Expert Advice for your Lawn & Garden TV Host of Today's Homeowner^® and home expert for The Weather Channel

Building steps used to require complicated measurements and difficult angled cuts, but the precut pressure treated stringers available at home centers today have made the job much easier. Allow for a stringer at each end of the steps and at 16” intervals in between. Use corrosion resistant screws and nails to assemble the steps.

Since a wood deck can carry a lot of weight, it’s important to start with a solid foundation. Begin by laying out the location of the deck, making sure it’s square with the house. After the holes have been dug for the concrete footings, rebar is cut and wired together into a grid and supported by wire a few inches above the bottom of the hole.

Since wood decks receive constant abuse from the elements, they require periodic cleaning and refinishing to protect them and keep them looking their best.

While this covered courtyard featured a beautiful brick fountain, it was hard to keep clean and received little use during the hot summer months along the Gulf Coast. To remedy these problems, the homeowners decided to enclose it by adding a fireplace flanked by glass doors.

Randy asks, “We have a patio that is 20+ years old. It is stained from leaves and mildew. It also seems to have small grains of sand coming off it. We recently installed a patio cover and would like to clean and seal it. I have tried cleaning it with muriatic acid and also Simple Green and neither worked very well. My wife would like to apply vinyl or some kind of tile but we don’t know if that would work given the hot/cold of being outside besides the blowing rain and snow on it. Do you have any suggestions of a cleaner/sealer or if tile would work?”

While composite decking is virtually maintenance free, it does require some cleaning from time to time. Corte-Clean is formulated specifically for composite decking. When combined with warm water, it breaks down mold, mildew, dirt, pollen and even barbecue stains. This cleaner works without bleach or other harmful chemicals that harm your lawn.

To give a deck that perfect finishing touch, as well as to address safety concerns, it needs to have a handrail around it. Here Danny shows how to construct the railings and spindles from pressure treated wood. The top rail is made from a horizontal 2×4 while the bottom rail is secured vertically with a beveled cut to shed water.

Danny shares some ideas to help you transform your backyard into a comfortable outside living space complete with an outdoor kitchen for entertaining or simply feeding the family.

Watch Danny walk through the steps for making deck stairs. While the task may seem intimidating, it’s really not that hard. Danny helps you figure out how many steps you need and how far apart they should be spaced.