The Deck Where Summer Happens

I still remember the first time we walked this property, back when we were trying to decide if we were actually crazy enough to make a spur-of-the-moment offer.

We had driven past the place countless times. It sits along one of the main routes out of town, and from the road you can see the house standing back a ways — tall and proud, a classic early-1900s farmhouse with a covered porch and those old lightning rods sticking up from the roof like antennae.

What you can’t see from the road is what’s behind it.

And that’s the best part.

Hills aren’t exactly common in central Iowa. Around here, if you want a sledding hill you usually have to drive somewhere to find one. Most of the hills we do have are wooded and tucked along creeks or rivers.

So we were a little surprised to find a beautiful open slope stretching down the back of the property.

The house sits right on the edge of a floodplain, and at one time this place was a full working farm — barns, animals, pastures, the whole deal. Over the years most of the outbuildings disappeared, trees started creeping back in, and the grasslands began reclaiming some of the open space.

The previous owners leaned into that. They planted groves of trees and shrubs around the property and seeded a good portion of the hill to native tallgrass prairie.

To this day it’s one of my favorite parts of the whole place.

Standing at the top of the hill you can look out over the prairie flowers, then the neighbor’s horse pasture beyond that. And past that is land that the family of the original settlers recently placed into permanent conservation.

Needless to say… we started dreaming pretty quickly about how to make the most of that view.

The Deck Dream

Fast forward three years.

We had finally tackled enough interior projects that we felt brave enough to start planning something outside.

At the time we had two separate exits off the back of the house: a small, slightly questionable wooden deck off the sunroom and a set of concrete steps off the main door.

Our grand plan was to get rid of both and build one large deck that connected the doors and wrapped around the back of the house so we could actually sit and enjoy the view.

Easy, right?

Like most projects around here, it started with a few simple ideas and quickly turned into approximately ten thousand decisions.

A few things we knew we wanted:

The sections near the doors needed to be wide enough for a bench so I could sit and supervise the front yard.

The back area needed room for a swing, a table, a grill, and still enough space to walk around without feeling like you were navigating a maze of furniture.

We also wanted as little maintenance as possible.

And if there happened to be enough room for the kids to ride scooters and other ride-on toys… well… country kids don’t get sidewalks, so we were happy to provide an alternative.

Choosing Materials

We’d had wooden decks in previous properties and knew that we wanted something more low maintenance, so we gave composite decking a look. It is definitely more expensive, but in our minds it was worth it to now have to stain and seal it every other year. After looking at a lot of samples and doing way too much internet research, we settled on Trex Select decking in Pebble Gray.

For the railing we briefly flirted with the idea of cable railing so the view would be completely unobstructed.

But two things stopped us:

We had three small kids at the time and didn’t love the idea of them using the cables as a ladder.
The tiny pieces of hardware required to hold those cables in place cost approximately a million dollars.

So instead we chose the Trex Enhance railing system with white rails, black spindles, and a gray drink rail.

Then there was the porch swing. We had to decide if it should be freestanding or built into the deck itself. Naturally, we chose the more complicated option and built it right into the deck structure.

Because why make things easy?

A Quick Reality Check

Before I get into the build itself, I should say this:

This was not a casual weekend DIY project.

Designing and building a deck this size is complicated, and it involves a lot of heavy lifting. It’s the kind of project that goes on so long your dog learns how to use the makeshift walkway you install.

My husband did the majority of the work himself while I was pregnant with our fourth child and busy keeping three others alive.

So I can’t personally attest to every aching muscle involved, but I can tell you this: he spent basically every weekend from early spring until fall working on it.

Cold mornings.

Peak Midwest humidity (what we lovingly call corn sweat).

And at least one memorable weekend where I had to tell people he couldn’t come to a family gathering because he was home digging a hole that we had accidentally dug in the wrong place.

So… if this is your very first DIY project, maybe start with something smaller.

Like tomato cages.

Step 1: Demo

First things first — the old deck had to go.

The wooden deck actually came apart pretty easily. A few swings of the sledgehammer and suddenly we were making progress.

The concrete steps, however, were a different story.

The Concrete Steps That Refused to Die

Apparently concrete from the early 1900s (like so many other things from that era) was built to survive the apocalypse. The quality and durability of materials is one of my favorite things about old homes. But when you’re trying to tear them apart, it can be one of the most frustrating.

The sledgehammer barely made a dent. So we rented a jackhammer and spent an entire freezing weekend trying to break it apart.

After hours of work we had… almost nothing to show for it.

Ok, we made a little progress but we still had a giant hunk of concrete where one of our footings needed to go.

Back to the internet we went.

Eventually we found a suggestion on a forum to try something called Dexpan, which is basically a chemical concrete splitter. You drill holes in the concrete, pour the mixture into the holes, and it expands enough to crack the concrete apart.

It sounded a little too magical to be real, but we were desperate. We drilled a grid of holes, poured it in, and left for a weekend trip.

When we got home we could already see cracks from the driveway.

And just like that, the concrete that had mocked us for weeks broke apart with a few swings of the sledgehammer.

