[cluelessone]

I have a 12'x24' deck and cannot decide whether to put stairs or a ramp leading down. I have just finished putting railing up with three exit places. I have attached a video (because all I have is my son's flip video camera). From the top of the deck to the grass is around 11". I was originally thinking it is not tall enough to put steps going down so I thought of a ramp. What do you guys think? I was thinking the distance from the deck to the end of the run would be maybe 3-4' long. At the end of the run I wanted to concrete in 2 - 4"x4"'s at each side so I could run a 2"x4" from the top of the 4"x4" to the top of the existing deck railing to make it stable and have hand rails. What would be the best way to go about this? I am new to the whole deck/railing/steps/ramp building process as you can see. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RLT424KENg

ps. sorry for the shaky video as I am a novice filmer as well.

 

[Knucklez]

nice video, really shows what's going on.

here is what i would do..

i would remove the grass/soil 8" deep for the area in front of the deck access areas.. say 6" wider on each side and 24" distance from the deck rim. i would then fill the with 3/4" gravel (cheap) for drainage and build a mini floating deck, or even cement slab, as a first step. no stairs. nothing attached to the deck.

Knucklez

 

[cluelessone]

Hey thanks for the reply. That's an interesting setup I didn't think about. I think I still some how have to incorporate railing leading off of the deck in order to stiffen up the openings. Or maybe there is another way to accomplish that? My thinking was to concrete in 2 - 4x4's about 18" down and then run a 2x4 from the top of the concreted 4x4's to the entrance of the deck.

 

[Ron6519]

If the railings are shaky at the openings, the way they're secured to the deck should be re-evaluated.