BobVila.com

There is a Fairfax County, VA Deck plan guidelines I found through a link here under decks, a question about footings. Everything that I have read indicated that posts must or should be 6x6. Simpson ZMax makes a bracket that you can use to attach it to your deck. They also make brackets that will allow you to attach your joists to your house. Notch the top of the post so that you can put a two 2x6 or 2x8 beam, and bolt the beam to the top of the posts. It works much better than strapping and toenailing. When I built docks, we did (laminated) two 2x10s (with a plywood center.) If you have three or more posts, get the beams to meet on top of the center post, not in space. I am actually doing something very similar right now, coming off of the facia instead of the side of the house. Make sure that there are some good nails or screws holding the original wood to the house--put them there yourself, since sometimes the builders use smaller, less visible nails. The way walls are framed out, in a perfect world there should be a 2x4 running the length of the top and the bottom, with the studs on 16" breaks (the length of a 20 oz framing hammer.) Home Depot has four or five books on decks and patios that show different kinds of pergolas, some merely describing the corners or a single wall of the space. If you Google pergola, there are plenty of good pictures by companies that make and sell them. Hope it helps.http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/publications/decks/