Need extra living space at home for your family and friends to enjoy and can’t find it? Does your backyard area allow you to truly appreciate the outdoors in a relaxed, informal setting?

Yes, there are challenges out there, especially during this ongoing pandemic where we need to breathe as much natural fresh air as possible as we try to limit the potential spread of the virus within our own homes.

Here is a credible solution that increases the living space per person, allowing you to be at one with the natural environment and providing peace of mind and improved health.

Sometimes the only way to expand is up! Let’s utilise and transform our existing flat, concrete roofs into habitable spaces, with the ideal sundeck (roof terrace). Be above it all as you luxuriate in open-roofed or timber-trellised dining and living areas. Add to that a possible gazebo, mini outdoor kitchen, wet bar or hot tub. A little roof garden can also be incorporated as we stretch our imagination.

Capture views, prevailing breezes and laughter from your visiting friends in the perfect entertainment environment under the stars.

You will have to consider adding a staircase and protective railings to this newly found upper level. You can add wood, tiles, etc., to give a suitable floor finish to walk on.

This great outdoor room should be well designed and engineered so as to be as attractive, safe and functional as possible – your goal is to spend quality time up there. It will be worth the money you spend on it and actually increase the value and size of the real estate.

Seek and obtain approval from the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) or any parish council islandwide in this endeavour, so as not to encounter any unforeseeable problems down the road.

Interestingly, many houses in the early 1960s, say in Havendale and Meadowbrook housing schemes in Kingston, were built with staircases leading to partial flat concrete roofs. People have long retreated from this outdoor provision. Let’s hope that our mindset will change and that crime will cease to be a deterring factor in how we live our lives as we clean it up.

So enjoy your new extension (sky deck). You may well find that you want to spend more time outside than inside.

Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder. Email feedback to barry-rattray@hotmail.com [2] and lifestyle@gleanerjm.com [3].