Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother-in-law. And the project looks great, as always. Enjoy watching your content.

It’s great! My shed has been completed and it turned out nice looking and sturdy and it is way better than the sheds that many of my neighbors had put up. Of course, I'm pleased with the outcome and this Ryan’s kzfaq.infoUgkxGZedDTcDfgD7fG_uU4esfx_EgxzlY2_1 Plans was extremely useful to me as a guide.

With the total lack of quality in pressure treated since the lumber shortage, I'm actually super jealous that you guys get to work with a dimensionally perfect product. I've been seeing ⅝ variance in the width of boards all summer long. Total pain to build a nice flat walking surface with such terrible flaws in the milling. I mean pressure treated has always been a pain but holy cow it's gotten bad lately.

Installed a deck with this product last year (as a DIY) because it was the same price (or maybe less) than wood. I really liked that everything was straight. And the way they do stairs is ingenious. And easy.

Beautiful job sorry for your loss. No one is ever ready, but surprise loss is difficult.

Matt I said it once I'll say it again, your channel is quite possibly the most informative on building science on youtube..I get so much out of your videos. THANKS BUD!!! Really WELL DONE!!!

1:20 Matt, I'd like to offer a different perspective on mounting the deck flush with the bottom of the door. In South East Pennsylvania, we have snow... That can prevent you from opening a door. It can melt and ice dam and flood under the door threshold damaging the subfloor. IMHO, Getting the water proofing details right on a flush install is much more difficult. I much prefer having a step down, so that our crew can properly flash the door pan, and also add flashing to the top of the deck ledge board to prevent water from damaging the wood structure is the home behind the ledge board. Would love to know more why you don't like step downs.

Im so excited to have found Fortress before I started my deck. I live in North Carolina and the humidity quickly rots wood. Sounds like a great material.

Hi Matt, I'm from Montreal and have built my own house 35 years ago. I have applied insulation and other systems that were not even used at the time, things that you have featured in your very informative publications. When I saw today that you are featuring the building of a steel deck I nearly fell off my chair. Since early last year I have been researching the subject. I am presently putting the final touches on an 18 by 12 feet two level steel deck behind my house. I checked Fortress' products but they were unavailable here. I opted for a canadian made Baileys Truedeck system. All exterior grade galvanized steel, shipped in a precut kit. The assembly, done by myself with the precious help from my wife, was a charm and it will last way longer than me (I'm 71). I installed my beams 24 inches on center and the whole deck is covered with Daltile's Xterior brand porcelain tiles (24"x24"x¾") I used Gator Base spacers and stainless steel perimeter brackets to keep the tiles in place. All around the steel is covered with the same tape used to cover wood joists so that no porcelain comes in contact with the steel. I will use the same guardrails you have chosen for your deck. Keep showing us the innovations in building techniques and materials. There are too many trades people who are still living in the 50's. I am a retired businessman but I know my way around a construction site.

Such a great channel. This particular episode just helped me check off all my projects: need an above ground deck, ground deck , sliding door and fencing. Thanks Matt.

Thanks for the vid, Matt. I was trying to convince my dad to build a deck with a steel frame, now I can show him how it looks from start to finish.

Sorry for you loss. Your work and videos are great. I would recommend continuing that rail down to the bottom of the stairs. That is still a ways to fall and that edging below is a steel edge. Most people don't bounce well...

This is AWESOME!!!!! I just read about all of this in my Architecture course, Architect Technology. What I read is exactly what they're talking about, and it's so awesome to see this in real life! :D

Great views and Beautiful Decks. I would put a sliding door at the one end of the main deck for extra storage under your deck.

Great video, sorry for your loss. Im in California, just did a steel / pan deck, i was motivated to go steel for fire resistance.

Very interesting and looks great. For the skirting I have located them about 12" inboard from the edge of deck and it gives a nice floating deck effect.

