As homeowner it is up to you to make initial decision about your decks look and feel. Only you know what you know what you want from your deck. It is likely that you want to entertain on it, barbeque on it even have a hot tub.

Make a list of features you want.

•Barbeque •Patio table •Hot tub •Planter boxes

Knowing what you plan to put on deck will help you determine size of deck you need.

Magazines are also great place to look for ideas. Cut out pictures of railings, decking material, lights or patio seats. Keep all pictures. Once you have a few variations of different components you can narrow down your choices.

Books are also a great resource. Books will usually have a series of deck projects that you can follow along. Some are plan books that contain a series of plans. Any generic plan will need to be brought to local codes.

Drive around new subdivisions and see what is being built. If anything, this will give you a bit of an idea on framing of deck.

Watch home improvement shows on TV to see what new trends are. You can also get a list of good websites that can provide information about new products.

The availability of materials will also be a factor in what you use to build your deck. Using materials that are native to your area will be less expensive then if you have to special order materials.

This article will cover steps for building a straight set of stairs. Chances are if you are reading this then you are still learning and won't be taking on a complex stair anyway.

Now, we will assume that it is from a deck to a concrete pad. The deck is going to be 48" wide and at eye level from ground.

Tools you will need: 1. Circular saw 2. Framing square 3. Hand saw 4. Carpenters pencil 5. Measuring tape 6. 4' Level 7. Masking tape

You will also need: 1. 3 @ 10' / 2" x 12" boards - Choose best only, make sure they are straight with no check (cracks). Very Important! 2. 2 @ 8' / 2" x 4" boards 3. 8 @ 8' / 2" x 6" boards - Once again choose good ones. These are going to be steps so... 4. 1 @ 45" / 2" x 6" boards 5. 1 sheet of plywood @ 1/2" / 8" x 48" 6. Of course, 3-1/2" framing nails and deck screws or nails for steps.

Find overall rise We want to know exact vertical distance from top of concrete pad to top of deck. Take one of 8' 2x4's and rest one end on deck and hold other over pad, Place level on 2x4 and level board. Then simply measure from bottom of 2x4 to pad. Lets say it is 64". This is overall rise.

Now determine overall run Before we can do this we have to determine how many steps we need. So first..

Take overall rise, 64", and divide it by 7.25", which is typical height of 1 riser (step). This gives us 8.83, which rounds up to 9, So we will go with 9 risers.

Important: There is always 1 less tread then risers. Whether you go up or down last step is onto deck or pad. So 1 less tread.

Now we take 10.5", width of a typical step, and multiply it by 8. This gives us 84". This is overall run.

While we are doing math we need to figure out exact rise of each step. We simply take overall rise of 64" and divide it by 9 and we get 7.111" or 7-1/8", or close enough to it. So each riser will be 7-1/8".

Time for some layout First thing. Grab your framing square. The long leg is tread (step) leg and short leg is riser leg. Also, use numbers on outside of square only.

Take some masking tape and wrap a piece around framing square to establish you rise and run. Mark 10.5" on outside of long leg and 7-1/8" on outside of short leg.