Build or Buy Deck

[linda4]

I'm having an argument with my husband. Do you think it's better to build a deck for the back of your house (attached) from scratch or better to purchase a pre-made kit ? What are the pros and cons ?

 

[grnspot110]

It depends on what you want & quality you can get. Some kits are not going to be as sturdy as "stick built"! ~~ grnspot110

 

[jacko]

I would build it myself. If you have someone else do it they are going to charge you and arm and a leg for it. I think you will save a lot of money by just doing it yourself. Even if you do it with a kit.

 

[Ross]

I would build it myself too. It may not look as good as a professional job, but you can't beat the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

 

[173abn]

Hi linda4,I built mine from scratch,I did a lot of stone work on mine and painted a whole lot of spindles etc.I guess it depends on your skill level. russ

 

[bret]

build it, for sure. Most decks are not overly hard to do and it will cost you way less to do it yourself than to have someone do it for you. But that is only my opinion.

 

[Green Girl]

My advice is to build if you have basic carpentry skills. In our case we had more time and skill than funds. Typically labor costs 2-3 times the cost of your materials. Our strategy was to put our money into the best quality materials and do the work ourselves.

 

[JDgreen]

I'm having an argument with my husband. Do you think it's better to build a deck for the back of your house (attached) from scratch or better to purchase a pre-made kit ? What are the pros and cons ?

Our house has 2 large decks and neither is attached to the house itself. We built on an addition and it was easy to plan the framing to add the decks but my preference is to have the deck separate from the house. You have to install more posts and footings, true, but you should never have to worry about the house sheathing and framing being exposed to weathering and rot. No matter how good a job you do with flashing and sheathing down the road, you will have problems.

My wife went to the local lumberyard and they picked out the lumber for the 12X16 deck, what they sent was so warped and waney and knot holed I sent half of it back. If you buy a pre-made kit you can be sure a majority of the lumber they pick out will be poor quality. I bult a second 12X24 deck and hand picked every single post, joist, and deck board and all of them were excellent quality. By doing it myself I was able to add additional support posts and far, far exceeded the code requirements and 6 years later, the bigger deck is still perfectly square and level and retains stain well. The lousy deck boards the lumberyard sent us will not hold stain worth a darn.

And while I am on the subject, if you have to have railings, forget about those wood railings that use the square spindles. Go with PVC railings. When it comes time to clean and sand and restain the deck, the wood railings will require more time and work than the rest of the deck combined. They are the biggest headache in maintaining a deck...for what it's worth, I am a retired jack of all trades carpenter with 36 years of experience.

 

[briggs]

its alot cheaper to do yourself ....Read up on it and make sure your footings are proper and level and go from there

 

[carla6]

Thanks for all your replies. It sounds like the general consensus, based primarily on cost, is for us to build the deck ourselves. Thanks for the advice. Build it ourselves we shall.