the cover photo was misleading. I wanted to build something very much like this photo. There was not one instruction or reference to this design in the book! There was one instruction for a seat and one for a flower box, but neither one was the design on the cover photo. There were several paragraphs about "covering" you deck, but they were general "things to consider" rather than specifics. Amazon allows a potential buyer to view some pages in a book but not others. I didn't find what I wanted in the "allowed" pages before I purchased, but I have noticed that the best information is frequently omitted in the Amazon preview pages. I am certain I can create a very similar design and drawing myself, but I could have done that without buying the book. Why was this cover chosen over an actual photo of one of the designs included in the book?