Backyard deck questions.....

[ChEFF]

Thanks for the feedback Mr. Cheff. I'm 45 so if it lasts 25 years, I'll be happy.  peace.

Beats the heck out of wood. I built some nice railing too. 2x2 vertical posts, 2x6 horizontal rails mounted on top. Nice drink and human holder. Peace

 

[Big_Daddy_Jp]

I too am looking at doing a deck at my new house. After seeing the price of wood, I’m pouring concrete!

 

[Rockwood]

100%.  As soon as we get settled in, I'm replacing everything with Trex (and covering it all up).

I also want to use Trex around the pool and pool house.

Make sure they have a pool type one. It gets a little slippery when wet. 

 

[NIKAL]

I am in the planning stage of building a backyard deck with a bar, cooking area and seating area. The area I want to cover is all rounded. Basically, it was a kidney bean shaped grass area (approx. 40' long and 13' wide) with concrete flat work around it. The grass is now weeds/dirt. I have never built a deck, but it doesn't seem to ridiculously hard. Well a square deck doesn't seem too hard. Now with all the rounded corners it might be a little tougher. 

Does anyone here build decks or have experience building decks? Guess I am looking for someone to bounce some questions off of. Will trade beer for knowledge

You can see the dirt area in the picture. 

View attachment 6449

It’s hard to tell by the picture, but why are you wanting to deck that area? Is it already elevated, or are you trying to add elevation and dimension to the back yard? Wood Decks are nice, but future maintenance and replacement. 
 

If that area is at grade I’d look into adding pavers, and let them accent the existing concrete. You could even cut out some sections of concrete to add pavers in other places to make it look like it was all part of the master plan of design. Like making a boarder or walkways. This could be helpful if your needing to get power or a gas line in that area, as you can trench in the areas you cut out to get utilities on that area. 
 

Or if you want elevation you could bring in some dirt to build it up. and again use pavers for your decking area. Raise it up 12 inches with a step following the the curves of the deck would be cool. 
 

Nice thing with pavers is they add color & texture you can’t get with anything else. They are virtually maintenance free, minus if you want to freshen up every few years with sealer, if you want but not necessary? They are fully removable if needed or if you wanted to add something later. 
 

I did 2,700 sqft of pavers in my backyard. If you think this might be something you want to do, I have some great contacts for all parts & phases of hardscape.