Wood Deck or Concrete Patio?

As I’ve been planning our addition, I’ve at all times envisioned a wooden deck out the again doorways of the household room and our new bed room. It could be actually massive, and costly, particularly if we use one thing like Trex to make it maintenance-free. I’d need the entire deck to be as broad as our addition, which is 50 toes, and to increase sufficient to make room for an outside “lounge” space, which I’d think about must be about 20 toes. That’s 1000 sq. toes of wooden (or Trex) deck.

When Matt purchased me the panorama plan for my birthday final yr, that is what the panorama designer had in thoughts for our deck.

I really like the form of that deck that the panorama designer envisioned for our again yard. What I don’t love is the potential value of that deck, and the potential for ongoing upkeep. I’ve additionally been making an attempt to ascertain how a wheelchair ramp would work into that design. In any case, Matt wants a option to get from the deck all the way down to the again yard simply.

In accordance with Angi.com, a Trex deck can run between $20-$60 per sq. foot. The distinction relies on which sequence and shade of Trex you select, and it consists of the product, set up, framing, decking, railing, and stairs. So if I select one thing mid-range, that places us at round $45,000.

I’m having a really exhausting time getting previous the concept of spending that a lot cash on one thing that can want upkeep and repairs. Even Trex decks will want upkeep on the framing in some unspecified time in the future, proper? And if we don’t need to spend that a lot cash upfront, and we go together with a typical wooden deck, then we’re positively upkeep at the least each different yr. However as I’ve been planning and making an attempt to visualise our again yard, I actually didn’t see another possibility. For some cause, my thoughts was caught on a deck, and I couldn’t assume previous that.

However a couple of days in the past, it dawned on me that I’d really desire a concrete patio. The extra I give it some thought, the extra I like this concept. I like the concept of getting a concrete patio stage with the bottom. To me, that feels a lot extra open, much less confined, and fewer like an impediment for Matt.

Matt makes use of an influence wheelchair with massive wheels, and it may simply traverse our again yard. So the concept of him being on the again patio and with the ability to go proper from the patio to any space within the again yard sounds actually good to me.

We do nonetheless need to take care of the difficulty of him getting from the home to the patio. Our home is on a pier and beam basis, which suggests it’s above floor stage. However for some cause that I can’t clarify, each contractors I met with really helpful constructing the brand new addition on a slab basis. That signifies that the bottom under it must be constructed up earlier than pouring the concrete. I don’t perceive how that works in any respect, so I’ll go away that to the engineer who has to design it.

What I do know is that concrete is cheaper than wooden, and it simply is sensible to have the concrete for the patio poured similtaneously the concrete for the muse for the addition, if doable. And so far as Matt getting from the home all the way down to the patio, I’ll need to work with the architect to give you a agency plan, however I’m questioning if it might be doable to easily prolong the muse for the addition a couple of toes (perhaps about eight toes previous the again exterior wall of the addition) to create a touchdown space exterior the bed room and household room doorways. That touchdown space might then have steps all the way down to the ground-level patio, however might additionally result in the left, previous the bed room, and to the facet of the home the place we might pour a really good, lengthy (and subsequently, not steep in any respect) wheelchair ramp that results in the decrease ground-level concrete patio space.

So principally, I’m envisioning one thing like this. This isn’t to scale in any respect, so ignore the dimensions. I’m simply pondering by means of the logistics of the design proper now.

I’m not 100% offered on this just because that ramp is obvious on the opposite facet of the home from the carport. However in fact, our carport has a ramp that goes into the again doorways of my studio. That has labored out rather well for Matt, and it doesn’t really feel inconvenient in any respect for us getting him inside the home.

I by no means have gotten good footage of our carport, however you may see this image that I took when the carport was being constructed, and simply after the wheelchair ramp was poured.

So principally, the patio exterior of the bed room and household room doorways would have the same touchdown space going all the way in which throughout the again exterior wall of the home (besides I’d need it to be deeper than this one), and as an alternative of the touchdown space being included into the wheelchair ramp, the wheelchair ramp could be on the facet of the home. So the complete touchdown space throughout the again of the home could be stage, and have two steps all the way down to the primary ground-level patio space.

However the backside line is that I would like him to have entry to the entire again yard. Pondering by means of tips on how to make all of this work has been fairly the problem. The nice factor is that he does have an influence wheelchair, so getting from one facet of the home to the opposite doesn’t take a complete lot of power for him. I simply need him to have the ability to get across the again yard and luxuriate in no matter we put again there, whether or not it’s a deck or a patio.

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and adorn the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You may study extra about me right here.