My wife and I own an ocean-front summer home in Canada. It’s an 1880-era salt box built on a slope going down to the water. The house is about 1 foot above grade on the back and 6-7 feet above grade on the front (the water side).
We would like to build a small deck on the front of the house with a staircase on the side of the deck down to grade. However, I’m concerned that the deck will look too massive (especially that yawning under-carriage of the deck). I would lower the deck one step down from the front door and possibly use lattice to hide the space below the deck but, still, I think it may look too massive for the house.
Any thoughts? Are there other ways to soften the look (especially the height) of the deck? If anyone out there has faced a similar problem I would love to see phtographs showing how you solved the problem of a deck built on a slope. Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Chip
Replies
Do you have specific uses and/or requirements for the deck? As in, whet will its primary uses be?
Entertainting? Tanning? Dining?, etc.
If one, large, level area is not necessary, it can be broken down into platforms of various heights, thus stepping it down towards grade as you go.
Kind of hard to make recomendations without knowing what your plans for the deck are, as well as not having the latout of the land and house.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
JD,
Thanks for your reply. The deck will be used mostly just to sit outside for morning coffee or a before-supper drink and enjoy the view with a few friends. It would only need to accomodate 4-6 deck chairs. The front facade of the house is about 28' long with a center door and, as I mentioned, 6-7 ' above grade. Right now, I'm thinking that the deck might be about 8' wide and a bit less than the 28' length of the house.
Yes, it's possible that "platforms of various heights" might work. I'll have to play around with that idea a bit and consider whether that will work on a very traditional style house like this salt box. Wish I had a digital photo of the house I could include with this thread. Thanks again. Any other ideas?
chip
It would probably be cost-prohibitive but if you could build a stone retaining wall and create a patio instead of a deck it would blend in to the landscape better.
Another idea is just to break up the 28' length. Think of the deck as a room. An 8' x 28' room would not be a comfortable space. How about an 8' x 14' deck with 6' x 6' "landings" on either end that are a step down from the main space, and lead to stairs which will further connect the deck to the landscape.
It could actually help make the deck feel like it belongs by using something other than the standard diagonal lattice under it. Spaced boards, either vertical or horizontal, work. Or solid Azek panels framed in 1x6 Azek. Something that relates to the house. That makes the deck part of the house, rather than something tacked on.
Right now, I'm thinking that the deck might be about 8' wide and a bit less than the 28' length of the house.
Just trying to clarify for my own mental image....by "8' wide", do you mean deap....as in width of deck as measured from house?
Also...the 6'-7' above grade. That's from the door down to grade? Is there something (stairs/platform) there now?
If the door is 6' above grade, how much more (if at all) does grade drop across that 8 feet?
J. D. ReynoldsHome Improvements
different levels are problematic...
and 8' is not a good width.... too small.. it's hard to maneuver in 8'
10' would be better... we try to maintain 12' minimum
on high decks , stay away from 4x4... too spindly in appearance.. switch to 6x6
or add interset by doubling your posts ( twins )
or tripling your corners
also.. you are in snow country.. make sure your deck level is at least 4" below your finished interior floor
look at deck pics in magazines for inspiration
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Thanks to everyone who has responded to my question. First, to answer J.D.'s questions. Yes, I was thinking that the deck would be 8' deep (although Mike Smith has me thinking it could be deeper) and, yes, the drop from door threshold to grade is 6'-7'. There is nothing there now nor was there ever anything there. In these fishing communities, everyone entered the back door into the kitchen and the front formal door was never used. In fact, these front doors to nowhere are so common they're refered to as "mother-in-law doors." And, finally, yes, over the span of an 8' deck, grade would drop another 2'.
Danno, the point about the use of landscaping to soften the look is well-taken although it might take a long time to make an impact if the deck turns out to be 10' above grade. Mike Maines, your suggestion to go with a patio at ground level is one we've considered and may very well go with. We could have a very small landing outside (and about 7" below) the door which might accomodate 1-2 chairs and then a staircase to the side of that landing which would lead to the patio. In any case, yes, we're looking for something that "belongs" and doesn't look "tacked on".
Mike Smith, thanks for those suggestions regarding dimensions. Yes, I think if we go with a deck, getting the proper dimensions and the arrangement of the various elements will be critical to making it look right. I've seen 4x4 posts on tall decks and they just don't look right. Thanks again to everyone. I'll watch for additional replies.
Chip
Chip, do you have photos of your place you could post here?
Chip,
Here's something to think about. How's the view out of the house and how can you not block it. That is, is there a seating or standing area inside that affords a site line down the hill and to the water that you'd regret blocking.
The terrace suggestion whether a deck or patio is a good one. You don't want to get levels too far down, but even 4-5 steps might maintain the view from the inside of the home. In addition, staggering from a first platform at the main exit from the house to another lower space over a bit (either in the shadow of the house or even off to the side yard a bit).
Best of luck.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
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Thanks to all of you for the additional feedbck. Calvin, that's an excellent point about not destroying sight lines from inside the house. However, it may not be problematic in our case. The house is almost 100 yards from the water's edge and the elevation of the house is probably 50-60 feet above the water. I think if we step the deck down one step from inside the house, we'll still have a nice view of the water from the living room and dining room.
Mike Maines, I wish I could post a picture of the house. We have hundreds of 35 mm photos of the house but only just recently purchased a digital camera. I hope to have some photos next summer. By the way, I fell in love with Portland, Maine a year ago. We spent a couple of days there visiting friends on our way back from Nfld. They took us to a great restaurant downtown where the kitchen is in the center of a big old warehouse and you watch your meal being prepared. Can't remember the name of the place.
