Planning a Deck
 

I want to build a deck that wraps around a corner of the house. Maybe add a gazebo on the corner of that. The whole structure would be about 3-4 feet off the ground. Thats the basic plan. I do want it to look interesting, ie not a basic square. Otherwise, people have told me to always build bigger than you think you need, and avoid total shade because it damages the wood. Any other tips from past experience?

Use synthetic material like Timber Tech.

I know the synthetics have been improved since they first came out. I am also considering real wood with Sikkens wood preservative. It does need to be recoated yearly, but it looks real nice. I'll stop by the Lowes deck guy today.

There is also an interlocking aluminum deck system. It is very expensive, but if you ever tear down the deck the aluminum has great scrap value. I am considering it because it is water tight. My deck would be supported by the retaining walls for my walk out basement. This type of decking would act as a floor for the deck and a roof for the space below.

I just finished a rebuild of a deck and a stairway. The biggest obstacles were due to insufficient electrical power for the saw and also due to using an old saw. I first used and old radial arm saw. I bought a new blade for the job.. After I put in the new blade the saw would bind pretty easily. I tracked this as being due to low amperage at the outlet I was using. To solve this, I bought a 10 gage extension cord and ran it to an outlet by the electrical panel. That solved the binding problem.

But it was difficult to get the saw to cut straight. Even after several test cuts and adjustments to line up the saw blade it would not make the same cut 2x in a row. Angle cuts in particular always had a slight cup to them. It turned out that the bearings supporting the blade were a little worn and imparted a small variable to the intended cut. I replaced the saw with a good compound miter saw (which was overkill for the job but still a nice saw) and the problem was solved.

No need to use a tape measure, string line or a decent saw with the lumber these days. Its going to shrink and warp all over the place anyways.

I'm three quarters finished with a huge deck project here and had very precise joinery going day one. Now, three weeks later, it looks like an amateur job.
Now I'm lacking enthusiasm to finish the job.

Thats exactly the thing I'm afraid of. Not that I expect to do interior quality work, but if everything buckles and warps, I won't even want to look at it. If the lumber is that bad, its probably a good enough reason to go with the synthetics. Then again maybe a real lumber yard has better stuff than the big-box stores.

I used the choice "Thompsonized" Yellawood from Home Depot to rebuild my deck last year. Everything looked great when I finished but after a few months the wood shrunk like crazy! There are now huge gaps between the floorboards and excessive cupping.
I WOULD NOT use this same wood again. It was WAY too green.

Can you provide some info on this? I never heard of aluminum decking.

yep.. and try cutting it when its when if your doing 4x4's.. if you dont have the right blade the saw bogs down after a couple. our fence and 4 other neighbors used the same wood and did the same design and the warping varies but it can be bad in some spots..

Here is the website of the place that I had been in contact with:
http://www.lockdry.com/
This is the only aluminum deck maker that I am aware of.