So far your new house consists of a foundation with sills bolted to it and one girder, sometimes more, running down the middle. The next step is the joists, which form a grid that supports the whol… ...

Whatever you do, don’t skimp on materials (i.e. using 4-by-4 posts) when building a freestanding deck. In fact, for this kind of construction it’s best to over-build the deck.

Setting a grill and chairs on the lawn is fine, but leads to muddy, worn lawns. Instead, upgrade your backyard with this easy DIY floating wood deck project.

A deck installer will check local building codes and analyze your property to ensure a safe and long-lasting structure. You’ll receive an estimate that includes the cost of cedar deck materials ...

Replace porch with pressure-treated wood. By Peter Hotton, Handymen On Call April 24, 2014. Q: My mahogany front porch floor is built on a frame over the original concrete slab.

Framing a porch is virtually identical to framing a floor in a house. Floor joists resting on a cripple wall are covered by a subfloor of plywood or 1-inch-thick boards 8 to 12 inches wide.

And if the lumber shortage has made building a deck prohibitively expensive for you this year, hit pause. “Lumber futures tell us that prices will likely remain about twice as high for the rest ...

Back when we considered hiring a contractor—who would have handled the foundation repair, deck construction, and materials—we received bids for $14,000 for the same deck in pressure-treated ...

Q: We live in a row house. Every time it rains, our porch floor grows a hump. The rest of the porch is in good condition. I tried using primer to seal the ends of the boards, to no avail.

Photo: trippchicago/Flickr. Chicago wrote an autobiography and called it the wood back porch. The city’s long history in the lumber industry explains the use of wood, and its even longer history ...