I recently decided to tear down the builder supplied deck that was virtually falling off of my house and erect a much larger composite deck.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the handyman around the house, and my skills are better used cleaning up the debris from construction rather than actually constructing, but I decided to take this one on myself.I did a little research.  Code has changed a lot in the 7 years since my home was built and the deck originally fastened so I thought I'd find out the right way to do it.Spokane County has a great resource that helps even a novice handyman (like myself) determine the materials and support methods needed for a basic deck.  Simple diagrams and charts (yes, they had to draw me a picture) made it easy for me to determine what I needed.Take a peek here.I'd like to give a shout out to Steve Pirtle of Foundations and Up Home Inspections (509) 954-5922 for spending a weekend helping me build my new desk.