Hey Guys, I'm currently building a deck and screened in porch at my house. The deck will be 24x16 and the porch will be next to it 20x16. The deck/porch is about 4 feet off the ground and has 2x10 joists. I've built 3 decks before at other properties, but never done a porch before and I'm having some trouble figuring out how to attach the porch posts to the deck framing. At a neighbors property he laid a 2x6 flat on the deck and then they attached the 6x6 posts on top of the 2x6 using some sort of post base. The deck and porch will look similar to the attached picture. Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

We have an old house with a sliding door to no where. We would like to add a deck, but it would require adding a ledger board through old stucco (not foam) or creating a freestanding deck that is over stairs to the basement. What is the best way to start this project? ledger or freestanding with the overhang?