(OK, it was still a bit of work to break it up and haul the chunks to the dumpster, but it was way easier than before.)

Crisis officially averted.

Step 2: Laying Out the Deck

With everything cleared away, we could finally start building.

We marked the entire layout using spray paint to figure out exactly where the deck would sit and where each post needed to go.

Step 3: Digging the Footings

Because the deck is fairly large, we had quite a few footing holes to dig.

Rather than doing that by hand, we rented a skid steer with a post-hole auger attachment.

This saved a lot of time and also satisfied the universal human desire to operate heavy equipment.

After digging the footings we went through and remapped the deck with string lines and stakes to make sure everything was in the right spot. This step took longer than expected, but getting everything square here saved a lot of headaches later.

Step 4: Pouring the Footings

Once the holes were dug, we placed concrete forming tubes in each one and poured the footings.

We bought a small cement mixer for the job and it turned out to be a great investment for a project like this.

Then we waited for everything to cure before moving on.

Step 5: Framing the Deck

Next came the skeleton of the whole structure.

Post anchors were installed and leveled carefully before setting the vertical posts. From there the framing started coming together with pressure-treated lumber.

This included installing the ledger board on the house, adding beams across the posts, and running joists across the entire frame.

This was also when the large beams that would support the porch swing went in.

At this stage it finally started to look like something other than a collection of holes and lumber.

Step 6: Building the Stairs

This is one of those side projects that is easy to underestimate how much thought and planning goes into it. After all, stairs have been around for thousands of years. We actually planned two staircases because, if you hadn’t noticed, we like to make things hard on ourselves.

First, we needed to know where the stairs were headed. We used concrete for one landing (which is a whole story in itself) and some pavers and a wood frame for the other. Once the landings were done, the stair layout had to be calculated so the rise and run were consistent and comfortable. This involved measuring the total height from the deck down to the ground and dividing it into even steps that would meet code requirements.

Once the measurements were set, the stair stringers were cut from pressure-treated lumber and attached to the deck frame. The stringers form the angled structure that supports each step.

Like many parts of this project, the stairs took a lot of measuring and adjusting, but attention to detail here is critical so you don’t end up with wonky stairs that are an accident waiting to happen.

Step 7: Install the PVC Fascia

Once the decking boards were installed, the frame still had that “construction site” look around the edges. All the pressure-treated framing lumber was visible, which isn’t exactly the finished look we were going for.

To clean that up, we installed white PVC fascia boards around the outside of the deck.

PVC fascia is nice for a few reasons. It doesn’t rot, it doesn’t need to be painted every few years, and it holds up well to the weather. Basically it fits right in with our overall goal of doing as little maintenance as possible.

This was one step a very pregnant me was able to help with by pounding in the PVC plugs to hide the screws.

Step 8: Installing the Decking

Finally it was time for the Trex boards.

They were installed using hidden fasteners so there are no visible screws on the surface. Board by board the deck started to take shape, which is always the most satisfying stage of any project.

Step 9: Running Electrical

Before installing the railing, we installed the sleeves on the posts and ran electrical wiring through the sleeves.

This allowed us to add deck lighting later without having wires visible everywhere. We also added two outdoor outlets while we were at it.

Step 10: Railings and the Swing

The railing system went in next.

This was definitely a two-person job because getting everything lined up correctly required a bit of juggling.

Around this time we also stained our unfinished porch swing and beams. After debating colors for far too long, we landed on Valspar semi-transparent stain in Pine Bark.

Step 11: Lighting

The final step was lighting.

Since we had already run wiring through the posts earlier, installing the lights was pretty straightforward. We used Armacost multicolor LED tape lighting, which gives the deck a warm glow in the evenings.

There’s even an app that lets us change the colors for holidays, which the kids think is pretty great.

Some Finished Pictures

The Best Part

We finished the deck right as the leaves were reaching their peak fall colors.

The kids immediately did an inaugural lap around the deck on their scooters while my husband and I sat on the swing and looked out over the prairie.

Yellow cup plant flowers and purple ironweed dotted the hillside. The neighbor’s horse grazed quietly in the pasture. The woods beyond were glowing with fall color.

And for a moment we just sat there and soaked it all in.

In that spot, it’s very easy to forget the rest of the world exists.

Big Deck Energy

In the years since we built it, the deck has become one of the most used spaces on the property.

It’s the perfect spot to watch wildlife (deer and bald eagles are common sites), stargaze, have a weekend campout, or feel the warmth of the sun as it rises over the trees (the cats have already claimed it as their own personal sunning grounds).

If you live in the Midwest, you know about mud season — that magical stretch from roughly February through June when the weather is nice but the yard is basically dog dropping soup.

The deck lets us step outside without sinking ankle-deep into mud.

But summer is when it really shines. We eat dinner out there almost every night, and once the plates are cleared the kids usually grab scooters or Cozy Coupes and start doing laps while my husband and I linger at the table to try to squeeze in a few minutes to chat in between the chaos.

And honestly, watching them run around this land and be kids on the little homestead we’re slowly building together has become my favorite part of the view.