Attention Dear Readers!! Because we are inexpressibly drawn to voyeurism and images that speak 1,000's of words, starting Monday we will post any questions that include referential pictures FIRST. Yes, that means your question jumps to the top of the queue (and ps. it's long....). MGR

Hello AT,

We live in park slope and are desperately trying to find someone who can build a roof deck for us without gouging us on price (although we ARE willing to pay for good quality). are there any recommendations out there? thank you!

Andrea

Dear Andrea, We know so many friends who have roof decks out in Brooklyn, that SOMEONE has to have built them. Our suggestions is to ring up Javier Saez, who is recommended, works in Brooklyn and does small carpentry jobs.

Other than that, we recommend not being scared off of doing it yourself. Find a deck you like, examine it and copy it. Decks are one of the most basic carpentry projects you can possbily undertake, and the only thing you want to e careful of is making sure that your the wood touches your roof in non-damaging way.

Also, we haven't used them, but have thought that the decking squares from Ikea would be a great, easy and affordable solution (they are not on the site, but may still be available in the store). Conran also sells finer versions of these squares in their store. MGR