Lumber is cheap these days. I can go down to the lumberyard today and buy the equivalent of a cord of 2x4's for less than I can buy a cord of firewood.
I was looking at doing something like this for my backyard. My house didnt come with a back patio, just a small square mini-slab. I was looking for something about 8 foot from the door, and about 10-12 feet across with a stair or two dropping down to the yard. Just something simple to put a grill on and maybe a couple of chairs. I was hoping to keep the costs in the $500-1000 range. Does this seem reasonable??
rhad, For the lower level, what did you build on? I've had a plan to extend my back porch (concrete) for some time, but your deck looks much better than my plan. I'd build at roughly ground level.
Don't let this guy on it: <a href="http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b208/Supermac34/?action=view¤t=untitled.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b208/Supermac34/untitled.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
If you do the labor yourself, yes, you could do it for around that amount. It would take two men about two days to do the job. So if you hired someone, add about another $1000. So I could see this job being done for $1500 - $2500. Get a couple of estimates and look for referrals. About $25 a square foot is a good measure.
Hi weslinder: I have two concrete "back porches" (really, just extensions off the foundation). You can see one of them pretty clearly in the "northside" pic behind the bar. It was important to me that I connect those two patios with the deck while maintaining a common elevation - that way you did not have to step up to the deck and then back down to the concrete. The downside of this is that it puts the wood much closer to the ground, at a higher risk of rot. Anyhow, to answer your question, I sank 4x4 posts as needed to support the 2x6 rails that hold the lower deck up. the 2x6s are also mounted directly into those enormous 6x6 posts that hold up the upper deck. (Incidentally, the house came with a puny 10' x 6' upper deck with no stairs - thus the weird 4x4 posts behind the 6x6 monsters). I leveled the 2x6s so that the deck boarding (the 5/4" stuff) would be flush with the concrete. To try and prevent rot (impossible, really, that close to the ground) I dug out huge trenches where the 2x6 rails were placed. Likewise for the cross members that ran between the rails. I try to seal it once a year (some of the seal will get onto the rails - I hope) and I spray for bugs now and then too. For the 6x6 posts, I placed a huge chunk of tile at the bottom of each hole before putting the post in. When the concrete was added it (in theory) should have formed a perfect stone encasement. I poured almost 1 ton of concrete for the entire deck. All of it brought in and mixed manually, one 80 pound bag at a time! I was a lot younger than. My back hurts just thinking about it. If that was not clear, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.
