Deck Design Tools – Which Ones Are Best For You?

Designing the deck you want for your home has gone far beyond paper and pencil modeling. While traditionally when designing your deck you would need to look for architects and other home building professionals to help you design the deck you want, but in this day and age, deck design tools can help you dispense with all that and let you design the decks you want without a lot of extra help.

With the advent of computers and the technology, the process of designing the deck for your house has become a simple process which you can do on your own. Computer technology, specifically 2D and 3D computer aided design (CAD) technology has resulted in the making of computer aided deck design tools. These tools allow the common homeowner to use his or her computer to put together a good deck design and review how it looks without having to pay a contractor or designer for the service.

Deck design tools are also used by many designers and architects. It makes their work easier and also makes their designs closer to what the homeowner wants. Any changes that the owner wants made to the  design can be done on the fly.

When you are using design tools to see the look you would like to get with your planned deck addition to your home, you are afforded a very interactive interface where the addition or removal of the features that you use on your deck design comes with a quick click of the mouse button.

Depending on the deck design software you purchase, here is a list of some of the common features you can find:

• Make a model of the side of your house that you plan to attach a deck to and then add the deck itself piece by piece.

• Take a picture of the side of your house and insert that into the design software and use to start designing your deck.

• Choose from many common deck layouts that you can modify to fit your requirements.

• Start from scratch and make your own deck layout

• Easily add features like deck railing styles, deck stairs, etc.

• Cut out notches

At the end of your deck designing session, a good deck software package should give you the following:

• Three dimensional model of your planned deck.

• View your design from every possible angle so that you can see how good it will look in real life.

• View your deck in a variety of layouts, including plan, dimensioned, and post layout

• Rotate the view of your deck and control layer display in realistic 3D

• Print your detailed project plan with all of the measurements and a complete material list

Not only can design software allow you to build your deck. It can also allow you to add other items on your deck such as a spa or deck chairs and furniture. You can also add some grounds items such as trees, a garden, a pool or pond and you can even add specific scenery items such as clouds, skies and little lighting effects.

These software design tools can also give you an estimate of the total cost in materials and in labor for your deck design. It can also accurately estimate the types of materials you will need, the amount of materials you will need to buy and even the number of days it will take to finish making your deck. This is also very handy if a contractor is building the deck for you. With concrete plans you know exactly what you are getting.

Also, based on having the plans up front, your contractor might be able to make recommendations on how to improve you plan based on years of his experience. You can also show your wood deck plans to friends or neighbors who have built a deck in the past and might be able to provide tips.

Deck design tools can give you a quick, easy and fun way to design the deck you would want to have. With its interactive design capabilities, you will soon find yourself totally engrossed with designing your dream deck addition to your home. When you are done, not only can you check out the beauty of your work but you can also check what it will practically cost to get your virtual deck to come to real life.

For more information on creating your next deck, please read this article on deck building plans

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