So glad to see somebody else is using this I'm getting ready to do one of these for a customer in about a month we did month we did 1 from trex when trex used to sell it they are the best system out there hands down

Me at start of video: "...I wonder why he would use a metal deck on thi..." "TODAY'S BUILDSHOW SPONSORED BY FORTRESS BUILDING PRODUCTS" 🎶🎸

Amazing job, thanks Matt

This video and the content of the construction of the sophisticated patio as the solution the way to choose was very well done. Thank you so much for this display of a super nicely illustrated chosen system and execution to completed project.

Simple, strong, adjustable, flat and has longevity. Love it

Building residential and commercial for almost 50 years and remember before OSB and pressure treated, no nail guns and most moldings ,casings and trims were cut with mechanical miter saws and I could go on and on. I've seen marvelous new products and the tools and means for building from the ground up , many of these are here to stay and some are already being replaced but I've also found some to be not what was promoted of them by people that are not around after 20 to 30 years. I've seen many products fail over the years , brick, wood , vinyl, composites and synthetics of all types and yes it changes with the Zip Codes ( climate and weather) There is one thing that will never ever change if you want something that will last generations .........MAINTENANCE! Once you build it , it must be maintained and there is no such thing as maintenance free . It is true that some are more maintenance free than others ....such as a log home and a brick home , wood soffits vrs vinyl soffits but I've lived long enough to see simple homes with wood and even the cheap Masonite sidings built in the 60S and 70s still holding up and looking like they had just been built , just because of them being washed and painted when needed . Sun and rain is your biggest home killer , followed by too much shade and not enough sun. Log homes require far more maintenance than most homes but when you build one with a porch porch all the way around with no open decks and keeping much or most of the sun and rain off the walls and porch decks........you just cut 50 to 80 % of your maintenance and yet you still have more maintenance than you would a brick home. You match the right paints and the right oil or water base sealers and build with the sun and weather in mind and keep up the maintenance then you will be a happier down the road that you have protected your investment, some people take care of their cars and trucks and some could care less and some are the same with their homes, many simply believe that maintenance means that you wait until it's falling apart .........then you fix it.

One of my big concerns is rust/corrosion. Also possible tin sound as you walk on it.

Oh dude. So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. Sincere condolences to you and your family. The "wine deck" is a fun and fitting little memorial where she can be remembered fondly.

Corrosion is going to kill that in the rust belt if its not galvanized. Tubes will rust from the inside out where powder coating is not able to reach.

This is great, I like working with steel. Its so much more stable then wood and its not looking to bad.

I'm thinking of adding a balcony to my house. Thanks for the video. Much appreciated.

Hey Matt, I would love to hear a follow video on your deck now that you have had it for a summer or two. Especially how it handled the heat and such.

In my area wasps would love those weep holes

Beautiful!

Hey Matt! I actually used fortress for my close to grade deck here in Massachusetts. Perfectly straight a couple years later. This is definitely the way to go

Really liked this as an option. I think we are going to be using this on our build.

I've never seen such a large crew to frame a deck!

Wish I’d seen this when I built my deck. Looks fantastic

Sorry about your loss. Great episode.

Maybe I missed it but, what type of coating is on the deck framing? I'm concerned about rust staining and eventual rust through. Great video and a great system! So sorry to hear about Mimi. May she rest in peace.

Been watching your videos a long time Matt. Sorry for your loss of a loved one.

That level slide was slick. Way to convey your point with panache.

Intriguing system. We looked at this for a commercial roof top deck for an assembly use. However, with the live load needing to be 100 PSF, the spans would not have worked out due limitations of the existing substructure. In the end we went with wolmanized 1 3/4 ×11 1/4 microlams at 12 O.C. Hope to add it to a future project.

With the declining quality of PT lumber, I like this system. Also, 4ft cantilever is unheard of with PT!

13:00 my biggest complain with composite decking is that it gets scalding hot... Children, pets, barefeet, it's worse than concrete. How does apex feel to walk on in Texas sun at noon in your bare feet?

