Question: I want to build a flat ground level deck approx 25x26ft. I have very limited space between the ground and the door, so it needs to be streamlined.

I plan to use 3 26’ 2x10 as primary frame supports and than use 12’ 2x10 as joists with 12” spacing.
Wondering how many posts do I need for each 26’ piece of lumber? Will 4 posts for each 26’ (6-1/2 apart) be enough?
Also, will 12’ span for joists cause any issue?
[![my plan](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qlMqH.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qlMqH.jpg)

Answer: 
Contact your power company. Say:

"Am I correct that my smart meter has a large contactor in it, so that you can remotely shut off my power with a few keystrokes on your computer?"

And

"If I have you do that for 10 minutes, will you require a permit and inspection to turn it back on?"

And this may lead to a short conversation about exactly what it is that you are doing, and they are likely to say "Oh. That's fine."

At which point, have them de-energize; check that it is de-energized; do your thing and call them to turn it back on.

Note that this uses "Ethernet over Powerline" communication at grand scale which means *grandly bad* bit rate on a rather busy comm channel. So it can take some minutes for the command to actually get through the queue.
There's a couple of ways to play this, assuming you don't want to just YOLO this and shove them on with your bare hand (not the greatest idea)

1. Ask your utility to kill the power to your house for a few minutes. They might not like coming out for something this minor, but I can't say how well this will or won't go. Your mileage will vary greatly here. This is, hands down, the safest way to do it, though.
2. Buy some lineman rubber gloves and shove them on. You can buy them commercially. Not as safe as having a dead panel, but the gloves are designed to come into contact with much higher voltage live wires than what your panel will ever see. These aren't crazy expensive, but you might not ever have another use for them (unless you like working on live panels for some odd reason)