Deck, deck, deck, deck


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Old 09-01-10, 03:44 PM
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Deck, deck, deck, deck

I have a question regarding a deck that I replaced on my house. Like most DIY projects it started off with the fateful phrase "How hard can it be". We thought we would be replacing a couple of joists that appeared to have some dry rot. I am sure you know what happened next.........the entire deck had to come down including main beam. I was startled to see that the deck was only attached to the house on one side, where the ledger board is even though the deck is surrounded by two sides of the house. In rebuilding the support we attached a new ledger board and on the side that did not have one we put a double joist that is bolted to the house. We also bolted the outside joists to a vertical support beam. I read the code and pulled up some of the flooring in the house in order to attache the joist of the deck to the floor joist using tie rods. Instead of a railing we built a 42" wall because the local codes are so bizarre for railing that it would end up being an almost solid non see through structure. The deck is 12 feet wide (on the ledger side) and 14 ft long. It cantilevers over the main support beam by 4 feet (this is how the original deck was made). After reading about all of the ways that a deck can fail I was nervous about the over hang, even though it had been that way for 20+ years with less structural support (also used hurricane and seismic ties to fasten the joists to the main beam.). I decided to use a threaded rod with a turnbuckle (5/8") to attach to the front sides of the deck and then to the sides of the house where I bolted it to the floor joists. I felt like this would give more support and peace of mind. Now, after the turnbuckles have been tightened it looks as if the deck is sagging in the middle. I did not tighten the turnbuckles a lot, only enough to take up the slack and decrease any bounce when walking on the deck. My question is should I do something to add support to the middle of the deck in order to get rid of the sag or is it just a cosmetic issue? The deck feels very solid when walked on. Oh, used 8x2 for the joists and the main beam is 3 12 x 2 bolted together with spacers for water drainage. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
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Old 09-01-10, 08:23 PM
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First of all, you did alot of work for nothing. There was no reason to use ledger boards not to mention cutting into the house. Support comes from the bottom, not from the sides.

In any event, I know you don't want to start again, so let's just talk about footings & posts. What's under there? It sounds like you squeezed the deck & that's why it appears to be sagging.
 
 

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