Deck Plan Details

All DIY Deck Plans pre-engineered deck plan drawings are designed by qualified professional deck designers. Drawings are created using industry standard CAD software and the downloads are .pdf files.

Deck Plan Materials

* All deck plans assume cedar deck boards, steps, planters, benches, railings, and cedar lattice privacy screens, with a pressure treated sub-structure.

Most decks in the photographs have composite decking. Some have metal, or glass railings, but all deck plans are for cedar decking, steps, planters, benches, privacy screen, and railings. This is not an issue. Each deck plan comes with a detailed materials list that breaks down what materials are required for each section of the deck.

If you would like to use composite deck boards instead of cedar you simply replace the appropriate parts of the 'Deck' and 'Step' section of your material list with composite instead of cedar.

Deck Plan Square Footage

The square footage of each deck plan is the area of all deck levels, rounded to the nearest square foot, and depending on the plan, may or may not include the steps.

Keep in mind, however, that the square footage is not the same as the deck footprint, meaning the Width x Depth is not equal to the Area.

Some decks have a balcony, or second level over top of the lower deck level. In this case the deck footprint will be less than the total deck surface area.

For plans that do not include steps in the square footage, the deck footprint will be larger than the square footage so you should also look at the Deck Plan Dimensions to get an idea of how much surface area is required to accommodate the deck.

Deck Plan Dimensions

The dimensions of each deck plan are rounded to the nearest foot and displayed as W x D x H in the description of each plan.

  • The Width is the edge of the deck running along the house.
  • The Depth is the distance extending out from the house.
  • The Height is the height of the deck surface above ground. In cases where the deck has more than one level, the height is the height of the highest level. Any structures such as privacy screens or trellises are additional to the listed height.

Most deck plans have stairs extending out from the front or side of the deck. The stairs are included in the width and depth so you know how much area is required to accommodate the deck.