The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Of Fortress Evolution Steel Framing 

I'm looking into building such a deck (a 12x12 to replace a rotten 10x10) and I thought the "ugly" was gonna be the price! These decks look lovely, and you pay dearly for it.

My installers are having trouble with the railing installation. They have to pre-drill through multiple layers of metal. Also, for the bottom of the stairs, one of the four attachment points has nothing to screw into. They plan to simply screw a sheet of metal between the two long sides of the stair tray and screw into that. Is this what you do? Are there installation instructions from Fortress about these issues? Thanks

The good: ease of installation (to an extent) The Bad: Stair system limits and overall process to build. The Ugly: PRICE! also the stair system building and multiple pieces needed to complete a "stringer", Beams are limited to 4' lengths that you have to build up. .... and the price. I priced a 24'x32' -framing- only and it was $25k! I could two complete for that price with wood.

I'm thinking about doing the fortress metal framing along with a wire rail. Do you have a video on what reinforcement needs to be done on the metal frame in order to attach a rail post properly? With normal wood youd just attach extra wood under the rail post. With metal though I'm not sure what extra needs ro be done to frame in order to beef it up for a rail post. Thanks!

What about connecting PVC or composite decking to this. Are they self tapping screws with hidden clips? Is there pre-drilling required?

Thanks for the great video! I have one question: How do you waterproof under the deck?

I wish you would video my deck 😊