Matt, it turned out great, it will look good for years.

Matt you mention you do not like a step down. What about the northern climates with snow drift and melting? I've always used a 1" step down with flashing to prevent water damage.

Looks great

This is awesome, but I bet awesomely expensive too. I would want this for my homes flooring too!

It's a little late, but condolences on your loss. Nice introduction for me, to Steel decking.

Time is money. When you're a homeowner and you don't have to worry thinking about when you're going to repaint, recoat, sand, recut, replace, recrown boards or anything and then 50 year warranty .... Man... Spend time with the family and pay the price difference and make a phone call if ever needed instead. Looks great, wish I didn't have to aim for studs on my ledger board tops. Did those spacers void your warranty though by Camo? Mimi used for your family too! Cheers to Mimi

What a beautifully done kzfaq.infoUgkxYGamVaHfdHiPlAQaLa7zkwR02OKpGYDU ! The instructions and the photographs are brilliant. It is thorough and genuinely informative. Ryan got another winner! No one does it better!

Great video! 👍

Don't know about you guys, but I always prefer to leave a door for extra storage under the deck when there's a gap like that. Good place to leave winter tires and the likes

Prayers and condolences to you and yours🙏❤️🕊️.

Beautiful Job; Love how you Heart is in it for Family.

I built a pressure treated deck in 2008. In 2019 I had to replace 5 joists and about half of the deck boards. And I also treated a bunch of small rot patches in the remaining joists with epoxy. This year I'm replacing the all the stair treads, a few risers and using epoxy to treat the rot patches in the stair stringers. My next house will not have any pressure treated lumber on the exterior. PT lumber is just a temporary solution. Even above ground, the best you can hope for is 10-15 years before it needs major repairs. The deck on my next house will be steel framed. I don't care how much more it costs. If you are staying in the house more than 10 years, it doesn't make any sense to use PT lumber.

So I've been following Fortress for a while now. I came across them on the show floor a few years back. In fact, I have always planned on using them when constructing my parents retirement home with a 3/4 wraparound porch. The project has evolved since they finished up with the architect, so now it's a screened in porch, and a three Seasoned room; all underneath a covered roof.

I would like to see, 36" rails and pickets, roof, benches, and more as well as all of this fastens to the steel carcass.

Not a bad price difference between the two methods.

Only in the south would a builder say “I don’t like step downs” Cool system!

Lowes lists a ‘14 joist for $112.77

Trex sells a similar product and when I redesign my deck with my 3D cad program I’ll figure out how much it will cost to do it with steel. Less members, less support and I can do 2 to 3 levels since my deck area would be expanded and more open and usable. I would step it down to the yard and provide protection for the pad underneath for a secluded hot tub.

I was going to use this system at my house but ran into an issue with the city building department. The code doesn't address steel framing other than it's allowed. Fortress offers extensive testing information on the product and even partnered with a third party company that offered general building guidelines that are stamped by a PE. Even with that, the city wanted a stamped site specific plan. Unfortunately, the lowest cost I could find to have an engineer stamp the site plan was about 2k, coupled with the 35% product premium made it cost prohibitive for me. I could have built two decks for the price of one. It's a shame because it seems like a great, easy to use product. I would definitely check with your city on a permit before buying anything. One last thing. If using the stamped general building guidelines, the poured base is HUGE compared to wood (starting at 24x24) due to the longer spans.

Camo Edge X Metal clips are awesome

I like the span! Can we get an update on the ledger board install? I am confused how the steel looks pressed against pt wood. Are there spacers and ledger screws between the wood and house? Did the ledger have to be tied in between exterior and interior?

Do you have to start with the wood ledger as appeared on this project?

When skirting a deck, you have to make an access door. You never know when you will need to retrieve a kitten or want to run wiring for lighting.

