Thinking about a 12ft or 16ft x 20ft deck?

Well it seems me and my wife have a touch of ADD. Now she wants to reconsider the paver idea, but maybe build an elevated wood deck off the end of it with a fire pit in the center. So we will have concrete, to pavers, to wood. No idea how it will all work out, but I will start a new thread on the pavers in the other section.
Thanks again.

 

Lol, ok you guys can stop paying attention to me now. My wife decided she really doesn't want the pavers or any more concrete. So I came up with a different idea.

The plan now is to refinish the patio somehow. Then I'll build a deck with a fire pit 10ft or so away from the house and have a wooden walkway up to it. So now the deck doesn't need to be below grade at all which will make the job much easier and solve the issue of drainage and ventilation. The walkway will be at grade still, but if it rots out every 5 years then thats ok cause it will be cheap and quick to replace. Any issues with this direction?

 

Sounds like a better plan

Are wives the reason some of us don't have much hair on the top of our heads?

 

I'm losing my hair fast since I got married and had a kid.

I'm not going to do a railing, but was thinking of just having a post at each corner with a solar light on top of it. Is it better to run the post up from the footer and bolt the beams to the sides of it? Or should I build the deck and then just bolt a 4x4 post to the beams?

 

It's done both ways but I've always felt having a continuous 4x4 from the footer to the railing made for a stouter/safer railing. I would think it would be doubly so without a railing to tie the posts together.