Cas spent most of the summer reviewing ideas in his spare time, and like all his projects, he spent hours watching YouTube videos on building a perfect patio cover. He spent a lot of time figuring out the math: how much wood, how would the structure support the weight, how much concrete, how much snow could it hold, etc. The big challenge was building three trusts (27 feet wide) that would span the deck without middle support posts.

We looked at various options for the trusts, with the most expensive being around $800 a beam, and we needed three. In early August, we passed a restaurant about the same distance that had an outside patio and studied how it was built. We took photos, videos, and measurements to incorporate into the design.