Impressive. Only a 15% to 25% increase seems like money well spend. And almost 1M subscribers. Congrats.

If that house was for my aging in-laws I'd extend that railing and have a handrail at the steps. I love the product

Sip of red wine at Easter: for me. 🌏🇦🇺

Matt- How does this product last if you live near the ocean? I find that any steel (except maybe hot dipped galvanized steel) will rust out & quite quickly too. Heck, I put a Feeney Stainless Steel Wire railing system on the guardrails of a deck on my house and they are even rusting slightly. I've got tools like the tables on my drill press & table saw that have started to rust, and they never even leave my garage/shop. You'd be amazed at the corrosive effect of the sea breeze even though my house is ~1000' inland from the ocean.

Maybe adding an ADA compliant ramp to the deck will make this backyard usable for your father in law’s whole life. If that board has the traction you say it does I’ll bet the ramp would blend right in. Maybe Fortress already makes that kind of product.

How are they doubling up the joists on the ends and the middle?

I have a situation that I need to connect a beam protruding from the house foundation. This is because I have a 2-ft. cantilevered bayview rear sliding doorway, which I cannot connect the S channel ledger to. This system, from what I can gather after reading literally ALL the documentation appears to provide no support for this fairly common situation whatsoever, which may force me to choose wood framing in the end. The best I can come up with is to reinforce and notch the end of the beam and cut the exterior joist banding of the house open to receive this notch to have it rest on the bottom plate. I suspect I would have a very difficult time getting this past the city folks unless I could prove the engineering was sound.

I used the Fortress Hulk Hidden Fasteners, half of the deck was done and the heads of the screws started popping off at the joist. Fortress said I over-tightened them. I ended up replacing 225 of them and I put them in with my drill on low (1) and the clutch set at 8 out of 24. The next day I had another 8 of the new screws pop and each day after several more popped. I ended up talking with a guy that installed the same framing and decking, he used the Camo Clips. I am going to end up warranting the screws and fasteners and having to redo everything that I've done with the Hulk Fasteners. UGH! There was A LOT of figuring to do with this framing system. The online stair calculator doesn't work. I figured out a better way of doing a lot of this framing. (looking to put all this info into a blog) I installed an L-shape deck and ended up designing a bracket in CAD to attach one side to the house that didn't use a S-Ledger to hang the 2"x11" beams, instead of their suggestion of putting two more cement piers and posts to support it next to the house. After getting a ridiculous quote for the cable railing, I decided to make my own. Instead of $11,900, it cost me just under $2,000, and that's with high steel prices.

That looks like something from IKEA I can do myself.

The sizes are perfect! Over here thanking The Most High that my son is a welder. No screws. Also, adding a structure, it doesn't have to hang onto/conjoin via screw onto the structure of the home. So many times have I seen homes add a solarium or recreational space, otherwise, and over time- it looks a mess that needs tearing down! Food for thought: weather the home is on concrete or crawlspace/cinderblocks, it's gonna shift. You don't want a new pull on that structure. It's okay that the addition is independent and the longterm appearance will remain nice! 15:03 you said metal...it's not gonna move on us. Metal is also an element. Now, it's an independent element from the wooden house and concrete slab. In time, you will see what I'm talking about 😬

I wonder how much more it would be for aluminum so it wouldn't ever rust

I'd be fine with this maybe in the south west where it's dry ... in the north east I would be very nervous about it rusting to dust.

Fortress Steel Deckind and Apex boards is Awesome, But Tanzite Stone Decks just might be better 👍👍

Went with treated lvl, costs less, similar warranty. Was quoted 10-20k more in Denver area for steel, many quotes

Made an inquiry about Fortress's steel decking last year by visiting their website. Found dealers in my area and went to one to see about purchasing the product. The dealer, who had never sold any Fortress product before, was told he had to purchase a minimum amount of material from Fortress before they would ship any product to him. He balked because the deck I was looking at constructing was 8 ft x 20 ft, much less than the minimum purchase he was required to make. Also, there were no certified contractors nearby where I live. As a result, Fortress as an option for my deck has been scratched off the list. Too bad, as a DIYer who constructed a Trex Elevations steel deck frame in 2021 this product looks relatively easy to install.

