Decks, patios and gardens

Design the outside as carefully as the inside: a deck that catches the evening sun, a patio big enough for the table you want.

Before you start

• A project with the house outline drawn (so you can position outdoor areas against it).

Steps

1. Draw the area. Use Rooms to draw the deck or patio outline and name it ("Deck"). It gets an area like any room.
2. Choose a surface. Set the floor material to composite decking, stone pavers or lawn.
3. Add edges. Draw low walls for planters or a fence line and set their height (for example 3 ft / 900 mm).
4. Furnish. From the Outdoor category add a patio table, loungers, a barbecue, a hot tub, planters, shrubs and trees.
5. Check the sun. Run a sun study to see where shade falls through the day.

Current limits

Without a site, outdoor areas sit on a flat ground plane at the ground floor's level. To model a sloping lot, add a site with spot elevations: outdoor items outside rooms then stand on the real ground in 3D, and the panel suggests patio and deck levels. See Site boundary, slopes and spot elevations.

Common problems

• The deck shows as an indoor room in totals. Rename it and exclude it from area totals in room details if you only want interior area.