How Installing the Right Deck Can Make Your Home Feel Twice as Big

Outdoor Decks Expand Your Living Space

Maybe you have found yourself wishing that your home was just a little bit bigger? There are a lot of advantages to having more space in your home. The extra room can be more accommodating to your guests, serve as a new place to spend time with your family, or it can simply give you a great place for reading a book and relaxing.

But adding on a new room to your house can often invite more trouble than it’s worth. For one, it can easily approach the realm of being cost prohibitive. The addition of a room can take time, and during that time you’ll have construction workers, dust, messes and noise to contend with.

These are just a few of the many reasons why so many homeowners opt to have an outdoor deck installed onto their home – it’s considerably cheaper, faster, and generally results in a lot more usable space than a single room can offer.

A Deck Can be More Than Just an Extension to the Outdoors

To hire a deck builder for construction of a patio deck on your home provides you with more than just a simple extension to the outdoors, although for most of us that’s the main selling point. There’s nothing quite as enjoyable as getting some fresh air while checking your email on your laptop or phone.

A deck gives you a lot of new ways you can use your home:

• You have a new place for outdoor dinner parties during the warm months.
• A deck can serve as a place for outdoor crafts.
• The perfect location for your new grill.
• Your deck could quickly become an “outdoor living room.”

Installing a Deck is One of the Most Cost Effective Ways to Raise the Value of Your Home

It’s pretty rare for a homeowner to see an improvement pay for itself by the time they sell their home, but outdoor decking has long been one of the most cost effective ways a homeowner can raise the value of his or her home without breaking their wallets or taking an inordinate amount of time to do it, as deck builders are generally very affordable to hire.

In 2007, Remodeling Magazine had a feature called “Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report for 2007.” It sounds a bit dry, but perk up your ears if you’re considering installing a deck on your home as the article showed that in most cases over 85% of the cost of installing an outdoor deck was recouped by homeowners when they decided to sell their house.

This is quite an improvement over, say, bathroom remodeling (78% recouped) or the comparatively low 69% return seen on room additions. If you’re looking for a way to raise the value of your home, a deck is one of the smartest options at your disposal.

Deck Maintenance is Easier Than You Think

One of the primary concerns for homeowners considering installing a deck on their home is, fortunately, one that can be assuaged relatively easily as outdoor decks don’t require an intensive amount of maintenance and in most cases and homeowners can usually handle things on their own.

If you have a wooden deck installed, the biggest maintenance activity you’d have to undertake is ensuring that the deck doesn’t go neglected for years at a time—generally, this means nothing more difficult than cleaning the deck and reapplying a wood sealant to protect against weathering.

A homeowner might begin deck maintenance by clearing away any plants, furniture, or other items from the deck before giving it a good power wash (power washing units can be rented quite cheaply).

After the deck has been washed, a sealant is applied. Most of these sealants are designed to be safe and environmentally friendly.

For most homeowners, this is a process which demands no more than a single afternoon once every one or two years.