We often are asked how many footings are required for a deck. The answer depends on the size and shape of your deck, the size of your footings, and the size of your beams. The larger the beam and footing size the fewer footings that are required. For most situations you will want to place footings and posts less than 8' apart. If you are planning on installing a hot tub or porch on top of your deck you will usually need more footings and posts to support the additional loads. Decks with lots of angles may also require additional footings. You may be able to reduce the number of footings if you use an engineered beam and increase the size of your footings. This will also increase the costs of construction. You can begin to answer your own question by using the decks.com footing and beam calculator.
