deck vs patio

we can't decide which to do... how did you decide on one versus the other... and how did you get ideas on what you wanted?
are there showrooms you can go to to get ideas etc?

Re: deck vs patio

You are usually taxed on a deck and need a CO.

I personally feel it depends on the house's style and heigth to the ground. I always feel "higher" houses looked great with a deck.

But you can actually have both. A deck then a patio at a lower level.

Re: deck vs patio

Re: deck vs patio

We have a deck - and it makes sense for the house as it is off of the dining room which is on the "higher side" of the split level house.

It was built way too long ago and needs to be replaced and we are facing this debate.

My PROs for the deck are:
-No step to get to my seating area, BBQ, etc. And you are off my grass!
-If we went patio, we would have to build steps going down -- and it's a pretty big height for that.
-Looks nice/appealing for the most part.

My CONS for the deck:
-Because we are so high off the ground, we can see EVERYONE and EVERYONE can see us.
-I love the look of a paver patio.
-We are charged taxes on it currently.

Now we are debating on doing a multilevel deck so the BBQ can we ride outside and then we can do a seating area below.

Re: deck vs patio

We have a pretty large deck in the back our house is a cape style. I loved the deck at first but the houses on both sides of us have decks so when we're all out we all see each other. Sometimes it's nice but sometimes you just want a little privacy. But next yr my dh is planning on taking the deck down and doing a patio instead. We also have a small yard and I mean small so a patio would actually give us more room since we could really use it for the children.

Re: deck vs patio

We are debating this too -
We have a cape so the deck would not be high off the ground at all. - The only thing I'm 'eh' about w/ the pavers is the weeds that will eventually grow throught the cracks .........- If we do a deck w/ Trex, there's also no maintence (sp?) we're leaning toward the trex -

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When we bought our house it already had a multi level deck on it. One deck is right off our DR on the 2nd level. (We have a Hi-Ranch.) Stairs lead down to the pool deck and then a couple of more stairs down to the ground level deck. So most of my yard is deck and pool. Not exactly the way I would do it if the yard was empty when we bought it. If I had a choice right now I would just have the ground deck (Trex or similar material) and a smaller pool. We will be putting a slate patio in soon in our side yard with a gazebo. We feel the same way about the higher decks, we can see everyone and everyone can see us. But each neighbor on either side of us as a higher deck too, so there isn't much we can do about it anyway. I'm sure one day we might change this around, like when we need to replace the decking.

ETA: And in the Town of Babylon we get taxed for any deck that is higher then 18 inches off the ground. So we are taxed on the two higher decks.

ETA: You can do a Google search in images for decks and all different kinds of decking companies come up and you can look through their pics for ides. GL!

Message edited 5/30/2008 3:36:22 PM.

Re: deck vs patio

Re: deck vs patio

what happens if you don't get a co?

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Re: deck vs patio

We went through this and decided to do a stamped concrete Patio. I was going to build a Trex deck off of the kitchen, but the patio made more sense for us today. In the future I will put sliding glass doors out of the kitchen and build a deck to accent the patio.

Link to my Patio

http://www.lifamilies.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=288839

Good luck!!!!!

I just looked at your home and a nice Stamped concrete patio would work out great and in the future if you wanted to have a deck out of the dining room, you would be all set.

Message edited 5/30/2008 6:59:33 PM.

Re: deck vs patio

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Re: deck vs patio

town of huntington is only 8 inches off the ground. We make that guideline, but I HATE the maintenance of the deck. I would like to rip it out and do pavers - roundup or powerwashing easily gets rid of the weeds.

another con - our deck is only about 5-6 inches off the ground, but it's enough room for a possom to get under and freak my dog out from time to time.

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We had a deck that was "on the ground" it drew so many ants and harbored bugs. It was disgusting. We removed it and put pavers down and the bugs went somewhere else!
THANK GOODNESS! I HATE BUGS!

Re: deck vs patio

Paver patio for sure.

Decks to me just wear down over time, animals and items get under the deck, it attracts insects, and only raises you up, offering less privacy from neighbors. Plus no CO needed, no permits needed to just do pavers and your taxes would not be effected.

I am a paver patio person all the way.

Message edited 5/31/2008 8:53:17 AM.

Re: deck vs patio

You have a patio style house...

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paver patio

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Re: deck vs patio