As I’ve been planning our addition, I’ve at all times envisioned a wooden deck out the again doorways of the lounge and our new bed room. It might be actually massive, and costly, particularly if we use one thing like Trex to make it maintenance-free. I might need the entire deck to be as extensive as our addition, which is 50 ft, and to increase sufficient to make room for an out of doors “front room” space, which I might think about must be about 20 ft. That’s 1000 ft 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.
You may see extra of that landscaping plan right here…
I like the form of that deck that the panorama designer envisioned for our again yard. What I don’t love is the potential price of that deck, and the potential for ongoing upkeep. I’ve additionally been attempting to examine how a wheelchair ramp would work into that design. In any case, Matt wants a option to get from the deck right down to the again yard simply.
In keeping with Angi.com, a Trex deck can run between $20-$60 per sq. foot. The distinction relies on which sequence and colour of Trex you select, and it contains 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 thought 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 along with an ordinary wooden deck, then we’re positively taking a look at upkeep no less than each different yr. However as I’ve been planning and attempting to visualise our again yard, I actually didn’t see every other possibility. For some cause, my thoughts was caught on a deck, and I couldn’t assume previous that.
However just a few days in the past, it dawned on me that I’d truly choose a concrete patio. The extra I give it some thought, the extra I like this concept. I like the thought 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 giant wheels, and it will possibly simply traverse our again yard. So the thought 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 implies it’s above floor stage. However for some cause that I can’t clarify, each contractors I met with advisable 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 depart that to the engineer who has to design it.
What I do know is that concrete is cheaper than wooden, and it simply is smart to have the concrete for the patio poured concurrently the concrete for the muse for the addition, if doable. And so far as Matt getting from the home right 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 lengthen the muse for the addition just a few ft (possibly about eight ft previous the again exterior wall of the addition) to create a touchdown space exterior the bed room and front room doorways. That touchdown space might then have steps right down to the ground-level patio, however might additionally result in the left, previous the bed room, 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 mainly, I’m envisioning one thing like this. This isn’t to scale in any respect, so ignore the size. I’m simply pondering by means of the logistics of the design proper now.
I’m not 100% bought 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.
However the backside line is that I would like him to have entry to the entire again yard. Pondering by means of the way 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 revel 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 rework and enhance 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 nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
