Expert: Dave Johnson - 12/21/2008

Question
I have a deck off of the back door of my home. I want to demolish the deck . Under the deck is just dirt. I have a pool as well and want to extend the cement up to the house so the area around the pool is wider. I will also need stairs from the back door to the ground level. I would like to know how hard it would be for me to demolish the deck and how expensive it would be to extend the concrete to the house and build approximately 4 stairs from the back door.

Answer
Hi Liz,
There is no problem removing the deck, just a bit of labor. If the decking is screwed, just back off the screws and remove the decking. The framework will be a little harder, a wrecking bar will help you to get things apart. If the  material isn't going to be saved, then get a chain saw and chop it into small sections.

The concrete cost is hard to figure, I would need to know the area to be covered.

Stairs are simple, you need a tread of 11" and a rise of no more than 8". (you can go to home depot and get stair stringers already cut)
Mail me back with some measurements and I'll figure the concrete.
Dave