http://www.eplans.com/house-plans.hwx/Q/Plan.HWEPL10400/searchId.127313421/offset.0#floorplan

(Sorry but I haven't figured out how to make links work)

I'm in LOVE with the look of the deck/porch combo and want have something similar but am concerned about a couple of things?

1) Support issues? Can one really cantilever a deck as big as the one shown on this plan?

2) Drainage issues? How does one keep water from pooling on the upper deck and rotting it out?

Would love to talk to someone who has built this plan or something similar to find out how it has worked out.

1) I doubt a deck the size shown on the plan you like is cantilevered - the porch shows support posts that would likely be sized to support the deck.

2) Our porch was built with an almost flat roof then the deck was constructed above that roof. That was the deck can be flat (with just enough pitch to allow water to run away from the building) and the roof will still shed water.

We haven't yet moved into the house, but we already go up and spend time on that upstairs deck. From our deck we have a view into the tree tops around the house as well as down the hill our farm is on.

The plan doesn't acually show how large the upper level deck is, but it does look comfortable.

The surface of a deck over an enclosed space is usually pitched slightly, enough that the water rolls off, not so much that a glass tips over. Typically a few inches in 12 feet.

There are several ways of doing this. Sometimes you see a regular 2x6 deck built over a low pitched roof, but more often the roof and deck are the same material similar to the asphault used on flat roofed structures.

A cool new option is LockDry, an aluminum surface that you walk on, but interlocks in a way to channel off water.

A certain amount of care must be taken with flashing, siding etc. so that water can't inflitrate, but your builder won't have to invent the wheel, here: the procedures are well established. Just make sure your guy know and follows them: he'll probably tell you it won't be a problem, but ask how many such structures he's done.

Still, a certain amount of all this will depend on your area [more care has to be taken in Seattle than Phoenix], and the exposure of the deck [A south or west exposure will dry more quickly, lowering chances of mold, etc].

But if proper practices are followed, you can have a large deck on the north side of a Seattle home.

I guess I hadn't realized that the porch posts actually helped to support the 2nd floor deck. I thought the deck was cantilevered somehow and that the porch posts just supported one side of the porch roof with the other side of the porch roof leaning up agains the 2nd floor deck and being supported by it. You've allayed my concern that I might be wanting something that couldn't really be built.

The deck would be in the northeast corner of our home so as to be on the coolest side of our house but, since we don't usually get all the much rain here in central Texas (well, this past Spring was an exception!), hopefully mold won't be a problem.

I think I prefer the "deck over a low pitched roof" option rather than asphalt as asphalt has a tendency to get really soft and smell "icky" when our temperatures hit 100+. We were planning to have a metal roof and I was thinking the deck would be wood but I'll certainly check out the LockDry aluminum decking material Oruboris mentioned.

Again, thanks.