^lol pretty much the same thing Chiung said.

 

Sorry, late to the party.

If you build anything which attaches to the house you will need a building permit. For this type of work you can do and submit your own plans (don't need to be blueprints, back of a napkin will do). You'll need a plan view, an elevation view and a cross section showing the construction.

If I understand what you want to do, you'll need to pour footings for your support posts. Since you aren't in a frost zone you can simply drill 2' deep 10-12" diameter post holes and use some 10-12" sonotube filled with concrete, shove 4x2' lengths of rebar in each footing while the concrete is fresh and top with a post bracket just before it sets (about 1hr after pouring).

Framing will depend on your local building code. unless you understand how to frame such a structure you should have a framing sub-contractor do the work. You can hire a general contractor but it's not a job requiring a lot of subs or material so they aren't going to do much for you. You just need to hire a framing carpenter.

Do up your drawings, consult your building codes for any special requirements and if you aren't much of a carpenter hire one. If you use 2x8 joist they will need to be supported every 8 feet. If you plan to cantilever the deck overhang you can go 4' max.

It will go something like this:

You need a row of footings no more than 8' out from the house and no more than 8' apart. Each footing will support a 6x6 post (either a solid post or 3 2x6's screwed together. The posts will support a triple 2x8 beam running parallel to the house. This beam will support the 2x8 floor 16" or 12" OC joists which run perpendicular to the house. The deck will be attached to the house (you'll need to cut out a section of siding just above the brick line) by a 2x8 end plate bolted to the house framing (typically the endplate of the second floor joints) every 16" using whatever spec your building code calls for. The joists will be 8' 10' or 12' depending on what you are looking for in depth. I suggest you plan for and get a permit for 12' joints and then make up your mind later. You won't be penalized for making them shorter.

All in all I would rate the project a 5/10 on the difficulty scale. You do require knowledge of framing and general construction and of curse building code. The other option is to have a designer design it for you including a framing plan and you can do the work yourself. It will probably cost about $1000 to have the design and plans done and another 2-3K for materials and tool rental. Having a deck company do it would run you about $5000.

Make sure the designer is registered or have the plans done anonymously and submit them as your own. You don't require an engineer/architect to review the plans. The people at the planning dept. will review them and let you know if they don't meet code and why so you can make the needed changes.

 

Thanks for the extensive info, but I have one main question:
Why the 8' limit? This is going to be a problem because my patio is 12' deep, and I want the footings to be at the edge of the patio.

 

General rule, 2x8 = 8' span. 2x10 = 10' span. 2x12 = 12' span. If you want a 12' span you'll need to use 2x12 joists and headers. Same applies to the beam between the support columns. You will need to use a triple 2x12 beam if you want your footings to be 12' apart. I recommend staying with 8' OC between the footings for cost. 2x12 lumber is much more expensive than 2x8 per linear foot.

The patio doesn't look more than 8'-10' in the photo.

 

It's a pretty big house (this is Texas, remember), so it makes the patio look smaller. Or it could just be a weird angle.
As it stands, the patio is 12' deep and 22' long. Extending it to the corner of the house will probably add another 8' or so (I don't have my measurements handy, so I don't know the exact length for that).

I know that I have 15' open spans inside my house, so I'll have to see what size joists they used for that, and I'll probably just match them. That probably makes sense anyway, so the headers on the patio cover will match the header on the house.

 

The open spans are they 15'x15'+ or just 15' in one direction? You can find these basic things via wikipedia or google.

http://www.awc.org/calculators/span/...rcalcstyle.asp

http://www.decks.com/Calculators/JoistSpan.aspx

The decks.com site has a number of handy calculators. You are essentially building a deck.

 

They are 15' x 15'+. It's the area where the triple windows are. 2nd floor is a 15x15 gameroom, 1st floor is a 15x??? living room. It's longer than 15' in one direction, but the joists run in the 15' direction.

Thanks for the calculators above. Those will be handy.