Ais, yes, it seems like the consensus is that the deck should be at least 9 feet deep. I'm leaning in that direction, myself. Thanks again.
Chip
Fore Street. Great restaurant.
There are some vines that will grow on the order of 10-12 feet in a summer. In fact, I have some (ordered them out of a catalog that promised this phenomenal growth--don't remember the name, "silver" something--probably some invasive species from China or something!). The problem I have it that they want to send up runners into the yard--so far just mowing them has kept them down. However, I can recommend against something like wysteria as it can pull down structures.
Other than what JRDHI said, I would just add maybe landscaping--combination of sort of built in planters and bushes may soften the look and hide the underside of the deck. You could also grow vines on your lattice or use some other form of screening with vines.
Stone retaining walls.
Chip,
I second Mike Smith's comments about the width. We spend a lot of time in the summer on our victorian porch which is 9 feet wide. I would not want it any narrower and ten or more feet would be nicer.
I painted the lattice black so that it would be less obtrusive.
Cantilever the deck off the house. Nice clean lines with no pesky undercarriage.. Painted metal railings to help them "disappear". It would be awesome!! When you get it done take some pics and post 'em. I'd like to see how you did it...
:-)
It is hard to have a thought about how to make it proportional to the house with no photo of the house.
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You just got some great advice, maybe all that you need, however, one idea that I didn't see but expected to is to crib underneath the deck with the same siding material as your house and if your balustrade matches that, it will look like it was always there, plus now all of a sudden you have a private little shed.
Thanks again folks. I've already received some good advice but Piffin is probably right that it's hard to go much further without a snap-shot of the house. Oh, hold on, I just thought of something. We received an award from the Newfoundland Historic Trust for the house and there is a photograph on their web site. Go to http://www.historictrust.com and then go to the Southcott awards for 2004. Our house is in Trinity. Local carpenters were invaluable but, despite what the description says, I did about 50% of the carpentry myself.
Captain, I've considered using 1x6 t&g board instead of lattice to cover the under-carriage of the deck. That's the same material I used to enclose the cellar/ crawlspace. Danno, thanks for the information about those vines. I may be resistant because of an on-going battle we're having there with stinging nettles. The nettles are winning and I guess I can't wrap my mind around introducing any other type of vine. Thanks again.
Chip
Wow, you do have quite a drop off from the back of the house!
I guess you said you were going to do something different than lattice--that is a nice house and around here people see lattice and think "cheap". I still like it (lattice), but in an historic place, I would consider square lattice rather than diagonal (diamond). Square seems more historically accurate to me.
Someone else (Piffin?) suggested making a room under the deck--that's a good idea. Eventually maybe could even put a roof over the deck to match what's going on in the front of the house, but that will really alter the look (but so will the deck)--is this all okay with the historic district people, or are you not in an historic district?
http://www.historictrust.com/images/tamason.jpgA medium to large guy named Alan, not an ambiguous female....
NOT that there is anything wrong with that.
THANKS BIGAL
View ImageMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
No prob...I didn't see rez working on it, so I thought someone should.Now If I could figure out embedding without 3 edits and some code work...A medium to large guy named Alan, not an ambiguous female....
NOT that there is anything wrong with that.
open the pic... right click a drop down menu will appear
choose COPY
go back to the post, choose edit
insert your cursor where you want the pic
do a control V
the pic will be inserted
choose APPLY
and you're done
others use html............ whatever that isMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
BIGAL,
Thanks so much for inserting the photo in the thread. As you probably already guessed I'm not the most computer savy carpenter around. Also, thanks to Mike Smith for telling me how it's done.
Danno, yes, the house is in a historic district and I'll need to get approval for any changes. However, the town council is pretty relaxed about decks especially if the deck faces the water and is invisable from the road. Still, I would like something which doesn't look too out of place.
Chip
Nice house. Not at all what I was picturing, so I'm glad you sent the link.
Because historic houses didn't have decks I would definitely shy away from that. Maybe a landing outside of the door, with stairs along the house wall down to a deck or patio buried in the bushes. Something like this but with longer stairs:
View Image
Mike,
Thanks for that photograph (nice house, Portland?). Yes, that's one option we're considering. Our landing would be very similar to the one in your photograph except slightly longer. The landing would extend between the windows to either side of the front door and the railing would die just short of the window caseings. The stairs would be in the same location as your photograph except they would be longer. We wouldn't want the stairs to extend beyond the front facade so that might determine the maximum lenght of the landing. It would be nice to be able to fit two chairs on the landing but that would be all we would really need. I'm leaning toward that solution.
Chip
Chip, I just Googled "Nantucket Porch" to get that image. Every other house in the village of Nantucket has that kind of landing and stair.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for that photograph and the information about the site. Lots of options on that Nantucket site. I grew up in Massachusetts but haven't been to Nantucket in 30 years. Cute little cottage on the island which rents for $7,500 per week in season! Boy, I have been away a long time. Thanks again,
Chip
With some input from my DW:
Decks weren't really seen until the last 50 years, it will be hard to make a deck look appropriate. Patios and porches were much more standard. Given the topography, we would look at building a porch rather than deck.
-Nate
Hi Nate,
Thanks for you reply to my question. Yes, you're right. Decks are a fairly new invention. However, in this part of Canada (Newfoundland) porches are pretty rare on older houses, as well. I guess the thought was that you don't build something you can only use 3 days a year. That's a bit of an exageration (summers can be quite nice). Still, you can't use a porch there as often as you would in other parts of North America. At the moment, I'm thinking that a small landing like those Mike Maines shows from Nantucket might be the most appropriate way to go. But, I'm still mulling it over.
Chip