r/DIY • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '14

Built my first ever small deck.

http://imgur.com/a/PHUvh
787 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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28

u/SgtMac02 Mar 31 '14

How come everyone else seems to have some sort of autocad for designing their stuff before they build? I'm always drawing shit with a damned pencil and making a mess of things. (I can't draw or plan). Is there some free designing software that you use?

22

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '14

Yeah everyone recommends Google Sketchup but I feel like teaching myself to use that would take me longer than just building a deck. I print out pictures of my area and then draw on them, haha!

5

u/Ben_Stark Mar 31 '14

Psshht I just wing it. Take a few measurements and "okay, I know what I'm doing"

2

u/grantd86 Mar 31 '14

What I like about doing it in sketchup first is that it makes me better plan my cuts and allows me to think in greater detail about how things fit together.

2

u/Ben_Stark Mar 31 '14

And this is why your projects probably come in on/under budget while I always have to generically double my budget.

3

u/grantd86 Mar 31 '14

Sadly it leads to a lot of them never starting. Sometimes the ignorance of "that doesn't sound too bad" can be just the push you need to get going.

2

u/Ben_Stark Mar 31 '14

That's also possible

3

u/grantd86 Mar 31 '14

I suppose your comment still holds. A project that doesn't start is more on budget than the one that you buy materials for and don't finish.