Hi,

I am in Northeast Los Angeles. It's dry most of the year, some rain in winter. The area gets direct sun from 9-10am to 3-4pm. Shaded by house in morning and large hill in afternoon. We're finalizing the design for our back patio and getting estimates from landscape contractors. See pics for existing site and the plan.

My concern is the wood deck area (we are considering Mangaris) next to the garage door and back stoop. It is 5' x 13' and there are about 8" of clearance from the sandy clay soil under the deck to the concrete floor of the garage and adjacent red concrete slab. There won't be any ventilation underneath the wood. The ground is sloped, drains pretty well and our climate is dry. Should I be concerned?

The adjacent patio will be some type of concrete paver set into sand over several inches of gravel. This is flush with the wood deck.

Thoughts:
1. We could excavate a few more inches of soil until we hit the really hard decomposed granite.
2. My other option would be to use a different kind of paver there, but I think the warmth of the wood does a lot for the space and also creates some harmony with the raised bed.

I would very much appreciate the advice of the experts here. I've read through some other threads on Mangaris and Ipe and don't know if my climate creates a different scenario.

BTW, the plan is not 100% yet, so any feedback regarding the overall design is welcome too!

Thanks,
Matthew

[Edited to add climate details.]

This post was edited by fastred1 on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 14:37