The main thing is that the boards run perpendicular to the joists, either at
90 or 45 degrees. Your situation is one of aesthetics and is your
preference. Your real issue will be with the joists. Are you attaching
your frame to the house? Where will your ledger board go, how will you run
your joists off the house, etcccccccc. If you want the boards to run side
to side, make sure your joists are running front to back and the opposite
for boards running front to back. Suggestion, why don't you split the
difference and go boards at 45s? My back deck has them at 45 degrees and it
looks sharp. More cutting and waste but all good looking things cost more
(lol)!

wrote in message
...
I am going to build a deck across the front of my house. It will be 8
feet from the door to the steps, and 12 feet long. I have 8 foot deck
boards because I was able to get them really cheap. But if I run them
the 8 foot width of the deck, the boards will run from the door to the
steps. Somehow this seems wrong. In other words, when I go up the
steps toward the door, I'd be walking the length of the boards. It
seems that the boards should go the 12 foot length of the porch, thus
when I go up the steps, I will be walking from board to board as I go
to the door. This seems like it would look better. Sure, I will have
to splice the boards, but it just dont seem right to run them from the
door to the steps.

Is this correct? Is there a correct way to build a deck? I have not
yet built the framing, so I can go either way.

Josh