Use of a Deck As a Multifunctional Area

Most of the new houses (and old) have a cover on the side or back of the house. In designing a new home, the owner is usually installed on the cover of 'X' amount of space and it does not think much about how to use the cover. As an architect, the cover design is as important as the rest of the design of the house. Realistically, the cover can be used as an area for storage and at a much lower price than the rest of the house. The cover should be used as an extension of living space and the space under the bridge, which is used as storage. Here are some tips to make your business more coverage for you.

1. Use a large glass door to open the bridge. You can use the sliding glass doors or folding doors. Glass doors allow you to see the cover, when closed area. Take the opening of at least 4 feet wide (minimum) or wider. In my house, I have a glass door 12 'which opens in the middle of the opening width of 6 feet. free movement of persons between the hall and the coverage is allowed and gives a sense of the great room and deck is the same room.

2. Do not skimp on the size of your deck - even bigger than their large bedrooms and living room. Consider the cover as an additional living room, with sofas, chairs, dining tables, TV, stereo. In other words, I think it is important for use in milder temperatures space age. My large room is 22'x34 '. The platform is 20'x38 'with 20'x28' deck to deck.

3. Do not be a passage between the bridge and the house on the first floor. Instead of flushing cover the house. It is logical that the platform is an extension of the house.

4. Put a roof over the bridge. The roof can be a canopy, metal roof, or an extension of the roof (framed in wood, asphalt shingles). Having a roof over the deck makes "space", when the sun is out. It also provides a "human" scale on the bridge. The roof over your head that makes you feel more comfortable psychologically, to put a roof over where you sit on the deck and not the stars. The roof terrace can also be used when it rains.

5. Use drywall and carpets instead of siding and terraces .. if you put a roof over the deck, install drywall coating resistant to moisture or "flat" on the outside wall of the house and indoor / outdoor carpet to the plywood pressure treated. It is cheaper and gives the appearance of the cover is in the house rather be out there.

6th deck area and the furniture must be flexible. You should not put a lot of furniture, but people can be filtered out of the house to the deck or rearrange furniture for large gatherings. My favorite use of cover is for birthdays. My son may have reached 30 guests, so to rearrange the furniture and set four long tables with chairs around it. It maintains a large open space for guests to move and put food on the terrace.

7. Use plants and tapestries on the bridge, as you would at home. Make sure that the "weather resistant" normal. It will cover the illusion that the house

Eighth cap may have shaded areas and sunny areas. There is no need to cover the entire cover. Keep a small open space in some of the middle of the year. In Indiana it is hot and sunny summer, cold and snowy winter. However, in spring and autumn, it is between these two extremes. Sitting in the sun on the terrace in March to 55 degrees is wonderful. The brightness of the sun's heat makes you feel like summer. Also, if you have a grill, you do not want under one roof. Let the smoke in the sky lift is better for most people, instead of the filter in the house.

9. Replace the cover as a function of the change of seasons. As the lid is used in spring, summer and fall should be considered in its design. For our house in the summer, the pool is located on the sunny side of the platform, while you sit eating on the deck and shady. In the fall and spring, the pool is removed, and coffee tables and dining areas are on the sunny deck. In the winter, living room and dining room are kept under a roof covered to protect it from the rigors of winter.