I'm building a large deck behind my house and YES I plan on taking a long time to do this, this is a late summer / fall project. The house has a walkout basement so the deck will be roughly 9 feet off the ground and wind down to a large stamped concrete section. So I'm looking for design ideas or websites that will give me some idea's. I also need a resource for DO it Yourself concrete stamping (Canada, Ontario).
Right now I have a ton of heavy lumber that has been treated and is ready to use, it ranges from 10" x 10" to 5" x 7" some lengths of the 10" x 10" are over 25 feet. I plan on using this for "looks" and corner posts and stringers but not the actual decking support or deck. I'll purchase some 2 x
8 or 2 x 10 for this.Also when I pour the concrete slab what is the typical slope used to keep water away from the house?
Last question on the one side is a driveway down to my shop, I want to add a better retaining wall along this side so that I can open up more ground space, How deep should the footings go and what thickness should I make the retaining wall? Remember there is a gravel driveway on the other side that is used once and a while. Idea's to keep it from leaning after a few years?