Program to use for building a porch deck.?

Question

I am looking for a program or anything that I can use to help me figure out what kind of porch deck that I want off the front porch. If anyone knows of a program that I can use for free please let me know. We have a concrete porch that we want to extend out into a deck. We have an idea of what we want, I just want to use a program to see which will be the best one.

Thank You

Answer 1

Ive never found one that is free, even the trial versions dont do what you want them to do.  Good luck in your search.

Answer 2

Check out this article, it's not software but it does have some pretty decent step-by-step tips. Good luck with your deck!

Answer 3

You can google for some free ones but I would suggest going to Lowes or Home Depot and having them design it with their software.  They will give you a print out of;

material cost

material list

live loads/dead loads so you can pull a permit

placement of footers (concrete)

and a bunch of cool pictures.

Some of the decking companies offer free on-line design programs that are also worth looking into.  I can't remember ELKCORP's website but I think they have one that makes you wait 5-10 minutes.