[ksuclipse]

as you can see in the picture i have a very old aluminum awning that i want to tear down along with the rusting rails and rotting stairs. how would i go about decking over the existing concrete and maybe extending out several feet to make a wood deck with steps down?

Thanks!!

 

[AfterDinner]

It appears that your existing patio is concrete?

The thing you need to be careful about is the distance between the top of the concrete and the bottom of your door. Putting decking on top of the concrete could interfere with the operation of the door. This, to me, appears to be the controling factor for your decking situation and will determine just how hard it will be to deck.

Does the concrete have a slope away from the house?

The hard part is how to deck the concrete, as any part of the deck extendng past the patio can be done with traditional posts and beams.

-Dan

 

[Ron6519]

You have a few issue in this conversion.
1. The concrete by the door is too high to put framing.
-You might be able to screw decking to the concrete if the door isn't too low, but that's a half assed way to do it.
2. If you're extending the deck to the left, the ledger board will cover the windows.

 

[AfterDinner]

The other thing you could do would be to have the deck start at the end of the concrete.

 

[ksuclipse]

i was thinking about doing that but wouldnt it look wierd to have that small bit of concrete before the deck?

 

[Ron6519]

i was thinking about doing that but wouldnt it look wierd to have that small bit of concrete before the deck?

Unless you're going to remove the concrete top, there's not much choice. To get a closer match in color, you could stain the concrete to match the wood.

 

[ksuclipse]

So how would I attach the ledger board to the cement block? Is there a type of lag bolt designed for this?

 

[Ron6519]

So how would I attach the ledger board to the cement block? Is there a type of lag bolt designed for this?

I'd float the deck on posts and not have it connected to the block.

 

[AfterDinner]

I'd float the deck on posts and not have it connected to the block.

Agreed. There is no good reason to connect it to the block. Make sure your posts are below the frost line and your deck shouldnt move.

-Dan

 

[ratherbefishing]

First, I'd carefully measure the height of the door threshold. 5/4 deck boards are 1" thick. You may be able to build your deck out from the existing porch, as said above. But make it 1" higher than the porch. Then lay deck boards on the porch, screw or glue 'em down. Maybe even do a wooden frame around the porch to secure the boards to. The boards on concrete may not last as long as the freestanding deck, due to trapped moisture, so design it so they can be easily replaced.

 

[josall]

How about getting rid of the awning which will get rid of the metal posts and rail from the concrete area. Then build your deck so the surface is at the bottom of the concrete slab giving you a small step up all around your currennt porch(or you could make it a 7" step). Then build a cover to go with the deck.

 

[ksuclipse]

either way im going to get rid of my awning, but wouldnt i want to do a step down?

 

[josall]

Yes I meant step down, I think it would add to the look.