Amazing job, the deck looks fantastic! I’m sorry if I missed it but where did you purchase the kit? I know you mentioned saving on the cost by buying it all togeather but I can’t find anything but individual pieces of this system.

Looks awesome at the danger area-Elevated Decks! Exterior Elevated Balconys/Decks are the rock that can break the Engineer Contractor back, as these systems are subject to rot, rust and failure under excessive loads. Imagine drunken party people jumping up and down on an older balcony and the possible collapse. Engineer and contractor get sued, engineer looses good design insurance, puts all his assets in wife name, and then over designs by a factor of four and is very faithful to spouse.

The best deck material. This will not rot as long as it is painted. Last forever.

Another option would be to use cee-purlins in 14 or 16-gauge, attached with Simpson angle clips and Tek screws... I was taught to always first try to solve a detail using stock materials; for obvious reasons.

Does the steel decking need to be grounded in case of lighting?

im a welder by trade, and by no means a carpenter...... you would think i would be considering the process is so similar, i just replaced my large deck, and asked myself the entire time why aren't decks steel? And here you are. : )

How long does it take, for it rust out?

As someone with experience in structural steel, it amuses me that they chose to go with tube instead of I-beam... I-beam has no hollow space, wouldn't need weep holes, comes in various sizes, including roughly 2x6", and has all the stress capabilities that you'd need for a deck. Tube has more torsional rigidity, but that's not necessary. Maybe tube is cheaper than i-beam? I doubt it though.

New Sub. Very informative channel.

I wish my Fortress deck was made like this. Free standing. Damaged steel: scrapes, the weilds are not flat, but when it rained, the welds have rust, waiting to see how all this gets fixed. You metal framing is black. Mine is all scraped up. I wish my deck would have looked like this.😢

What about sound when you walk on the deck? I love that the metal will last a long time, but can you hear the metal creaking together when walking on this kind of a system?

Wow 😲

Where I live (NC) your steps would not pass inspection. No railing, different step heights, no concrete landing pad at least 36” wide from front of stairs. I am assuming you built all of this without engineering drawings submitted to the planning department to get a building permit for it. Hope you do better when you are the contractor for other people! (Or are those just temporary stairs and you will put in the final stairs soon? ;-)

How this metal joist system will work in Hawaii weather and air moister content? Thanks.

Sorry for your loss.

This kind of backyard is beyond imagination, in suburban SoCal, except in places where billionaires live. ;) Our lots are typically 60' wide by 100' deep. Yet "backyard living" is what I live for. Most people around me live indoors with the a/c running all day long, while their eyes are glued to TVs or ... iPhones?? So yes, backyards are meant for development. BUT... what's with the GRILL being slapped up against the back of that lovely home? (Some people call that a "barbecue.") The smoke is nasty and that thing ought to be put out on the "wine deck" with the ugly side ALWAYS hidden from guests; i.e., at the most distant part of the wine deck, relative to the house.. In my "modest" SFR location, I did that; I built a "cook's corner" along the rear boundary and innovated with a bar-style countertop and integrated sink. All at the rear of the property. My guests love to congregate there, under a huge umbrella. And, importantly, that smoke-and-heat belching grill is completely tamed. Even the prevailing wind favors this arrangement. So yes, good design starts with environmental awareness.

Honestly think I would prefer to have the patio you built on top of. With 3 steps down from the door. Much better for grilling a smoker ect.

Any system for pouring concrete on top? Like a pan system that goes on top of the joists that you can pour on?

You’ll see her again 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Looks good, but did I miss the part where they talked about rust...?

Aluminum would be a good option for longevity.