I live in Holland, MI where we get "lake effect" snow ... so yes ... I know ALL too well about snow!

Thanks! It turned out great and we are very happy with it! For materials, I used 4"x4" posts, 7 total. The rear 3 are on the concrete pad, the two on one front corner are on pavers that the old steps used as a landing and the other 2 I used the concrete post footings you find at Home Depot...

So we face East and the sun beats on the rear deck at night. I decided to replace out rickety front steps with a new 8'x16' floating platform. It turned out great and cost less than $1000 all said and done. I thought I'd share and look forward to being more active on this board I just stumbled upon ...