We moved into our new house in May ’13 – The following spring it was decided a major deck was in order. 1 – to keep the kids some what ‘fenced in’ (it was open before and from the back door could walk to the road). Now you can open the door and let them play away in safety. And 2 – the space was unpractical before, especially for 3 young kids. I’d never built a deck before, but I loved every minute of it.